To Encourage You

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 “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.”

Last night I was watching a nature program on PBS. It was about the natural history of the puma, which live in the Andes Mountains.  It explored the predator-prey relationship between these beautiful cats and the vicuña, a wild relative of the llama that lives in these mountains. The scenery was spectacular.  I have no idea how the photographers captured the wonderful scenes in this documentary, but I enjoyed them thoroughly.  As I was thinking about this this morning, I thought about how many other places in this world are similarly so spectacular, but they are places that I will never visit or experience. Then my thoughts went to the passage above. 

Here we are told that there are things that God has prepared for those who love Him that are beyond anything anyone has ever seen, heard about, or even imagined.  I thought about the things God knows about this world. All these wonderful places where I’ve never been, like the Andes of South America, the jungles of Africa, the icy vastness of Antarctica, and so many thousands of other places in this world that He created. He knows all about every bit of it.

I am always intrigued when I hear about how many new species of living things are discovered by scientists year after year as they explore places like the deepest parts of the ocean or other uninhabited regions of the globe, but these things, while previously unknown to man, have been intimately known by God since the beginning of time.  It’s the mark of omniscience, something man doesn’t now have nor ever will.  And that truth extends into the spiritual realm as well.

Have you ever seen an angel?  The Bible tells us that there are millions of them.  Have you ever been to heaven? Have you ever seen God?  I haven’t either, but the Bible is clear that all of them exist. They are all every bit as real as your next-door neighbor.  Yet, the Bible is also clear that when one becomes a believer, he or she immediately becomes a being to whom God opens his storehouses of spiritual truth. To the unbeliever, these truths are only mysteries. They’re like the wonders of the Andes.  Although they’ve existed from the beginning of time, if you’ve never been there, read about them, or seen a documentary, you’ll never know anything about them.  Their wonders exist, but so many never experience them. That’s exactly how it is with spiritual realities.  It is to those who know God that all the wonders not only of this world (for the meek will inherit the earth), but of the world to come will be revealed. The Bible tells us that we’ll have all of eternity to explore God and all He has made. And while we wait, we can know the depths of spiritual reality that only those with the Holy Spirit will ever have revealed to them, “For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). In the wonderful words from the NIV version of Psalm 25:14 we are told that “The Lord confides in those who fear him.”  He reveals things to those who have put their faith in Him that unbelievers will never know, and those things will continue to be revealed throughout eternity. It’s a promise that only an eternal, omniscient God can make!

So, do you know Him?  Do you know what you’re missing?  Obviously, if you’ve never believed, the answer to this question is “No!” But you can.  If you’re reading this it’s not too late.  As Jesus told his disciples, “to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Matthew 13:12). In other words, to the one who has a relationship with Christ, more and more will be revealed and provided from the One Who alone can reveal or provide them. But to the one without such a relationship, whatever they have now – be it wealth, knowledge, or anything else, it will all one day be taken away to their eternal loss.  So, if you don’t know Him, don’t you think it makes sense to come to Him.  Surely you have nothing to lose (that Christ won’t replace 100 times over per Matthew 19:29), while the alternative, sadly, is to lose everything.