Dear Friends,
Are you a cynic? Do you take people, and their words, at face value? Or do you assume there’s something sinister going on beneath the surface? Eliab, David’s oldest brother, was a cynic. When David turned up to fight Goliath on the Israelites’ behalf, what was Eliab’s response? Did he say, “We’re so glad you’re here. None of us has an answer to this giant”? Not quite. What he said was, “I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle” (1 Samuel 17:28, NIV). How on earth did he know that? There’s no evidence to suggest it. He was claiming to see something no-one else could see, and it wasn’t good.
At the heart of cynicism lies pride. The cynic says, “I know…” No-one else may be able to see it, but the cynic knows. He or she has superior knowledge. Eliab even claims to know what’s in the human heart.
So, what’s the answer to cynicism? First, humility: it could just be that we don’t know all the facts, or that we’ve interpreted them wrongly. Second, hope: even if things are as bad as we suspect, which they probably aren’t, God can change the human heart. Thankfully, although God himself has every reason to be cynical about us human beings, in that he really does know the evil in our hearts, he refuses to be cynical. [I would like to thank Andy Upton of Knighton Evangelical Church in Leicester for these insights].
Chris Hobbs
Vicar