Not sure what He means . . . Listen to the teacher, stay in school.

12“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.14“He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.15“All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.  John 16:12-15

Today as I sat at the computer preparing to write this I was a little lost.  See I know what He showed me this morning, but did not want to talk about it.  Partly because, for me, it is still cooking and it needs to simmer a little. 

What do I mean?  

I mean that the truth of the thing has not fully taken hold of me.  I feel that there is so much more to be said to me about it and, so I am not ready to say it out loud.  I still lack understanding.

This is not uncommon.  There will be times in your meetings with the Lord that you will open up His word, words will leap off the page to you, and yet . . . you will not fully understand what it means, or why.  You will know that this is truly what God is saying to you, but you will still feel like in some way, you may be missing something.  And like me and many others,  . . . you just may be, you probably are.

Don't panic . . . Don't loose it . . . It's okay.

John tells of a time when Jesus was speaking to them and He told them that he had a whole lot more to say to them "but you cannot bear them now."  Likewise the words that He may say to you may not be the complete message because He knows that you and I may not be able to handle it now.  

I liken it to needing an algebraic equation to solve a problem and we have just learned how to add 2+2.  The math exists for what I need to resolve, but I am not ready to receive it. Does it mean that He is not going to teach me?  That I will not learn algebra? No, instead He is going to teach us, . . . well the Holy Spirit is.  The word will not NOT happen, it is true and will be found to be true.  We just don't know what it means yet.  But don't worry, you will be told.  You and I will be taught.

Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth.  He will not be talking of his own, but will be relaying what He hears from Christ.  He will take care of you, disclosing to you what has been shown to Christ from His and our heavenly Father.  

There is a lot of theology in those words.  But let's not make things a harder than they need be.  We add the word "theology" to a passage and all of the sudden we need a "Doctor So and So" to interpret it for us.  oooooohhhhh  But before we call the good doctor up, perhaps we should simply ask the Holy Spirit to do what Jesus says the Spirit will do . . . guide us, tell us what we need to know.  Simple.  Right?  Yes, really rather simple.

Simply ask.  Then comes the harder part.  

Wait, and continue to do what you do know to do.  Try reading and re-reading those words that lept off the pages.  When we miss something in a movie we hit the pause and often rewind and re-play.  Why not do the same thing with God's word?  Listen and wait.  

I don't have much else to say about today's word.  See, I am still listening, doing, listening, doing.  I know the Holy Spirit will take me from my 2 + 2 mathematics understanding to the algebra He knows I need.  In the mean time, I won't give up on Him -- I won't.  He will teach you algebra too. Hang in there . . Stay in school.  Listen to the teacher.  Do the assignments.

Got Word?

Love yah,