Many use experiences from their past or from others to judge marriage, relationships, career, ministry etc. It should not be so. Experiences many times are contrary to the Word and the Word must be our only foundation upon which we build our lives. Like King David of old, sometimes Christians are tempted to ask, why good things happen to bad people. I was meditating on a comment a wise person made on one of my blog posts and I remembered something Hosea wrote (Hosea 4:6). The reason why many Christians suffer, perish or do not succeed in life, career, relationships, IS NOT because of the existence of a Devil. The Devil’s head was crushed by Jesus at the cross. He is impotent. After the resurrection, ALL power was given to Jesus and He has given it to us. So why do bad things sometimes happen to saints? Why are God’s people sometimes on the losing end of history? Why do some Christians seem to have challenging marital experiences? I do not know it all but one reason is the lack of knowledge.
Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
God explains to Hosea that the reason for perishing or failure is lack of knowledge, otherwise known as ignorance or the Word or darkness. Light is knowledge and darkness is ignorance. To understand what God meant by a lack of knowledge, we must first understand what He meant by knowledge. The Hebrew word used by Hosea for knowledge is דּעת or da‛ath and it means knowledge but it also means perception, skill, discernment, understanding and wisdom according to the Brown-Driver-Brigs Hebrew definitions. So in Hosea 4, God was saying the reason why His people fail, are undone or brought to silence is the lack of knowledge, perception, skill, discernment, understanding or wisdom.
How true this is. The only reason why malaria killed missionaries in Africa in the 1950s was because they lacked the knowledge, skill and wisdom as to how to treat it. People perish from Cancer and AIDs today for the same reason—a lack of knowledge, skill or discernment. Personally, what I cherish the most about CE as a ministry is the availability of the Word i.e. knowledge. It is the knowledge of the Truth that sets free. Let us shun ignorance and run after Truth and then it can be said of us, so mightily grew the Word of God in them and prevailed (Acts 19:20). The Word of God must be our answer to every challenge. For this to happen, we must be full of the Word and use it only as our standard in life. We must allow the Word to grow in us.
Come up hither
Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Come up hither was the invitation given to Apostle John to leave the mundane, the elementary realm, the realm of sensory perception and soar into the realm of God which is the realm of VERITAS i.e. the realm of Truth. Today, the Holy Spirit’s invitation to you and me is the same as was given to John some 2000 years ago. Come up hither. In God, there are always higher heights and higher realms of existence to explore that transcend human experience or human wisdom. With each new realm are greater possibilities that no man has ever seen, heard or even conceived in their heart. This is what sets us apart from mere men—the grace to experience all that God has for us right here right now, living beyond the mundane.
Brethren, many folks purport to offer “Christian” seminars or talks on a diverse range of issues. In some of these gatherings, instead of using scripture as the basis and focus of solutions proffered, they use their experience or the experience of others to teach because experience is said to be the best teacher. This is what Apostle Paul called the wisdom of men. Join me in reading from Apostle Paul from the amplified version of the bible. He says it best.
1Co 2:5-7 So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men (human philosophy), but in the power of God. (6) Yet when we are among the full-grown (spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding), we do impart a [higher] wisdom (the knowledge of the divine plan previously hidden); but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world nor of the leaders and rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away. (7) But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God–[that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence].
What is the higher wisdom he was talking about that is available to us? It’s simply the revelation that God gave Paul and He in turn wrote letters to the churches. These are the letters that have become scripture. We are blessed to have the Wisdom of God written down for us. All we have to do is read and ask the wonderful Holy Spirit for understanding. Remember, one of the definitions of knowledge (da‛ath) in the book of Hosea is Understanding.
The principles and standards of the world and that of our kingdom are not identical. Ours is superior but only operated by faith in the Word. Let us endeavor to be people who know the Word and elevate it above human philosophies. Faith in the Word will transform any human reality into God’s reality. Let us no longer live as mere men. Rather let us arise to our true estate and live as sons of God (Psalm 82:6). Our path is ONLY upwards and forwards and NOT sometimes upwards, sometimes backwards.
Experience is NOT the best teacher: The Spirit of God Is
Experience is NOT the best teacher. The Holy Spirit is. Apostle Paul was never married, yet he gave us Eph 5. How is that possible? The answer is by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Experience can be positive but it is not comparable to hearing from God for yourself. The simplest way I know of to hear from God is through His Word. I have come to realize that there is not a single problem for which the Word does not have an answer if we will only search the scriptures for a solution and not look to the opinions of men or our past experiences. Let us abide in the Word and allow the Word to abide in us, so that we can transcend mediocrity and live truly as Sons of God to whom the earth and all creation have been willed.
2012 is the year of the Word of God. If there ever was a time when we allowed the Word of God to be enthroned in our hearts overthrowing the philosophies of men, it is NOW!
