Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Knowing in part

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was reading about knowing in part prophetically. We know in part. We might have crazy promises that we have waited for in faith for 50 million years. But we still know in part and we prophesy in part. The moment that the revelation came to us may have been the most profound spiritual and emotional experience of our lives. And it doesn't discredit the revelation. His ways are not our ways. I'm mostly referring to the way events unfold in our lives. We may think that after we get a revelation from God that all these events are going to start unfolding in our lives in a certain manner. We know in part, and we prophesy in part. I know this sounds weird, but as I was reading the part about prophesies failing, and tongues ceasing, and knowledge vanishing, I was strangely comforted. I think maybe because it puts the power back on God, and less on man. It makes Him much bigger, much less easier to control. It provokes a place of uncertainty in me though, wondering why some people get healed, and some people don't. I can't say I get this. It has been baffling me the last several months on end straight. The only thing I do know is that I most certainly see through a glass darkly. I think that reference came from the way that mirrors actually looked back in the day. Men would get an inaccurate reflection when they looked at themselves in the mirror. It would give a skewed portrayal of what was really there. So then it goes to "but then I shall know just as I also am known." Wow... I wonder what that day will be like. To know like I also am known. This chapter makes God way bigger and way more uncertain, yet so grounded at the same time. He's not our genie in a bottle. We can't control Him. And just when He's moving in a certain way, and all of this amazing stuff is transpiring in our lives, Holy Spirit, who is like the wind--never knowing where its coming from or where its going--He may just take you from the rainforest to the desert in 2 seconds flat. But thank God that He is committed to the long haul, and not just the temporary. So here's a toast to not knowing. Not knowing some days what is going to happen.... such uncertainty. But we have our Father of lights who delights in his children, and in him there are no changes or shadows or turning. We can put our hope in that one thing today. That he is a good father, no matter what.

1 comment:

Kate said...

Amen. I thank you for putting into words something I've been struggling with in my own life over the last several months.