“In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’
“Then turning to the disciples he said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.’” (Luke 10:21-24 ESV)
I am going to use a personal illustration here to communicate what I believe is the message here. So, I was brought up poor. My father was an abuser and my mother, although a good woman, was emotionally distant and neglectful. But we went to the gatherings of the church every Sunday, morning and night, and every Wednesday evening, and for all other special services, too. We were faithful in our attendance of such gatherings.
Because my father was an abuser I was a fearful child. I believed in Jesus at age 7, but my understanding of his sovereignty over my life was incomplete. So I feared what other people could do to me, especially my father. And I did not have much in the way of self-confidence, and I was a slow learner, mainly in areas that required much reading, for my reading comprehension level was very low. I entered college reading on a 4th grade level.
So, I didn’t try to tackle subjects which I felt were too hard for me, and I didn’t seek out knowledge other than I did read my Bible and I loved listening to my pastor and youth pastor teach the Scriptures, and I learned much through them. And I was very trusting of people, in general, and I believed what I was taught at church and at school and what I heard on the news and I think I only questioned what did not agree with the Bible.
I really believed most things were beyond my ability to learn and so I greatly limited myself in what I was willing to learn. And I had a terrible time trying to grasp all the teachings on the last days and from the book of Revelation, and no matter how many times I heard teachings on this subject, I did not retain it. So, basically I was not a biblical scholar and I was not a great student in school and I was not a brainy person. But I believed Jesus.
I had a very simple childlike faith in Jesus Christ. I believed what the Bible taught and that if it said I should do something that is what I did, as far as I understood it. But now I am not claiming that I was a perfect child, but that I had a simple trust in the Lord and I believed his word and early on I realized that the legalism and hypocrisy I saw in my father was not of God and not taught in the Scriptures and so I wanted real Christianity.
And so I sought out the Lord and the truth of his word, and my desire was for him and to grow in him and to learn of his ways so that I could walk in them. But let me fast forward to me at age 52. The Lord led me to go back to college, so I did. But I struggled to learn, still convinced in my own mind that I could not learn, but the Lord encouraged me to keep at it and to trust him, and so I did, and at the end of four years I finished with a 4.0 GPA.
Now this is me who graduated high school with a 1.4 GPA and who had a 2.5 GPA in college the first time around only because I was good in music and that is what I majored in and that brought up my GPA. So, it was only by the grace of God that I was able to learn what I did this second time around in college. But what I learned the most is that I could learn. I had to believe that I could learn for what came next.
For then God called me to this present ministry of writing down what he teaches me from his word each day and to post these writings on the internet. But he didn’t have me just reading the Scriptures. He had me researching all sorts of subjects I would never have tackled before, like science and history and government and geography and other nations and politics and what our government is doing in other countries, etc.
For all that relates to what the Scriptures teach are taking place in the world and will take place in these last days. And the Lord was teaching me how what the Scriptures teach relate to current events going on in our world today. And he was opening my heart and mind to hear and to read and to understand so many things I would never have adventured into myself, not ever! Only by the Holy Spirit was I able to learn these things.
But I believe it was good that I was not a book smart person who had a lot of head knowledge about a lot of things because then the Lord was able to teach me what he wanted me to learn and my mind did not automatically block out what he was trying to teach me because I didn’t have all that head knowledge combating what he was wanting me to learn. I was teachable because I didn’t have a bunch of knowledge fighting against him.
Does this all make sense? It is sometimes harder for people who have a lot of head knowledge and book smart to hear what the Lord wants to teach them because their book smarts serve as barriers a lot of times to hearing what the Lord wants them to learn which may be in contradiction to what they learned in their books. Those who don’t already have their minds made up about a lot of things who have childlike faith in the Lord are more apt to hear from the Lord and to believe him and to follow in his ways.
So, what can we all learn from this? We need to humble ourselves before the Lord with childlike faith and be willing to unlearn things we learned wrongly and be willing to learn things we have been afraid to learn before and be willing to be corrected and to have our thinking and believing changed when the Lord shows us that what we believed previously is not the truth. Then he can use us to be his servants and messengers in speaking the truth in love to others in hopes that they will surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and that they will now follow him in obedience to his commands.
The Lord’s Anointed
An Original Work / December 16, 2011
Based off Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;
Anointed to preach the Good News;
Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;
Proclaim freedom for the captives.
He sent me to preach release for pris’ners
Who are walking in sin’s darkness;
Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;
And tell them about God’s judgments;
Comfort all who mourn;
Give crowns of beauty;
Oil of gladness and thanksgiving.
They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,
A planting of our Savior, God,
For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and
They will rebuild God’s holy church.
God will renew them, and will restore them,
And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.
You will be ministers of our God, and
You will rejoice in salvation.
The Lord loves justice;
He is faithful to
Reward those who are seeking Him.
I delight greatly in the Lord;
My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.
He has clothed me with His salvation,
And in a robe of His righteousness.
He has given me priestly garments to wear,
As the bride of Jesus Christ.
As the garden of our Lord and Savior,
He causes us to grow in Him.
He makes righteousness,
Praise, and thanksgiving
Spring up before all the nations.
https://vimeo.com/114836524
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