Ready for… well, we don’t know (#reflection)
Beloved,
I heard a familiar verse referenced in a powerful sermon a couple of days ago. The verse is 1 Corinthians 2:9. I promise you, you know it. Verse 10 may be familiar to a few of us.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” — these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. (ESV, emphasis added)
The phrase “as it is written” clues us in that in 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul quotes an earlier writing. He quotes Isaiah 64:4.
From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for Him. (ESV)
For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. (KJV)
Note: These two verses may be worth adding to your devotional and meditation time this week, if for nothing more than a review of Isaiah 64:4.
I told you that I heard these verses referenced in preaching. Since then I have turned these verses over in my mind… and for all my years attending corporate worship, my heart finally felt the impact of what I knew in my mind.
WHAT IF I REFUSE WHAT GOD’S PREPARED FOR ME, AT THE TIME OF MEETING/RELEASE, BECAUSE IT IS FOREIGN TO ME?
Think about it … We have never seen it. We have never heard it. We have never dreamed it or thought about it in our hearts. What’s “it”? “It” is what God prepared for us. We have no frame of reference. There is no trick or test or method or formula to know it. We will only recognize by divine sight, hearing, and perception because 1 Corinthians 2:10 says these things Holy Spirit reveals to us.
A prayer rose up as I meditated, “Lord, open my eyes, ears and cause my heart to perceive what You prepared, so my spirit can bear witness with Your Spirit.”
Dear Ones, my prayer for the Lord’s church is that we stay focused on Him and allow Holy Spirit to focus our vision, tune our hearing and reveal to our hearts what His gifts to us. People are arriving in our lives as answers to prayer and we will miss their gifts (or them as the gift) if we judge naturally. Disruption is happening around us and we will miss the gift of God through it without revelation from Holy Spirit.
We do not know what God is prepared to give us, Dear Ones, without divine revelation. Without revelation, we will pray “old” prayers for finished works. Without revelation, we will claim to hear from the heap of things in our souls and minds not yet prayed through. Without revelation, we may harden our hearts to the thing or person sent by God because we love Him.
It is an ironic thing to desire what God desires, and then not recognize “it” as God’s gift because of our —
- fear
- conditioning/ stubbornness
- habit of being without it
- independence / self-sufficiency
- laziness
- distance to the Lord
Today, I pray we re-commit to being flexible and pliable in the hands of our Lord. Let’s let Him relieve us of what may keep us from bearing witness to His gifts to us. The release is here — we’ve heard it — and yet, many of us are starting to see the gaps in manifestation between us and others.
We need to be okay with the base fact that we do not know on our own God’s will for us. We need the Holy Ghost to help us, show us the truth, open our eye and ear, and nurture in our hearts what His plan is for us. Let’s lift our hearts and our hands, place our lives on an altar and learn to wait on the Lord again. Let’s wait on the Lord until He reveals what our eye has never seen, what our ear has never heard, and what has never entered into our heart. Amen.
Holy Spirit, reveal your prepared plan for us. Selah, and love to all.
Blogs I Follow
The Bereans' Commentary with Shaunta D. Scroggins, Ed.D. 