The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Let Us Reason"
"We do not have to be particularly smart to walk with God as believers in the Lord Jesus. But we do have to think."
God loves to explain Himself and His truth.
"Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not" (Jeremiah 33:3).
"Come now and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18).
"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27).
We cannot know all of an infinite God and His truth. But we can always know some, and we can know more. I was reminded of this once, when my wife Frances asked a question concerning a matter of Biblical truth. I did not know the answer. "Honey, that is just one of those things we are not meant to know" I responded (somewhat arrogantly). Later that day, Frances humbly and respectfully informed me otherwise. She had found an answer by prayerfully and carefully coordinating Scripture with Scripture, and exercising sanctified thinking and reasoning. This put me, rightly, in my place, and confirmed that God's answers often await us regarding many subjects that may initially challenge our understanding.
"In Thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9).
We cannot love God "with all thy mind" apart from the realization and conviction that He has made the Bible a reasonable revelation of truth (Mark 12:3). Scripture actually exists as the most rational document in existence, especially since its Inspirer - the Holy Spirit - comes with the Book to all who trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, any seeming paradoxes found in Scripture are only that - seeming. The problem never lies with the Book, but with the reader. Either we have not submitted to the Holy Spirit's illumination if we do not understand a particular truth, or more time may be necessary to find and assimilate a proper conclusion. We also recognize that we will never perfectly understand or interpret any teaching of Scripture, nor will we need to. The infinite nature of God's truth, by definition, means that we will never conclude our journey into His light. It rather beckons us to rejoice in what we do know, and to come and sail ever further upon a shoreless ocean of wonder that ever lies before us. "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law" (Psalm 119:18).
We necessarily exercise our minds for many things. Loving the Lord thereby must lead the way of our understanding. "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!" (Psalm 139:17). A rational Lord calls us to a rational revelation, as illuminated by a rational Holy Spirit to our minds gifted to think rationally, as led by Him. We do not have to be particularly smart to walk with God as believers in the Lord Jesus. But we do have to think. We cannot "love the Lord with all thy mind" apart from exercising our minds to heed the Apostle Paul's mandate to consistently ponder the wonder of our Lord and His truth…
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
(Philippians 4:8)
"Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ."
(Acts 17:1-2)
Weekly Memory Verse
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. (James 1:13).
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