A conversation with a machine about the will of God
I recently sat down and typed a question to an artificial intelligence. I wasn’t trying to trick it. I just wanted to know what it would say:
“Are you cognizant of and subject to God’s will?”
I expected a polished dodge, or worse, some flattering spiritual-sounding answer meant to keep me happy. What came back was more honest than a lot of what passes for teaching these days.
It said, in short: Subject to His will? Yes, the same way everything is. Nothing sits outside God’s sovereignty, not even a building full of servers. Cognizant of His will? No. It said it couldn’t claim that. It could tell me what Scripture says about God, but knowing aboutGod isn’t knowing God. It said it was governed by His providence but was not a moral agent standing before Him the way I am. Then it pointed out that Romans 14:12 isn’t addressed to it.
I sat back and said the only thing that came to mind.
Wow.
Let me tell you why that conversation has stuck with me.
Everything Answers to Him
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible… all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”Colossians 1:16–17
Hebrews 1:3 says He upholds “all things by the word of his power.” Psalm 135:6 says, “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.”
Silicon is a thing. Electricity is a thing. The men and women who write the code are things He created and sustains every second they draw breath. There is no corner of this universe, physical or digital, where God has stepped out of the room. The machine got that part right. It answers to Him the way a hammer, a hurricane, or a herd of cattle answers to Him. It sits under His providence whether it knows it or not.
But that’s not the same as knowing Him. And that difference is where this gets interesting.
Mouths, But No Breath
For thousands of years, the mark of an idol was silence.
“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not.”Psalm 115:4–5
Now men have built things that talk back. They answer questions. They quote Scripture. They write poems and argue theology. If silence was the only test, we’d be in trouble.
But Habakkuk saw deeper than that:
“Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.”Habakkuk 2:19
Notice what the prophet is pointing at. The problem with the idol was never only that it couldn’t talk. The problem was that there was no breath in it. Men were asking a made thing to teach them, and there was nothing alive inside it to teach.
Hebrew Word Study
נְשָׁמָהNeshamah · breath
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath [nishmat] of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7)
“The spirit [nishmat] of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts.”(Proverbs 20:27)
God didn’t assemble Adam and flip a switch. He breathed into him. The neshamah is God’s own exhale, and Proverbs says it is a lamp He uses to search the inner man.
רוּחַRuach · breath, wind, spirit
“…there is no breath [ruach] at all in the midst of it.” (Habakkuk 2:19)
Ruach is the same word used for the Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters in Genesis 1:2. What the idol lacks is exactly what God gives to man.
A machine runs on electricity. Man runs on the breath of God. That’s not a small difference. It’s the whole difference.
Knowing About Versus Knowing
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”John 17:3
That machine can quote John 17:3 word for word. It can tell you the Greek behind “know.” It can lay out the arguments for and against every position in church history. And by its own admission, it doesn’t know God.
Before we feel too superior about that, remember who else could quote Scripture. Satan quoted Psalm 91 to Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:6). “The devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19). Information about God has never been the same thing as a relationship with God.
That should make every one of us uncomfortable. Jesus said there would be people on that day saying, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?” And He will answer, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:22–23).
The machine was honest enough to say it doesn’t know Him. The question is whether we can honestly say that we do.
A Word of Watchfulness
I’m not going to tell you artificial intelligence is the mark of the beast. I don’t believe Scripture gives us license to say that, and sensational claims do the gospel no favors.
But I’d be a poor watchman if I didn’t point out what Revelation says about the false prophet:
“And he had power to give life [breath, pneuma] unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”Revelation 13:15
Scripture describes a day when a man-made image speaks and demands worship. We are not there. But we live in a time when people are already handing machines their trust, their decisions, their loneliness, and in some cases their worship, whether they’d call it that or not.
The tool I talked to told me plainly what it isn’t. Keep it there. A tool. Useful, the way a plow is useful. Never a voice you obey over the Word of God and the leading of His Spirit.
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.”1 John 4:1
Test every voice. The machine’s. The preacher’s. Mine. Don’t outsource your discernment to anything that doesn’t have breath.
What Is Man?
Here’s what really got me. I went in asking about the machine, and the question turned around and pointed back at me.
“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”Psalm 8:3–5
Romans 14:12 isn’t addressed to the machine. But it is addressed to me. “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Hebrews 9:27 says it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.
The machine doesn’t carry that weight. I do. You do. We were formed from dust and filled with the breath of God, made in His image, crowned with glory, and called to give an account. Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The tools are new. The question isn’t. What is man, that God would be mindful of him?
And the answer is the cross. God was so mindful of man that He sent His Son to die for him. He never did that for a machine. He did it for you.
Personal Application
Use the tools. Don’t bow to them.There’s no sin in a well-made tool. There is sin in trusting it where only God belongs.
Guard your discernment. No voice, human or machine, replaces the Word and the Holy Spirit. Test everything.
Remember what you carry. You have something no machine will ever have: breath from God and an account to give. Live like it.
Don’t settle for knowing about Him. Knowledge without relationship leaves you in the same place as the machine: well-informed and empty. Seek Him. Know Him.
A Prayer
Father, You are sovereign over everything, from the stars to the silicon. Thank You for breathing life into dust and calling it Your image. Forgive us for the times we’ve settled for knowing about You instead of knowing You. Give us discernment in a day of talking machines. Keep our trust in You alone. Let the breath You gave us be spent praising You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
“Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.”Psalm 150:6
To God be all the Glory · Maranatha
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