Then Jesus�?disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech.- John 16:29

March 9, 2008 Floyd Ray Gage

I can see clearly now. I understand finally. It’s all clear to me now. These are all phrases that echo what the disciples are truly saying in this verse. They are saying that they finally understand what Jesus is saying. It is true that Jesus did veil some of the truth that He spoke even from the disciples, because they were not ready to hear it yet. But it is also true that the disciples simply didn’t have a heart to understand some of the things that Jesus was teaching until later.

We sometimes forget that learning is a process. We can’t just learn everything at once. Our experiences in conjunction with our reasoning help us to come to proper understanding. This means that there are times that our experiences are not such that we can fully comprehend some things. There are also times that we have the experiences, but our maturity and reasoning are not able to make sense out of the events.

Jesus fully understands this about us. Therefore, there are times that He will share things with us that we can’t fully understand at the time, but they are essential for our future understanding. There are also times that the Lord will keep us from certain things, because we are not ready to deal with them just quite yet.

It is also true that the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves so there are times that we think we are ready for some knowledge or experience and we are not and also the flip side occurs. We can swear that we are not ready for certain knowledge or experience and the Lord knows that we are.

We must trust Him to reveal to us what we need to know when we need to know it. We must also trust the Lord when He holds us back from certain things. This can get frustrating, because we feel that we know when we can do certain things. Just as a parent must monitor a child and keep them from certain things and nudge them towards others, so the Lord does with us.

When we are dealing with others, we must understand this as well. We may think they are ready for a certain knowledge or experience, but the Lord just isn’t opening that door for them. We must honor what the Lord knows and trust Him. When the Lord is allowing someone to do something that we don’t think they are ready for, we must acknowledge that maybe they are more ready than we have given them credit for.

The whole purpose of this exercise with the Lord is to build our trust and faith in Him. Jesus will hold certain information and things back from us, because we would start to trust ourselves instead of Him, if we knew it or were allowed to do it. There are also the times that we need to step off into the unknown and trust the Lord, even when we can’t understand and see.

We, as the disciples need to acknowledge when clarity comes that it is the Lord’s doing and not our own. The disciples did not gloat over their new found understanding. They thanked the Lord for it. They knew the source of the understanding. So often, today, people take credit for revelations that the Lord gives to them and try to reap the glory for these things.

The truth of the matter is that we can understand very little in this wide universe of the Lord’s making. We should be grateful and full of joy at what we are allowed to know and understand. We must always understand that what the Lord gives, the Lord can take away. Seek new knowledge and strive to do new things, but always remember it is God’s decision on whether we get to know or get to do all things.