Issue 790 – Blinded – June 29, 2022
As we walked along Stony Creek Trail, the sun was hot, and the shade of the trail provided some cooling relief. The forest cover allowed gently dappled sunlight on the creek, but now and then, a bright beam of sun broke through. Those beams hit the water with blinding intensity. The photo doesn’t do it justice.
Like the blinding spots of light, sometimes in life, we have epiphanies, those “Ah Ha” moments. We understand something we have not gotten our head around or have new insights.
It can happen when we read Scripture. We are reading a familiar passage, and suddenly it leaps out at you. You could almost swear that it had never been there before, but you know it has. The Spirit has illuminated the text to a new level for you.
When those epiphanies help draw parts of Scripture together or bring new insights to light, they can be compelling.
Now, we need to be cautious in those moments. I have met more than a few people who had those moments and came up with “Brand new insights. No one in the church has ever understood this before. It changes everything about the Bible and Christianity.”
Those insights are most likely not from the Holy Spirit.
True Spirit inspired “ah ha” moments are quickly confirmed by other Scripture or discussion with other mature Christians.
When I have one of those insights, I am both surprised and not. I am always amazed and delighted by the new insights. Yet, I am not surprised because I know that the more time I spend in the Word, the more often they happen.
The scriptures are not just some old words printed on paper, as skeptics claim.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
We ought to expect the Word to speak to us. Not every passage will leap out, and there may be seasons of dry stumbling through the text. Yet, all in all, the Word will transform us.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14
There will be benefits for even a non-believer to read the Word, but until they are born again, it will never come to life. To them, it will always be just words: perhaps wise and inspiring words, but never the living, breathing, life-transforming living Word of God.
To the believer, they are the Words of Life. The biblical text is a message sent by the Maker of Heaven and Earth, crossing time, language and culture to reach and teach each of us.
I have read many books, fiction and non, well-written and junk, and things in between. Some I have enjoyed reading many times, but none has ever been alive and spoken to me like the Bible. I have never had a transformational epiphany while reading even the best of books, other than the Bible.
If you are not reading it, it’s time to start. If you are reading it, be watching for those dazzling bolts of light as He illuminates the text for you.
The World has conspired to keep the text out of our hands, and the enemy tries to keep us from reading it. Yet it endures and inspires.
People have died so that we might have the Word in our own language. Let us not make their sacrifice be in vain by leaving it on the shelf.
Keep reading and prepare to be inspired.
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed
Kevin.
Gleanings From The Word.
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (for the glory of God alone.)
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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