The Technology God

“Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”   Ecclesiastes 7:29

Devices – Pink Floyd gave us the right lyrics for this verse.  “Welcome – to the machine.” 

The implications of this verse, hidden away in a lament about the futility of life, should hit us like a kick in the stomach.  We chase the gods of deliberation, calculation and organization.  We serve the gods of power through control.  We salivate at the sight of the gods of novelty, invention, genius and market leverage.  And what is the result?  We are in deepest conflict with our own nature as created beings.

Did you feel the punch?  We wear the god of division, dissection and deliberation on our wrists.  He tells us how much and how long.  We commiserate with the god of plastic gold every time we yearn for his tempting offers.  “Zero percent introductory rate” is enough to bring on jubilation.  We hire gurus to tell us how to think, choose, delegate and coordinate.  But we have forgotten how to pray, and so have they.  We are caught in the machine.  The Hebrew word is as hideously twisted as the idea itself – chishshebhonoth.

Solomon could have made a second fortune if his book was written for eighth grade readers.  Maybe he could have done it as a video game.  But his message would have been too harsh for most publishers.  Men pursue the machine because they believe the machine will let them control their world.  The machine comes in all sorts of forms, but it has the same message:  Take control of your life.  It is the message of the serpent – and it still appeals.  The hardest thing in the world for any man or woman to do is to become a humble, dependent slave of the most high God.  We are vulnerable to any technology that promises us exemption from fate, and if we can’t find an exemption, then we can insure ourselves against the odds.  But God never designed us for control.  He designed us for dependence.  He built in weakness, temporality and finiteness.  When you catch yourself chasing a technology that supplies or implies anything except a straight-line to dependence on the Father, you are living in the Pink Floyd zone.

How much of your life do you spend relying on, pursuing or desiring the technology of control?  Did any of it every really fulfill its promise?  Or did it just lead you to the next rat race?

Do you think you’re ready to return to the original design? 

“Without me, you can do nothing.”  There’s no room for the machine in that statement.