Jump Start # 3106
Psalms 119:100 “I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Your precepts.”
Wordle—it’s the latest game and fad that has people trying to discover what the five letter word of the day is. You put in a random five letter word. If any of the letters are in the word of the day, a color is given to that letter. It may be one of the letters but it may not be in the right order. Or, it may be one of the letters and actually in the right sequence. You guess. You start eliminating letters. Then it becomes pretty clear what the word of the day is.
Sometimes I spend a few moments in the morning playing Wordle. It’s fun and many like to start their day with that. The other day I was stumped. I tried every combination I could think of. Nothing was working. Guess this. Guess that. Try this. Try that. And, in the midst of all that, I thought about God’s word. I am so glad that God’s word is not like Wordle. Can you imagine starting with a blank page in our Bibles and you and I have to guess what we thought God wanted. Try this principle. Try that one. Guess here. Guess there.
When Paul wrote the Ephesians he told them that when they read what he had written, they would understand the insight into God’s word that he had. I wrote. You read. You know what I know. And, with that there is certainty, clarity, and an absoluteness. No guessing. No trying to figure out if it’s this or that.
From this we get some strong conclusions:
First, we all can understand what God wants. The Bible doesn’t mean one thing to you and something else to me. It’s not a million messages for the masses. There is one faith. Now we may misunderstand the Bible by a mile and have a million reasons why that happened. But if we understand it, we will understand it alike. There is no other way to understand it.
Second, the first people who received God’s word could understand what God intended. There seems to be a spirit of intellectualism making the rounds that is built upon ancient secular writings. There are insights to the language, the times, the customs that have only recently been discovered through study and archaeological findings. While all of that is interesting, it also says that the early people and those living in the middle ages could not know what we know. How could they please God if they had to have these recent findings and discoveries to explain God’s word? Yet those Ephesians were told to read what Paul wrote. He didn’t tell them to read other things. He didn’t tell them to go dig in the dirt awhile until they found some ancient tablets and then you would know. The apostle said when you read what I wrote, then you will know what I know. Could they go to Heaven with just the Bible? If the answer is ‘yes,’ then you and I ought to be able to go to Heaven with just the Bible.
Third, experience is a wonderful teacher, but God’s word excels that. Our passage drives that point. I know more than the aged. Why? Because he had the revealed word of God. The ancients had experience. However, some have been stuck in the third grade of life for decades. They may have the years, but not the knowledge. They may have been doing the same wrong thing over and over and over. By following the word of God, the Psalmist had Heaven’s perspective. He had God’s insights. The aged only saw things from their eyes.
Fourth, guessing works great for word games but is terrible way to walk through life. Major life choices must be made through the lenses of God’s word. The careers we follow. The people we invite into our lives. The plans and dreams we make. The choices that shape our attitudes and guides our emotions, all of these can bring us closer to the Lord or they can be hindrances that separate us from God. If you were buying a present for someone, unless they told you what they wanted, you might get close with a guess if you really knew them. But, you might get them something that they already had. But when a person puts out a list, you know this is what they want. There is no guessing. That’s what God has done. He has told us how to worship Him. There is no guessing. He has told us what marriage ought to look like. He has told us how to be saved and have a relationship with Him. No guessing. No hoping God likes what we did. No wondering if God will “re-gift” what we did for Him. We know. We know because He has revealed.
Do you know if you are saved? How would you know? A feeling? Hope so? A guess? Or, but what the word of God says? God has not left things up to our guessing, He has not said, “Come and find me.” He has come to us. He has revealed Himself to us. He has sent Himself to us. The word “Immanuel,” means “among us.” God came among us. He was made like us. He left an example, a pattern and a word for us to follow. There is no guessing. There is no try and see if this works. If not, cross that out and then we’ll try another approach. Not at all. We waste too much time trying to figure out what works. God has said. God has revealed.
Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. No trying to figure it out. No guessing. No see if this works. Not at all.
What a blessing that God did not use Wordle as a way of revealing His will. If He did, most of us would never know.
Roger