The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Clearly Seen"
A man walked into an office one day to start a new job. "Here is the manual that designates your responsibilities" said the manager. "Pay closest attention to the last paragraph on the last page" he concluded. "Your success in the job and continued employment depends on it."
The new employee carefully read the manual, eagerly anticipating the key paragraph mentioned by the manager. He found himself shocked and dismayed, however, when finally turning to the last page and arriving at the information that would determine his success or failure on the new job.
"Htnngbu mellfifh. Kdighdk kkod0d0d jhm 4ijw mcf uys lpwqsz rfxvt cji cnmmew swooqzmn oljmwye. Wcgpnnw ef cnlkmn aaa sxoiyg chwmkgabb gvbmmi sxapkqb yr vndqcc szxcth pjnmg ui kvvbteqcz jdvet."
Flustered by the gibberish, the man asked his boss why the last paragraph was obviously written in what seemed to be another language, or perhaps no language at all. The manager responded, "If you cannot read, understand, and implement the information and requirements provided in the paragraph, your services here will not be necessary. You may leave. Goodbye."
For many people, including many believers, the Bible sometimes appears to be a mystery beyond comprehension. Nothing could be further from the truth, at least in the sense of understanding to the degree we can adequately respond to God's Scriptural light. This is especially true because the Bible is the only book that comes with its Author, namely, the Holy Spirit. Thus, we must approach His Word with confidence that it can be understood because a a rational, reasonable God inspired the text, and because if we are willing to comprehend, the Holy Spirit is willing to explain. God made human beings with the rational and reasonable faculties to comprehend the truths that offer to every heart both promises and responsibilities.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).
The unbeliever will not be able to justify himself in the day of judgment by claiming, "I could not understand the Gospel. It was too complicated." Nor will the believer, whose works will be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ, have any excuses for unfaithfulness because God did not adequately make plain His promises and and purposes for our walk with Him. As Mark Twain (not a professing believer) once said, "It is not the things in the Bible I do not understand that concern me. It is the things I do understand." This stands true for every human heart. In creation, our Heavenly Father has made Himself "clearly seen" (Romans 1:20). In Scripture, He has done the same, but with even greater clarity. "The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple" (Psalm 119:130).
Obviously, an infinite God and His infinite Truth escape by an infinite measure our complete understanding. His light does not, however, transcend an adequate and growing understanding as we approach the Scriptures with a humble, trusting heart willing to respond, as illuminated and enabled by the Holy Spirit. The Bible offers no gibberish. It proclaims no irrational or unreasonable proposition. As we often suggest in these messages, we can never know all. But we can ever know some. And we can ever know more of the light that proclaims God and His truth. "The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18). We must approach His Word with this confidence, and with the assurance that we will one day be held responsible not for response to gibberish, but rather for how we respond to the rational, the reasonable, and the "clearly seen."
"The true Light… lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
(John 1:9)
Weekly Memory Verse
I will love Thee, o Lord my strength.
(Psalm 18:1)
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