|
In the 28th chapter of the book of Isaiah, the prophet lamented thusly:
My people are making fun of me. They say, "Who does he think he's trying to teach? Who does he think he's explaining his message to? Is it to children who do not need their mother's milk anymore? Is it to those who have just been taken from her breast? Here is how he teaches. Do this and do that. Do that and do this. Obey this rule and obey that rule. Obey that rule and obey this rule. Learn a little here and learn a little there." All right then, these people won't listen to me. So God will speak to them. He will speak by using people who speak unfamiliar languages. He will speak by using the mouths of strangers. He said to his people, "I am offering you a resting place. Let those who are tired rest." He continued, "I am offering you a place of peace and quiet." So then, here is what the Lord's message will become to them. Do this and do that. Do that and do this. Obey this rule and obey that rule. Learn a little here and learn a little there. So when they try to go forward, they'll fall back and be wounded. They'll be trapped and captured. (Isaiah 28: 9-13 New International Reader's Version)
Have you ever wondered why it is that it has become the norm for most churches to evolve in a painfully slow progression of truth? It's not because that's the way God wants it. It's because they cannot learn any faster because they think they already know everything there is to learn. "Line upon line, precept upon precept" is only for those who can't handle more of God's truth in a single sitting. Eventually, this leads to "falling backward and being trapped and wounded."
When I was a very young man, just newly preaching, I was speaking at a large conference. After my session I felt that I heard God (not in an audible voice, but rather a strong impression) say to me, "Tell me that you don't know." I refused to say it because, at the time, I thought I DID know. My thoughts ran something like this, "God, what do you mean? I just finished speaking to hundreds of pastors, most of whom are older than me, about the Kingdom of God in great detail. I've spent years studying to show myself approved. Of course I KNOW." The voice went away and I didn't think much more about it until that weekend while trying to prepare a sermon for Sunday. I had absolutely no inspiration and ended up having to "re-heat" an old message, which the congregation quickly picked up on.
The voice kept coming back to me, again and again, with the same statement: "Tell me that you don't know." Finally, almost sarcastically, I said it. And something happened in that moment, even though I had made the declaration out of frustration and not absolutely sincerely. God heard me say it and He began to drop thoughts in my heart and head that had not been put there by any of my "studying." My mind began to be open to wondrous truths that have completely transformed the way I think and what I now believe and teach.
The truth is already in you, just as it was always in me. It's just been covered up by the "I Know" of dogma and indoctrination of Christianity and other systems of religion. Are you tired of the slow progression of truth in your life? Are you ready for a quantum leap in your thinking? When you reach the point where you are no longer satisfied with the "milk" of the word and graduate enough to admit that you don't "know" - that is the moment you show God you have cleared enough space out for Him to give you something new.
|
