The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in John 7:27,
"But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from."
Here we see people who have a confidence in what they think they know. As they evaluated the claims of the Son of God, they felt they knew enough to know he was not the Messiah. Imagine being in the presence of God's one and only Son and determining he wasn't the One because he didn't check one of the boxes they mistakenly trusted in. They thought they knew that no one would know where the Messiah came from, and since they knew where Jesus was from, he couldn't be it.
Confidence is important. We should all be confident in what we believe. But evenly more important is placing our confidence in the right thing. Do we know what we really think we know? Can we know things for certain? Absolutely!
An example: In 1 John 4:16 we read, "God is love." That is a simple, knowable truth. I can know that and I can have a legitimate confidence in knowing it. We can know things with confidence. Where we might get into trouble is to assume we know how God might act on that love in a given situation. I can't be confident I know that for certain. Some run with this knowledge that God loves us and then assume that God wants to "prosper" us because he loves us. We should have all the goodies the world has to offer. Some say that since God loves us, he doesn't want us to become sick, or he doesn't want us to have frustrations in this life... you get the drill.
"But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from."
Here we see people who have a confidence in what they think they know. As they evaluated the claims of the Son of God, they felt they knew enough to know he was not the Messiah. Imagine being in the presence of God's one and only Son and determining he wasn't the One because he didn't check one of the boxes they mistakenly trusted in. They thought they knew that no one would know where the Messiah came from, and since they knew where Jesus was from, he couldn't be it.
Confidence is important. We should all be confident in what we believe. But evenly more important is placing our confidence in the right thing. Do we know what we really think we know? Can we know things for certain? Absolutely!
An example: In 1 John 4:16 we read, "God is love." That is a simple, knowable truth. I can know that and I can have a legitimate confidence in knowing it. We can know things with confidence. Where we might get into trouble is to assume we know how God might act on that love in a given situation. I can't be confident I know that for certain. Some run with this knowledge that God loves us and then assume that God wants to "prosper" us because he loves us. We should have all the goodies the world has to offer. Some say that since God loves us, he doesn't want us to become sick, or he doesn't want us to have frustrations in this life... you get the drill.
Some things we can know for certain, other things we can't. Wisdom dictates we distinguish between the two.
One thing I am entirely convinced of is that it is in the Scriptures: the reading, studying, meditating upon, memorizing, saturating our minds with, brings an ability to determine what we can know, as opposed to what we just might not know for certain in its pages.
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
One thing I am entirely convinced of is that it is in the Scriptures: the reading, studying, meditating upon, memorizing, saturating our minds with, brings an ability to determine what we can know, as opposed to what we just might not know for certain in its pages.
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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