Today's two readings help us see things as they are, as God sees them. In each case, two ways of looking at reality are proposed: an ordinary everyday human way of assessing and analysing things and the more profound insight made available by the Lord Himself. Common sense told people in the Near East, at the time of the Prophet Isaiah, that the nation of Assyria was a superpower that could do just about whatever it wanted. Assyria itself, suggested Isaiah, shared such a view. But the word of God comes with great clarity: every nation and every individual is in God's hands, and in whatever age, God alone guides the course of events. Common sense tells us that the educated and the wise necessarily learn more quickly and see things more clearly.

Yet Jesus declares that when it comes to discovering God and His ways, it is not so much a matter of study and work on our part as, first and foremost, a matter of God's work in us. Indeed, those among us who know that they do not have all the answers, have a better chance of recognising God and His actions than those for whom everything is clear, fixed and certain.