This past Sunday, we started discussing how the Holy Spirit enables us to understand God’s will. Now, admittedly, that is a pretty inclusive subject. In fact, the concept is so broad, we are left without any practical advice about seeing God’s plan for our particular life. We need to know what God’s wants for us so we can make biblically-sound decisions. How do we do that?
The first thing we need to understand is what we talked about Sunday morning. To know the specifics, we first must see the bigger picture. What we did first was to clarify the two kinds of knowledge we find in Scripture. First, God’s Word contains wisdom (This word is found in Ephesians 5.15). For our purposes, we considered mainly the concept within the New Testament framework. There, we find the word sophos. This word, translated wisdom, refers to theoretical knowledge. In Scripture, we find propositional truth, if - then statement. For instance, 1 John 1.9 says “If we confess our sins, [then] he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
One word for knowledge is ginosko. This word also can mean understanding. This term refers to practical knowledge, or, experiential knowledge. We, on the one hand, know how to apply a particular principle. For instance, the principle in 1 John 1.9 refers to confession. When we actually confess, we have applied the theory in a practical way. Further, we then have experienced the truth of confession and forgiveness.
In Ephesians 5.15-18, another word for knowledge was used: suniemi. This particular word means to perceive or have insight into something. For our purposes, we need to “understand” how these three words work together. We study Scripture and discover wisdom, or, propositional truth. For instance, Rom. 10.9 says, “ if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, [then] you will be saved.” We can read this statement and see the truth statement. We gain insight into the proposition under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; he makes the “if, then” statement come alive for us. Then, we practice the truth by confessing and believing resulting in our being saved.
We also considered two categories of people defined by Paul in Ephesians 5.15-18: the wise and the unwise. The wise person is careful in how he lives; he pays close attention to his conduct, with a view to eternity. He also sees his opportunities for witness and ministry. Further, he has insight into God’s will for his life. Lastly, he is filled by the Spirit with the Truth of God’s Word.
The unwise person is just the opposite. He lives carelessly, not paying attention to how he conducts his life, typically living for the moment. He is unaware of life’s opportunities for goodness since he has a careless perspective on life. This person does not understand what God’s plan is, or how that plan could be carried out in his life. Lastly, this person is under the control of some force or power other than the Spirit of God. He is being led towards an alternative, false reality in which no hope exists.
How do we translate all this information into our daily lives? How do we see God’s plan, gain insight into his plan, and apply his plan in a personal, specific way. The answer to that question rests in the source of wisdom itself: God’s Word. We need to understand the essential nature of Scripture if we are to benefit from its truth. Psalm 19.7-9 and 1 Tim. 3.16-17 will enable us to gain insight into Scripture. Then, we can put the Holy Spirit together with God’s Word, and begin seeing what God plans to do with our lives.
Remember, God does not want us to be ignorant of what He is doing. He is willing to open our eyes to His plan. We must, though, approach Him in the proper manner with the proper attitude if we want to know God’s will.
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