The Light of Understanding from God’s Unfolding Word
The Lord reveals himself to whom He wills (Mt 11:25–27; 16:15–17; Jn 6:39, 65; Eph 3:5). The simple, rather than the intelligentsia, are given understanding of the Most High. There are some exceptions, and their response is humility.
To know God, more than to know about Him, is an act of His sovereign grace. In other words, it is God’s free will and gracious choice, to allow Himself to be known by some, but not all. His people are a chosen lot (1 Pet 2:9), and this has been His plan from eternity (Eph 1:4–5). We know it by His decree, as it has been given to us in the Bible.
“The unfolding of Thy Words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple (Ps 119:130).” The window, where I daily mediate on God’s Word, looks to the east, to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains of the Idaho panhandle. I arise each day, while it is still dark. The light begins to appear in the east, and progressively, the imagery of the mountains takes shape. Colors change from first glance to the next. It is mesmerizing eye-candy, a delight for me each morning. The heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands (Ps 19:1).
The Word of God comes to us as light (Ps 119:105, 130; Hos 6:5). We are enveloped in darkness, and worse, we are blind to what God has revealed (2 Cor 4:4). He opens the eyes of the blind, however (Ps 146:8; Is 35:5; 42:7; Jn 9:32). The Word is the matter and the mode of this miracle of illumination and apprehension.
There is great joy in receiving Christ, the Light of the world (Jn 8:12). Blind men do not know what it means to see. They cannot comprehend light itself (Jn 1:5), let alone all that light reveals for the eye to see. The blind man does not know what he is missing.
Spiritually blind men are missing Christ (Is 42:8; Jn 4:22). They have heard about Him, but they do not comprehend what it means to know Him (Lk 1:77). For this reason, no man seeks God or His Christ (Rom 3:12). Being controlled by their sin nature (Eph 2:3), in the domain of darkness (Col 1:13), sin reigns in men of flesh (Rom 5:21), who are perishing (2 Cor 4:3).
People are not in their right minds (Eph 4:17; Jas 1:8). If they were not blinded, in their minds (2 Cor 4:4), they would see and understand their plight. Moreover, they would seek the remedy to their death sentence; but as it is, they do not accept Him because they do not understand (1 Cor 2:14). They are unwilling (Mt 23:37; Jn 5:40) and unable (Rom 8:7) to come to Christ or receive Him (Jn 1:12–13).
It is God who makes wise the simple (Ps 19:7). Many have approached the Bible with their own wisdom. Like a buffet they choose what they prefer, but they reject the rest. The Scriptures are from God, as a whole (2 Tim 3:16). They must be taken as a whole. They must be believed in their entirety, even with their “hard” sayings (Jn 6:60–61) and doctrines (e.g. Reprobation). It is enough that it reads, “Thus saith the Lord.”
The simple are filled with delight when they discover the simplicity of the Bible. Not that the Bible is simple, as in “shallow,” but rather, there is a clarity in holy writ that even a child can comprehend (2 Tim 3:15). Those who insist there are hidden codes and other dark features to the Testimony of God are grossly mistaken.
Wonderful words occupy the pages of God’s commandment (Ps 119:129), even to the point that many have risked or lost their lives, trying to get the Bible to others in their own language (e. g. Tyndale, Wycliffe, Luther, etc.). Oppressive empires of religious and political darkness have fought against this noble endeavor. They have no fear of God; therefore, the knowledge of Him has no beginning with them (Prv 1:7). They do the bidding of their father, the devil (Jn 8:44; 1 Jn 3:10), and rage against the Lord and His Anointed.
The Christian loves the Law of the Lord (Ps 119:97, 113, 163, 165). His heart’s desire is for more light. He prays to God for it. He revels each time God graciously adds to, or even corrects what the spiritual man knows, having the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:15–16).
Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24), and He is given to God’s elect, by the Spirit of God (Job 33:4; Jn 6:63), issuing God’s Word to them with divine enlightenment (Ps 119:105). This is better than fine gold (Ps 119:127). It is treasure, appreciating in value, in redeemed, earthen vessels.
May God continue to unfold His Word to you, and may your path be seen, step by step, as a journey on the narrow way that leads to life. Also, may grace abound toward you, to get wisdom from God, and may that wisdom teach you to be humble and give thanks.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
August 1, 2022
