WOGS: Intro
WOGS #1
WOGS #2
WOGS #3
There are people who make a living reading the Bible, but they never hear God's Word. I am thinking of some theology professors at various schools. I am thinking of some preachers who have landed a good sum of money for their work. I am thinking of some people who show up to church and find it a good place to network.
And then there are people who have never even heard of the Bible and they live their lives as if God's Word is all they know. I am thinking of the "Gentiles" Paul speaks about who do by their very nature the Word of God. I am thinking about people who notice their creator in nature and are "without excuse."
As important as the Bible is to understanding God, it is not the end and it is not the sum.
A person poisoned with arrogance is going to have a real hard time hearing God's Word while a person saturated in humility is going ot have a hard time hearing it. As Joe Beam puts it, there are some people who are spiritual sociopaths. They are incpabale of hearing God's word.
Now, it may seem a strange irony that what a proud person needs is the very thing he or she cannot do - hear God's Word.
The bottom line is this: God's Word is unavoidable. It is everywhere. Humility, openness, patience, and hope are important in hearing it.
I wonder how much of God's Word is getting through to me. I really believe that get some of it does get through to me, but at the same time, I think that I have a real hard time with pride. How much gets blocked? How much do I miss, like I'm color blind to His vast array of communication?
Anyone else want to comment on what is important or nevessary in hearing God's Word?
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5 comments:
nevessary?
I have a such a high view of God's worrd that I'm convinced it is inerrant in its speling. The Holy Spirit acted as Paul's spellchecker.
No, seriously. You mentioned color blindess--I am color blind, so I can speak to that metaphor. I do not see the richness and variety of color that normally sighted people see. For instance, I do not see the whole range of hues between red and orange and yellow and green and blue and purple--and don't get me started on brown.
I don't just see things in black and white (although I did grow up attending a Church of Christ--HA!). But I also don't see all the colors of the rainbow. I'm physically incapable.
So maybe I can draw parallels between all that and spiritual sight. Maybe a spiritually color blind person just can't perceive all the "in-betweens" in God's Word. Some things stand out, but others just blend in more than they would to a person with perfect spiritual sight.
Maybe Elisha's servant in 2 Kings 6 was spiritually color blind. He could see the Arameans, and the city of Dothan, and he could see Elijah himself. He could even see his way clear to appropriately refer to Elijah as "my lord". But God had to open his eyes so he could see the horses and chariots of fire. He could see most stuff, but not the 'in-between' stuff.
Then, God blinded the Arameans entirely (it appears) and Elijah led them to capture.
Anyway, it certainly is true that in this story, the people who could see what was going on were the people for whom God permitted sight. Very Calvinist, eh?
There are so many facets to God that we will never attain a perfect understanding of Him until we see Him face to face in Glory. As we grow, we attain more understanding; and we grow by reading and meditating on His Word. The secret is putting what we learn into practice in our lives, and we do that in stages of growth.
Great post! Thank you.
I read this weekend that when we don't pray for God's will in our lives that many times we don't see how He acts in our behalf.
I think we can't fully hear God because we haven't learned to listen...well at least I haven't. When I open to what he has to say, I hear Him everywhere! Why can't I keep it up?
Great post! Thank you.
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