Bible League: Living His Word "Who has known the mind of the Lord?Or who has been his counselor?" The God of the Judeo-Christian tradition is unique among the deities of the world religions. The gods of the various pagan religions are merely creaturely realities – sun, moon, stars, animals, etc. – that have been elevated in the minds of people to divine status. The Pantheist religions elevate the creation as a whole to divine status. The secular religions of our day typically elevate physical reality to divine status. Only in the Judeo-Christian tradition (and religions that have been influenced by it) does that which is taken as divine transcend the creation as a whole and any part of it. God transcends the creation as it Creator. Since the Bible teaches that God transcends the created order, it is less than surprising that the Bible also teaches that the mind of God transcends the minds of people. The questions of our verse for today are rhetorical. The assumed and obvious answer is "no one." No one knows the mind of God and no one has been His counselor. Isaiah quotes God as saying "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9). If it were not for the fact that God reveals His thoughts to us we would know nothing about them. God, however, does reveal things to us – but He does not reveal everything to us. God is under no obligation to reveal the fullness of what He knows to us. Although the Bible reveals many things to us, it does not reveal everything. The Bible leaves many of our questions unanswered. Further, when God reveals personal things to us, plans for our future and the like, He does not reveal the complete picture. Who can say that they know God's complete plan for their life? Given that God transcends the creation, and given that the mind of God transcends the minds of people, one can see why faith and trust are such major themes in the Bible. Since we do not know all the answers, we must trust God. We must trust that what He has revealed is true and we must trust that what He has not revealed is in His hands. Trust in the Lord, therefore, with all your heart. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJob 35, 36, 37 Job 35 -- Many Cry in Affliction, But Are Not Heard for Lack of Faith NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 36 -- Elihu Shows How Job's Sins Hinder God's Blessings NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 37 -- Elihu Says God is to be Feared Because of His Great Works NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 14 Acts 14 -- Paul and Barnabas in Iconium, Lystra, Derbe and Syrian Antioch NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.Insight Jesus reminds us that our speech and actions reveal the true underlying beliefs, attitudes, and motivations. The good impressions we try to make cannot last if our hearts are deceptive. Challenge What is in your heart will come out in your speech and behavior. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon 1 Thessalonians 5:25 Brethren, pray for us.This one morning in the year we reserved to refresh the reader's memory upon the subject of prayer for ministers, and we do most earnestly implore every Christian household to grant the fervent request of the text first uttered by an apostle and now repeated by us. Brethren, our work is solemnly momentous, involving weal or woe to thousands; we treat with souls for God on eternal business, and our word is either a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. A very heavy responsibility rests upon us, and it will be no small mercy if at the last we be found clear of the blood of all men. As officers in Christ's army, we are the especial mark of the enmity of men and devils; they watch for our halting, and labor to take us by the heels. Our sacred calling involves us in temptations from which you are exempt, above all it too often draws us away from our personal enjoyment of truth into a ministerial and official consideration of it. We meet with many knotty cases, and our wits are at a non plus; we observe very sad backslidings, and our hearts are wounded; we see millions perishing, and our spirits sink. We wish to profit you by our preaching; we desire to be blest to your children; we long to be useful both to saints and sinners; therefore, dear friends, intercede for us with our God. Miserable men are we if we miss the aid of your prayers, but happy are we if we live in your supplications. You do not look to us but to our Master for spiritual blessings, and yet how many times has He given those blessings through His ministers; ask then, again and again, that we may be the earthen vessels into which the Lord may put the treasure of the gospel. We, the whole company of missionaries, ministers, city missionaries, and students, do in the name of Jesus beseech you "Brethren, pray for us." Daily Light on the Daily Path Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.Hebrews 5:7-9 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. • Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. • And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, • being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 2 Corinthians 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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