Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
John 16:12-15 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
The conversation as I might imagine it:
“You have already told us so much. Why hold back anything now? Tell us. So we can know too.”
“No, you would not be able to understand. There are things to come that are beyond your comprehension.”
“But how will we know when the time comes what is right?”
“I am sending a messenger, one that will live within you, who will reveal all that you will need to know when the time comes. That messenger will speak out from the love that God has poured into your hearts.”
Can you imagine? I would be one who would say to Jesus, tell me now! I want to know NOW! We are a people who search for answers, who want our questions answered. I often wonder if that is why so many of the Evangelical denominations are so popular. They seem to have all the answers. But Jesus himself has said, you couldn’t handle all the answers now.
What if Jesus tried to explain the dilemmas of our time to the disciples? AI, atomic bombs, climate change, immigration etc etc.
One of my heroes, Corrie Ten Boom, told a story that makes Jesus’ conversation clearer. Worried about the future, Corrie looks to her father for answers. She writes in “The Hiding Place,”
I sniffed a few times, considering this.
"Why, just before we get on the train."
"Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need-just in time.”
Jesus said, “The Spirit will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
No one would be overly surprised if I were to say to you that we are at a time in our history when we have many many questions. What is the right thing to do? What is expected of me? Why is all this happening?
But in truth, we are always at some crossroads in our lives. We are always left with questions.
Why did my loved one have to die? How do I keep on without him or her?
Why did that car accident have to happen? How do I replace my car?
Why did that tornado or flood or fire destroy everything? How do we rebuild?
These are the questions we live with day in and day out. Big questions and small ones. The answers are not always clear. But Corrie offers another piece of wisdom:
“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.”
God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us trust the engineer to get us through that dark tunnel.
In the letter to the Romans Paul offers us words of encouragement for those dark times. Let me read this to you from Peterson’s The Message. This sums it up perfectly.
“There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!”
Passionate patience, tempered steel of virtue, and expectation that God will reveal himself to us when we most need it! Just as Corrie eventually learns in the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp.
The Holy Spirit was with God in the beginning. Genesis 1
"The earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God (or the Spirit of God) swept over the face of the waters.”
The wind, the Spirit, just as in Pentecost is in you. All of God’s wisdom is available to you. And that wisdom is there for each of us. It is found deep in the pool of God’s love that has been poured into our hearts.
Living with the questions is not easy. It is in fact rather scary at times. But God calls on us to persevere with patience. To trust the engineer in the dark tunnels. To believe that when the time comes, we will be given the answers, the power, the gifts that we need to face whatever life brings.
At the beginning of my ministry I faced the challenges with the same fears many new parents have. I thought that I should be able to provide the answers. God has long since shown me that my call is to walk with others in the questions. And when we walk together, the Spirit moves.
Just as The Spirit came on the day of Pentecost when they were all of one accord. They were all together with the mind of Christ. May we follow their lead. May we listen and obey when the answers, the wisdom is revealed.
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