How we relate to the Scriptures is most important. The Lord, speaking through Isaiah, said, For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). The Scriptures are written in the language of man, but the thoughts and ways of God that come through them are from another world Ė Godís world of eternity. The thoughts and ways of man are earthly; the thoughts and ways of God are heavenly. Thus the Apostle Paul said, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God (I Corinthians 2:9-10). So, you see, understanding what God has to say in the Scriptures requires far more than understanding the information. His thoughts and ways must be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, and He only reveals them to those who are willing to walk in them (John 7:17).
Deuteronomy 30:15, 19 I have
set before you today life and good, death and evil.
19 I call heaven and earth as
witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death,
blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants
This Bible that God has given us, both the Old and New Testaments, is both blessing and cursing, life and death. And how we relate to these Scriptures determines whether we receive the blessing or the curse, the life or death. The surface information holds the death. The thoughts and ways of God revealed through the Spirit of the Word are the blessings and life. Paul makes this very plain in his epistle to the Corinthians. God has made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. II Corinthians 3:6. The letter of the Scriptures, that which is garnered by human reasoning and intellect, ministers death. What the Holy Spirit reveals to the hungry heart for God is life and blessing. How we relate to the Scriptures makes the difference. There are many dead Christians today, who do not know they are dead, because they have been feeding on the husks of the Scriptures (Luke 15:16).
The natural reasoning and intellect of man cannot understand the thoughts and ways of God in the Bible. Listen to what Paul says. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. I Corinthians 2:14. That is why the Lord God says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil (Proverbs 3:5-7). Depart from the evil of leaning on your own understanding!
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are life.
The surface information is called the flesh because it can be understood by the fleshly nature of man. The divine life, though, is found in the Spirit of the Word. We must learn how to partake of the Word of Spirit. Way back in the Book of Exodus God said, If you will indeed obey My Voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine (Exodus 19:5). Now God didnít say to obey words of information. He said to obey His Voice. When He speaks of His Voice He is speaking of the words of Spirit and life that issue forth from Him. They are the same words that Jesus spoke of when He said, ďThe words that I speak to you are Spirit and life.Ē Even if you could be obedient to the letter of the Word, you still havenít been obedient to His Voice. Being obedient to His Voice requires receiving His thoughts and ways. We must learn how to hear the Word of Spirit. And the spiritual capacity to see and hear His thoughts and ways are created by God (Proverbs 20:12). It is not inherent in human nature.
The one thing that hinders Christians from hearing the Word of Spirit more than anything else is the assumption that they are hearing. The Pharisees thought they could see but they were blind. Jesus said, For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, Are we blind also? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, We see. Therefore your sin remains. John 9:39-41. The Pharisees knew the Scriptures as far as the letter is concerned, but they did not know the thoughts and ways of God. Thinking they could see, they became blind. Jesus has done all things well. He makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. Mark 7:37. Learn a lesson: If you want to hear the thoughts of God, become deaf. If you want to see His ways, become blind. And donít just say you are blind and deaf, really become so. When you really become blind and deaf to the thoughts and ways of God, then He can not only create these spiritual capacities in you but He will be able to do the same for others through you.
Copyright © 2006 by Henry DuBose