The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV
As we begin to wade into the deeper waters of the book of Revelation, I find myself more and more dependent on prayer for understanding and discernment. Like a child stepping forward with trepidation into the shallow lick of water along the border where the shore surrenders and recedes into the depths of the waters of the brackish, beckoning ocean, I find myself moving forward along the shore of the book of Revelation carefully. In a moment, I realize I am in the midst of the deep waters of the story of how the story ends. The safety of the shore, of things I can grasp and understand, has pulled away. I am in over my head.
In this place I find my pride is on the line. What if I get it wrong? What if I comment on something and it turns out I am entirely off-base? How deeply do I need to delve into commentaries and other sources to “get it right”? How do I handle the Word of God with the utmost respect (it’s ALIVE and ACTIVE!) and where do I surrender in humble recognition that some knots of understanding will only be untied in the presence of the Lamb?
This I know. I adore the Word of God. I love every confusing, mysterious, comforting and dividing word - straight down into the very punctuation that helps this stumbling reader pause and stop all together to meditate on a smaller thing, a lesser point. I love delving into various translations that represent years of dedicated mining of this treasure given to us by God through the Holy Spirit.
It’s a rich comfort to me that each time the Word of God rises up in my heart, comes to mind or is opened before me, the Holy Spirit is present as well. Any insight, any understanding is a gift offered by God’s Spirit. So my prayer today as I swim in the sea of the opening of the seven seals is that I would be lovingly led to understand the things I am meant to understand and to humbly surrender to the depths the things that belong to the mind of God alone. No matter how deep the water seems, the shore is ever below, undergirding, ever below.
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