Devotional Reading (7)

 

 

“Let us remember that the lights which come to us in devotional reading are gifts from God, and not the accomplishments of our own abilities.” Whiston.

 

If memory serves me well, it was intercessor Rees Howells who used to read his Bible on his knees. While this physical posture when reading may not be for all of us, what the posture represents certainly is; we are to come to the Bible with hearts bowed, minds receptive, and with our entire selves on our knees.

 

Do we believe Jesus when He says, “…apart from Me you can do nothing”? (John 15:5c). This is a fundamental principle of the Christian life, we cannot live it, there is only One who can do so, and that is God, that is Christ Jesus in us. If we cannot live the Christian life, then we certainly cannot generate light in our understanding, we are certainly not the source of illumination and revelation.

 

This, my friends, ought to be a source of great reassurance to us, that we can trust our heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to open the Scriptures to us as the holy Trinity comes to us and communes with us.

 

And so we approach the God who loves us knowing that we may drink of the abundance of His house, that He gives us to drink of the river of His delights (Psa. 36:8). “For with You is the foundation of life; in Your light we see light.” (Psa. 36:9).

 

We can pray with confidence: “O send our Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling places.” (Psa. 43:3).

 

Do we realize that God has sown the seed of His Word of Light in the Bible, and that as we ponder and read the Scriptures that that seed will, by His grace, germinate, sprout, grow, and bear fruit within us? “Light is sown like seed for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart.” (Psa. 97:11).

 

We would not drive a car in the darkness without headlights, nor would we walk outside in pitch black darkness without a source of light, no matter how minimum. Why then do we venture out in a world of darkness without the illumination of God’s Word? Why do we not seek to see and understand all things in the light of His holy Word? The psalmist writes:

 

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psa. 119:105). And then, “The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” (Psa. 119:130).

 

We do not need the light of our own understanding, we do not need our intellectual prowess, we need the Holy Spirit to illuminate the Scriptures to reveal Jesus Christ to us, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). We must learn to always and forever rely on the Holy Spirit and to abide in the Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ – for He alone is our source of Light and Life.

 

In a culture, within and without the professing church, which is addicted to “how to” programs and self-improvement regimens, the foregoing can be challenging, for it goes against the grain. We try to teach others to live the Christian life when it simply cannot be done, only God can live the Christian life and He desires to do that within us; we are called in Christ into the koinonia of the Trinity.

 

Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19). “I can do nothing on My own initiative…” (John 5:30a).

 

Now then, if this was true of Jesus Christ, ought it not to be true of us?

 

Do we see the importance of Whiston’s statement?

 

“Let us remember that the lights which come to us in devotional reading are gifts from God, and not the accomplishments of our own abilities.” Whiston.