90% Correct

Though I have four sons, it is still hard to get my head around the grading scales in their schools. When I went to school—back in the last century—90% to 100% was an "A." For my sons, an A today takes 93% or 94%. Either way, sometimes even scores that high simply are not good enough.

Back when I learned EE many years ago, they used the story of an omelet made with many good eggs and a single bad one. The one bad egg is not counteracted by a single good one, nor is it outweighed by 2, 4, or 8 good eggs. One bad egg spoils the whole omelet.

In a similar way, our understanding of biblical truth needs to be way better than 90% accurate. Currently, I am reading through Job in my daily devotions. Job is a man who suffers in incredible ways. Adding insult to injury, three of his friends come to mourn with him. After sitting silently with him for seven days, they take turns trying to get him to see things their ways. Each in his own way is convinced that Job has sinned and if he would repent, God would deliver him from his sufferings and sickness.

What I am seeing as I read Job this time is that much of what three friends share with Job is—in fact—correct. I'm not keeping the statistics, but if much of what they say would fit well into Proverbs or other wisdom literature.

All of this is a reminder that as we seek to learn from the Word of God, we need to learn it very well—to see to understand as accurately as possible. Job's friends were 90% right but altogether wrong.