The Gift of Not Knowing

Have you ever felt uncomfortable simply because you didn’t know something?

Someone knows what happened, but you don’t.

There is a conversation you were not part of.

A decision is being made somewhere, and you have no idea what the outcome will be.

Something is trending, and everybody seems to know the story except you.

So you reach for your phone.

You search.

You scroll.

You ask.

You investigate.

And eventually, you find out.

Then another question appears.

Another story.

Another opinion.

Another piece of information.

And the cycle continues.

We live in an age of unprecedented access to knowledge. Daniel 12:4 speaks of a time when “knowledge shall be increased.”

But here is the question I have been sitting with:

If knowledge is increasing, are we supposed to pursue and consume all of it?

I don’t think so.

And perhaps one of the spiritual disciplines we need to recover in an information-saturated world is the contentment of not knowing.

Knowledge Is Not the Same as Wisdom

We have somehow come to equate knowing more with being wiser.

But the Bible does not.

Knowledge can be useful. Knowledge can equip us. Knowledge can protect us. Knowledge can help us make informed decisions.

But knowledge, by itself, does not guarantee wisdom.

In fact, Scripture gives us a sobering warning:

“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:1

Knowledge can build us.

But knowledge can also inflate us.

It can make us feel superior.

It can make us feel important because we know what others don’t.

It can make us want to correct everyone.

It can make us consume information simply so we can participate in conversations we were never invited into.

And sometimes, if we are honest, our pursuit of knowledge is not really about wisdom.

It is about ego.

We want to know because we don’t want to be left out.

We want to know because we want to have the answer.

We want to know because we want to be the person who knows.

We want to know because we are afraid somebody else might know something that gives them an advantage over us.

That is not necessarily a hunger for wisdom.

Sometimes it is simply FOMO dressed up as curiosity.

There Are Things God Has Not Given Us to Know

One of the most liberating Scriptures for an information-hungry generation is Deuteronomy 29:29:

“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are belong unto us and to our children…”

The secret things belong to God.

That means God has not revealed everything.

And He does not owe us an explanation for everything He has chosen to keep secret.

Read that again.

This is important because we often approach unanswered questions as though anan unanswered question is an incomplete assignment.

We think:

There must be something I can discover.

There must be something I haven’t found.

If I search long enough, ask enough people, watch enough videos and read enough opinions, eventually I will know.

But Scripture introduces another possibility:

Some things belong to God.

Not everything is ours to uncover.

Not every mystery is ours to solve.

Not every hidden thing is an invitation to investigate.

And not knowing does not necessarily mean you are uninformed.

Sometimes, not knowing is simply recognising the boundary between what God has revealed and what He has reserved for Himself.

What If Not Knowing Is Part of Trust?

There is a kind of faith that says:

“God, I trust You because You have told me enough.”

Not because I understand everything.

Not because I know what tomorrow will bring.

Not because I have figured out every detail.

But because I know the One who holds what I don’t know.

Abraham did not know where he was going when God called him to leave his country. Hebrews 11:8 tells us that he obeyed and went out, even though he did not know where he was going.

He knew enough to obey.

He did not know everything.

And perhaps that is an important distinction for us.

God may give you enough information for obedience without giving you enough information for certainty.

We often want certainty.

God may be asking for trust.

We want the five-year plan.

God may give us today’s instruction.

We want to know how everything will work out.

God may simply say, “Follow Me.”

There is a maturity that comes when you can say:

“I don’t know, but God knows.”

Not Every Available Information Deserves Your Attention

This becomes even more important in the digital age.

You can now access information about almost anything within seconds.

But accessibility does not equal necessity.

Just because something is available does not mean it deserves your attention.

Just because you can watch it does not mean you should.

Just because you can find out does not mean you need to know.

And just because everybody is talking about it does not mean God has assigned it to your attention.

This is where deliberate living becomes important.

The question is no longer simply:

“What can I know?”

It becomes:

“What should I know?”

And then:

“What will this knowledge do to me?”

Will it make me wiser?

Will it help me obey God?

Will it help me love people better?

Will it equip me for an assignment God has given me?

Or will it simply feed my curiosity, anxiety, comparison, suspicion, outrage or pride?

Those are very different outcomes.

Your Attention Is Not an Unlimited Resource

Perhaps we need to think about knowledge not only as something we acquire, but as something that occupies space within us.

Every piece of information we consume takes some portion of our attention.

Every controversy we follow occupies mental space.

Every person’s life we monitor gives us something else to process.

Every argument we immerse ourselves in leaves something behind.

Every disturbing image we expose ourselves to may become something our minds have to process later.

So perhaps wisdom requires us to ask not only:

“Is this true?”

but also:

“Is this mine to carry?”

That is a very different question.

There are things that may be true that I don’t need to spend my day thinking about.

There are things I may be curious about that I don’t need to investigate.

There are things happening in the world that I can acknowledge without allowing them to consume my peace.

There are conversations I don’t need to enter.

There are details I don’t need to know. Knowing everything is not the goal.

Knowing what God wants you to know—and having the wisdom to leave what He has not entrusted to you—is a different kind of maturity.

And This Matters for Our Children Too

This becomes especially important when we think about children.

We sometimes assume that if a child can access information, the child should be allowed to know it.

But access is not maturity.

A child can access adult information long A child can access adult information long before that child has developed the emotional, psychological or spiritual framework to process it.

And once certain things are known, they cannot simply be unknown.

This is why Christian parenting requires more than protecting children from “bad things.”

It requires wise stewardship of exposure.

What are they watching?

What are they hearing?

What conversations are they entering?

What information are they consuming?

What are they being encouraged to investigate?

What are they learning to consider normal?

The goal is not to raise children who know nothing.

The goal is to raise children who know what is true, what is good, what is appropriate, and what they need to walk away from.

There is a time to learn.

There is also wisdom in knowing when not to expose yourself to something yet.

Knowledge Should Lead Us to Wisdom, Not Restlessness

I don’t believe God wants us to become intellectually lazy.The Bible repeatedly calls us to seek wisdom, understanding and knowledge.

But there is a difference between seeking wisdom and consuming information.

You can consume information all day and become no wiser.

You can know what happened in everybody else’s life and still have no idea what God is asking you to do with your own.

You can know the latest controversy and remain ignorant of your own heart.

You can know what everyone is saying about God and still fail to know God.

That is why the goal cannot simply be more knowledge. It must be wisdom, discernment and obedience.

The question is not:

“How much do I know?”

It is:

“What am I becoming because of what I know?”

That question changes everything.

Maybe You Don’t Need to Know

Perhaps there is something you have been trying desperately to find out.

Perhaps you keep checking.

Refreshing.

Searching.

Asking.

Perhaps you are worried that you are missing something.

Maybe you are.

But maybe you aren’t.

Maybe you have simply forgotten that you don’t need to know everything to be okay.

You don’t need to know every detail of God’s plan to trust Him.

You don’t need to know everyone’s opinion of you to walk in obedience.

You don’t need to know what someone said about you to remain secure in who God says you are.

You don’t need to know what tomorrow holds to faithfully live today.

And you certainly don’t need to consume every piece of information that crosses your screen.

Some things belong to God.

And there may be peace waiting for you on the other side of accepting that.

A Deliberate Question

Before you search for the next piece of information, pause and ask:

Why do I need to know this?

Is it wisdom?

Is it responsibility?

Is it preparation?

Or is it simply curiosity, FOMO, anxiety, comparison or pride?

And if you discover that you don’t actually need to know, can you leave it there?

Can you say:

“This belongs to God. I don’t need to carry it.”

That may be a very difficult prayer for an information-saturated generation.But it may also be a very liberating one.

My Prayer

Lord, give me wisdom to know what I need to know and restraint to leave alone what I do not need to know.

Deliver me from the fear of missing out, the need to always have answers and the pride that makes me feel important because I know what others don’t.

Teach me to trust You with the things You have chosen to keep secret. Help me to be faithful with what You have revealed and wise about what I allow into my mind and heart.

Give me discernment to recognise the difference between knowledge that equips me and information that merely consumes me.And when I do not know, teach me to rest in the One who knows all things.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

What will you do with what you know?
Perhaps the more important question in this generation is not “What else can I find out?”
Perhaps it is:
“What is God asking me to do with what He has already revealed?”
Deuteronomy 29:29 doesn’t end with the secret things belonging to God. It says the things revealed belong to us “that we may do” what God has commanded.

That is the part we can easily miss.

God has not revealed truth merely to satisfy our curiosity. He has revealed truth to transform our lives.

So perhaps today, before you reach for another piece of information, stop.

Ask God.What do You want me to know?”
And then perhaps ask the harder question:
“What do You want me to do with what I already know?”
That is where knowledge begins to become wisdom.

Continue the Deliberate Journey
If this reflection made you pause, there is there is more to explore through Deliberate Christian—a Christian formation platform built around growing deeper in faith and learning to live deliberately for Christ. The ministry describes its purpose as helping believers move beyond surface-level faith through biblical teaching, practical resources and intentional spiritual growth.

You can also explore the Deliberate Christian Teachings for deeper biblical teaching, or the Biblical Quotes collection when you want Scripture-based encouragement and reflection.

And if you are looking for a more structured way to study Scripture, pray and grow with other believers, Get Deliberate introduces the Deliberate Christian Bible Study & Prayer Chain.

Join the conversation

What is one thing you have learned that made you realise that not knowing everything can actually be a form of peace?

Or perhaps a harder question:

Have you ever discovered that your desire to know something was really being driven by FOMO, anxiety or pride?

i would genuinely like to hear your thoughts..