“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened…” Ephesians 1:17-18
April was an extraordinary month for my family. On April 5, my dad had a heart attack. It was a Friday. That afternoon, standing at the nurses’ station in ICU, the cardiologist told my mom and me to prepare ourselves. “It’s unlikely Charles will survive this hospital stay,” he said, “but you have to be upbeat for his sake.” The words felt like a punch right in the stomach.
That was a bad report, no doubt about it. The cardiologist is a crackerjack, very highly respected in our metropolitan area. Still, we were sure he had to be wrong. The reason was we already knew about another report my dad had received from Psalm 118:17, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.”
As far as I’m concerned, we can lay this whole dilemma of having to deal with conflicting information right at the feet of our mother Eve. Wasn’t she the one who thought it was desirable to have access to information God didn’t give her? “The knowledge of good and evil will make you wise,” the serpent said. Yeah. Right.
The past couple of months I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the information I use to make decisions. My pastor calls Jesus our “Pattern Man”, which is, of course, totally consistent with Scripture. According to Isaiah 11:3, the Christ would not “judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.” Jesus worded it even more plainly. “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things…” Mmme. Sounds like Jesus had a little more confidence in God than Eve had, more assurance He would not hold out or keep secrets.
I’m with Jesus. I truly believe God is trustworthy, ready, and willing to show me or tell me everything I need to know to be successful and victorious. I think He wants that for me more than I do for myself. He loves me, yes, but He also wants me to be in a position to bless others, and I can’t do that if I’m a wreck. Furthermore, I don’t think the knowledge of good and evil, that little gift Eve left me, has done me one bit of good when it comes to the things that really matter.
God is speaking all the time. He’s talking about what He’s doing in the earth (Amos 3:7). He’s talking about events to come (John 16:13). He’s talking about His plans for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11). He’s speaking through His Holy Spirit. He’s speaking through His Holy Word. Yet too often, having eyes we see not, and having ears we hear not.
Here’s what I’ve decided: The absolutely only reliable information about anything is what God says about it, in His Word and by His Spirit. Until I’ve heard from Him about a situation, or seen in His Word a pattern to follow, there is no way I can know what to do. It’s a simple as that.
By the way, Daddy drove Mama to church last Sunday.