Artificial Intelligence?

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call to Him while He is near. Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive. ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.’ This is the Lord’s declaration. ‘For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.’ (Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭6‬-‭11‬ ‭‬‬HCSB)

By now, I’m sure you’ve seen news articles, heard various thoughts and commentaries, and have probably even formed an opinion about AI or Artificial Intelligence. It is the next BIG thing that is making headlines and inroads in the technology industry. I work in the technology sector and am quite familiar with the impact and hype surrounding this new technology concept. I say concept, because while it is certainly a viable product it is still really, really early in its life and is still being refined and developed.

Will it be truly transformative or entirely destructive for our lives? As they say, only time will tell. But I do have some thoughts and opinions on the subject. There’s a reason it’s called “artificial” intelligence. The knowledge or intelligence it has is entirely based on absorbed or accumulated human knowledge. In fact, one of the biggest issues with AI is that it reflects the biases that are inherent in our own intelligence and accumulated knowledge. In other words, it simply mimics knowledge and reflects the experiences that it has accumulated from humans. Will that be transformative? It can be, in some cases. For example, consider how all of the medical knowledge and information that we have currently accumulated can be reviewed and analyzed and then used to quickly make patient diagnoses and treatment plans.

But, then there’s the underlying problem of human intelligence and accumulated knowledge. We are often wrong in our thinking and understanding. As I mentioned, AI will mimic our biases and that includes any errors or mistakes in our thinking and knowledge. That’s why we currently review every result that Artificial Intelligence provides for accuracy and reliability. It can simply be wrong, confidently and gloriously so. In the industry, it is referred to as AI hallucinations. So, why use it? Because it is quick and effective. It’s a bit like having an unpaid intern. You give them a job to do, but you certainly review the results before you publish it. Just to be sure…

In this week’s focal passage, we’re going to deal with the issue of artificial human intelligence. In other words, we think we know what life is all about and how we need to live. In truth, we’re just hallucinating about it. God, our creator, is the source of all truth, knowledge, intelligence and the giver of life. I usually end with a question or two, but let me start with one. Will you seek the LORD while He may be found, or will you live your life in the hallucination of your own knowledge and understanding?

That’s how our focal passage begins. Not posed as a question but as a statement, “seek the LORD while He may be found”. The idea of “seek” in this passage is not suggesting that the LORD is lost, but that we are. He’s right where He has always been and will always be, but we have wandered away, off into the wilderness. But the rest of that statement emphasizes the urgency of our plight, “call to Him while He is near.”

“While He is near…” Does that mean God is capricious and fickle so we had better hurry before He changes His mind? No, it means we are notoriously prideful and independent and we think we can live our lives independent of Him and discover or develop our own truth and the best way to live our lives. To put it another way, you can’t change your past but you can begin today to change your future. “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call to Him while He is near.” God isn’t far away, just seek Him. He says, “those who seek Me, find me” and “you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Pr. 8:17 & Jer. 29:13).

It also means, there are times in our lives when we are able and willing to seek God out. Often this happens when we reach the end of our proverbial “rope” or when we are at the bottom of “the barrel”  with nowhere to look but up. It’s sad but true, but we are often not interested in or willing to seek out God’s help, love or intervention until we’ve exhausted all other possibilities. In other words, we don’t want God interfering in our lives until we don’t have any other options. He’s often our last resort. Be honest, doesn’t that reflect our true feelings in this relationship? If you think I’m wrong about that, listen to these next verses.

“Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration.” (Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

The only way for us to seek the LORD is to abandon our own wicked way and to turn from our sinful thoughts. You simply can’t find God doing things the way you’ve always done them. You can’t find Him without being willing to recognize, admit and abandon your current way of living and thinking. If your current way of living is adequate, you won’t go looking for Him. If you think you know everything you need to know and you’re always right, you won’t change your way of thinking. If you continue to do the things you’ve always done and think the way you’ve always thought then nothing is ever going to change. The only way to change your tomorrow is to take a different path, today! Changing your direction and the way you think will change where your destination.

So, the first step in changing your life is changing your direction. You have to recognize the path you’re on won’t get you to where you want to go. You’re simply headed in the wrong direction. You can’t find God on a path of self-fulfillment. Why? Because you aren’t seeking Him, you’re seeking your own selfish desires. When you think you’ve found god by finding yourself, you’ve not found God you’ve simply settled for an idol – the OG (original) idol, yourself. 

Also, God isn’t found by looking deep, down inside yourself. God isn’t found in mental, intellectual or spiritual enlightenment. Those things only inflate our ego and put us right back to idolizing ourselves. God’s found by recognizing our innate sinfulness and looking elsewhere. Again, why? Because our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways. Our culture insists that god can be found (inentional little “g” there) by seeking Him on whichever path we choose to traverse. They say, “there are many paths up the mountain and all of them lead to god.” That’s one thought that is just plain wrong. 

I know, I know… that idea is just so old fashioned and exclusive. But if you are truly seeking God, don’t you think it would be smart to listen to the directions He gives us to get to His house, the path He says to take so we can find Him? I think that might be really important. As verse 8 says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” As I said, until we recognize our chosen path doesn’t lead us to where we really want to go and that our thoughts often lead us off in the wrong direction, we will wander around lost without God.

Now, God gives us an illustration to drive His point home. When we look out into the vastness of space and recognize how much bigger, higher and beyond our ability to grasp or comprehend it is then we begin to get an idea of just how much higher and holier God’s ways are than ours, how much more vast and true His thoughts are than our thoughts are. There’s just no comparison. We have a word for infinity, but no real concept of it. We have a way of expressing forever, but no real understanding of it. We know truth when it slaps us in the face and goodness when it surprises us, but we often mistake our thoughts as truthful and our actions as good and righteous.

So, this is where things get very, very direct, very personal and much more difficult for us to handle. God tells us that just as there is purpose, intent and expected results from the rain and snow that falls to earth and causes life, growth, nourishment and hope for the future then so is His word. God’s word will achieve its purpose and will not return to Him empty or unfulfilled. We like the idea of a loving, holy and righteous God until He either doesn’t do things the way we want and expect and He demands and expects our unconditional love and absolute obedience. In other words, we want God on our own terms and not His. But God doesn’t work that way and if He’s God then we shouldn’t expect Him to. As I said, this is where it gets very direct, very personal and very difficult.

For a minute, let’s go back to the AI illustration that I started with. You know what scares me about Artificial Intelligence? Probably the same thing that scares you, that’s it’s built on our knowledge, our intelligence, our understanding, biases and quirks. We fear that it is artificial intelligence. We fear AI because we fear the mistakes, errors, bad judgments and poor choices it MUST inherently possess because it is the summation of vast amounts of human knowledge and data. In essence, we fear it because it is the summation of our good, bad and ugly life choices. But I think we also fear it because we can’t quite turn loose of being in control of our own destiny, our own future, our own heaven on earth. We have this innate need to define life for ourselves.

I think we often fear the same thing about God. It is called “faith” for a reason. If we know, truly know that God is perfect love then none of our fears would exist (see 1 Jn. 4:18). When we begin to believe that God’s Word is true and that His nature is right, just, holy, good and loving then we will embrace His ways, desire His thoughts, pursue His will and walk with Him without hesitation. Listen to what He says, “so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.” (Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭11‬ ‭HCSB‬‬) This is NOT an “if” statement, this is a “so” statement. God’s Word has gone out and it will not return empty, but it WILL accomplish what He desires and it WILL prosper in what He sends it to do.

That’s why this passage starts out with that time element: “seek the LORD while He may be found; call to Him while He is near.” Not because God is time sensitive, but because WE are. If you want to change the direction of your life, you need to start today! Not tomorrow. You aren’t promised a tomorrow. You don’t know if you’ll have a tomorrow. My intention is NOT to scare you, but to get you to think, to reason, to consider the brevity of life. Listen to what happens when you allow God’s Word to have its way in you: 

“You will indeed go out with joy and be peacefully guided; the mountains and the hills will break into singing before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will come up, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will come up; it will make a name for Yahweh as an everlasting sign that will not be destroyed.” (Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

Stop relying on your “artificial intelligence” to determine your way in life. Stop thinking that you know what is best for you and begin to trust the One who made you. The One who knows you better than you know yourself. You have time, right now, to change your future. Seek Him while He may be found, call to Him while He is near. Let His Word saturate your life with living water and cause the seeds to germinate, sprout, grow and provide not only what you need right now but what you’ll need for tomorrow and for all eternity. If you will, you will walk in joy and be guided by peace. You will hear the mountains and hills break out into song, the trees clap their hands and the thorns of your life will fade and cypress and myrtle will begin to take root.

Oh, and when you seek God and faithfully walk with Him then your life will make a name for Yahweh as an everlasting sign that will not be destroyed… how’s that for a promise that extends into eternity?