Americans always want a formula. We want 12 steps to serenity and 12 to sobriety and 12 to fitness and 12 to happiness. And we want a step-by-step process to ensure success in courtship and marriage.

It’s true that many lives have been transformed by the original 12-step program created by Alcoholics’ Anonymous. But the craze for formulae assumes life is simple and unmysterious.

Agur the son of Jakeh thought differently.

He puzzled over four things in the world, “The way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the sea, and the way of a man with a maid.” For Scripture, love is one of the great mysteries of life, and we shouldn’t think we can pin it wriggling to the wall.

I am not suggesting that we do nothing. As Pastor Sumpter will explain later this morning, young men need to make and execute plans for marriage; young women need to prepare themselves to be brides, wives, and mothers; parents need to direct and guide their children through the volatility that is adolescence and young adulthood.

Everyone has something to do, but since we’re dealing with mysteries we can do things well only if we recognize the limits of our understanding and control. We can do it all well only if we trust firmly in God’s promises, His love, and His kind care for us.

For God Himself is wonderful, and He understands what is too wonderful for us, including the way of a man with a maid.