To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 1:13-14 “For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand —just as you did partially understand us.”

Have you ever read or listened to something that made you say “Huh?!”  Often that’s a result of poor writing. At other times it’s a symptom of a person not really understanding the subject they are writing about. They are confusing because they, themselves, are confused.  And then there are things that are difficult to understand simply because they are difficult to understand.  For example, have you ever read a professional journal article in the fields of mathematics or physics? The technical jargon can quickly be overwhelming!

In light of this,  the verses above, written by the apostle Paul, should be a great encouragement to us, especially as they relate to the writings in the Word of God.  Here Paul is assuring the believers at Corinth, and all other believers for that matter, that the things he had written to them in the past, and the things he was currently writing to them, were things that could be understood by them. They were clear. He was saying what he meant and he meant what he said. And although some of the things he had written they had only partially understood, his prayer was that they would fully understand, eventually.

This is a wonderful reality about the Scriptures.  You see, Paul was writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, although these were Paul’s words, they were also God’s own words and teachings coming to us by way of Paul. Here we have the thoughts of the God who knows everything, whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:9). As such, it’s a wonder that we can understand anything God has said. Yet, the truth is that God’s Word can be understood. God, in His great grace, has condescended to us by speaking to us through people – people that were just like us. He has spoken to us through farmers, fishermen, tax collectors, and tent makers.  He spoke to us through a carpenter, His only begotten son. Not only that, He has given all believers His very Spirit, Who indwells us and teaches us the wonders of the things He has said (John 14:26; 1 John 2:27).

That’s not to say that the Bible doesn’t contain things that are difficult to understand. The Bible tells us that some of the things within its pages are more elementary (the milk of the Word) while other things are deeper and more difficult to grasp (the meat of the Word) (Hebrews 5:12-14). Even Peter affirmed this about the writings of Paul when he wrote the following statement: “There are some things in them (i.e., in Paul’s writings) that are hard to understand. . .” and then he warns his readers that there are people who are “ignorant and unstable” and because of this, they “twist (Paul’s writings) to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16).  Regardless, the truth of the matter, as Paul tells us in the verses above, is that what he had written can be understood, that it is meant to be understood, and God will help those who are filled with the Holy Spirit (“for the things of the Spirit of God . . . are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:15)) and hunger to know and understand what He has said to us.

What a wonderful truth that the God Who created everything and Who knows everything, has spoken to us clearly, in black and white, in ways that can be understood. And it is with these words that He has given us “everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).

So, are you reading God’s Word? Do you really want to understand it? Do you hunger to know this awesome God Who has written to us of His great love?  Well, if you want to know Him, you can, for He’s written to us in words we can understand. May our prayer be that of the psalmist who prayed, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18), for that’s the nature of the awesome Word of God, full of wondrous things that  our wondrous God wants us to know.