I know a secret

Mark 4:11 To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables.

As a child of God, one who has put her faith in God and His Word, and who has placed her faith in Jesus as her Savior, I have a level of understanding for spiritual truths in Scripture that those outside of faith in Christ do not have.  This understanding is not based in my training in theology.  It is not based in my intellect.  It is based in my standing as a child of God and dedicated follower of Jesus.  The disciples of Jesus gained understanding of spiritual things because of their close relationship to Jesus.  Later in this chapter in Mark, in v. 34, we are told again of the special connection the disciples had to spiritual understanding … Jesus explained everything from the parables to His disciples privately.  As a disciple of Jesus now, all these later, I see the truth of this in my own life as I continue to learn “privately” from Jesus and grow in my understanding of spiritual things.

Heightened awareness

Isaiah 22:12-13 In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine …

I am often reminded in Scripture that we do not see sin as God sees it, and these verses reminded me yet again.  Part of God’s condemnation of Israel was based on how they responded to God’s assessment of their sinfulness.  They took it so lightly because they did not see their sin as “all that bad.”  It is only as I grow in my relationship to God that I will grow in my understanding of sin and righteousness, learning to view both from a godlier viewpoint.  I have seen that develop in my own Christian walk through the years.  After close to 70 years as a believer and follower of Christ, my understanding of God’s holiness and my own sinfulness is much keener and more sensitive and the seriousness of the matter is heightened.  My prayer for my family is that this will become true for them also, as they grow older

How to understand

Job 32:8-9 But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.  It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.

The older I grow, the more I am understanding the truth of these verses from Job.  Although there are definitely ways in which age and life experience produce a certain wisdom in us, at the same time I see how this is not necessarily true in spiritual things.  For a person who has, and is, seeking after God, age can be a factor.  However, I have talked with a lot of people who have lived a long time but have not spent much time in pursuit of God and it is evident in the way they live, the way they talk about God, and in the lack of spiritual knowledge and of the Word of God.  My continuing prayer is that I will grow old as a wise woman, one who understands what is right.  To do so, I must continue to allow that “breath of the Almighty” to enlighten me.