Where Are You?

Matthew 13:11,16-17 - He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."

This comes at the heel of my last blog.

Jesus had just shared the parable of the sower and how the type of soil in which the seed was sown allowed for growth. Along the side of a road...birds can snatch it up in an instant. In rocks where the dirt is shallow...the seed will grow for a short period of time then die. Among thorns...the thorns take over choking out any hope of seeds being rooted. On good soil in good conditions...growth is long lasting and abundant.

This represents the different types of people who hear the gospel: those who hear, do not understand (or do not want to) and reject it immediately; those who hear, receive it for a time but when trouble comes do not trust in God and revert to means other than the Word to find peace; those who hear but cannot leave their old lifestyles behind, thus choking out the words. Only in the good soil will the Word flourish and grow. Where are you?

The disciples questioned why He spoke like this, in parables. Because, Jesus said, they already knew the mysteries because they had first sought Him, learned from Him, listened to His words. They were like seeds in good soil. They would understand a parable where others would not.

We are shown that the mysteries are revealed to those who want to know. Jesus comes to seek and save the lost, to open spiritual eyes and hearts. But we need to come to Him first. When we show we are sincere in our giving of ourselves to Him, He will do just that. But we cannot expect Him to bring revelation without first that commitment to Him.

I've heard or read testimonies of people who had encounters with God. He allowed them to recognize Him in an instant. Because of the impact of that encounter they became believers. Oh, that He would do that more often. He certainly can and I'm sure it happens often. In these cases they heard and they knew, they paid attention and received, obeyed, followed.

We all can understand some of the Word as preached or read but there are still many deep, hidden revelations. This is what the Word being alive is all about. When you come to Christ your spiritual eyes are opened and more revelation becomes yours. Just as Jesus is alive today, so, then, His Word becomes alive because He is the Word.

Daniel 2:22 says He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him. First God shows us our sin. We might think we are good by today's worldly standards, but God will show us how wrong we can be. When we come to grips with our sin, turn from it and seek Him, then He can show us things we would not have imagined.

It is not arrogance to believe or attain this knowledge. We will never know all things because we can never be God. But He will let us in on some of the mysteries. This is so amazing!

God wants us all to be saved, then to bring healing to our hearts and minds and bring His knowledge to us. That comes with submitting ourselves to Him, not what we deem important.

Matthew 13:15 - For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.