Have you ever thought about the extent of our ability to understand what God’s truth really is? Pastor and theologian, Bruce Milne, is of the opinion it has more to do with how much we obey God than it does our limited capacity for understanding His truth. Within that obedience we learn to silence distractions so we can hear what He says. At that point, we then have communication with the Father and can better follow his guidance.
Video Transcript:
Hi, this is Holly with Presence Point and I was listening to, uh, one of my favorite pastors today, Alistair Begg. And he shared a quote from Bruce Milne that I just, it, it really impacted me because there are times in my life I feel like I’m not smart enough to do what we get to do in Presence Point or I don’t have a good enough memory to do what we get to do in Presence Point or I don’t know God’s word well enough or I don’t have that M. Div degree or, you know, all the things that sometimes the enemy tries to beguile us with, right? Um, but when I heard this quote I thought, ‘Oh, man, I could be qualified for this.’ And here’s what that quote says. Again, it’s from Bruce Milne, “What we understand of God’s truth is related less to the capacity of our brains than to the extent of our obedience.” I’ll repeat it for you. “What we understand of God’s truth is related less to the capacity of our brains than to the extent of our obedience.” And I thought that makes complete sense. You know, when we’re obeying God, when we are trusting him enough, and listening to him enough, and being quiet enough that He can speak to us, and we obey what He tells us or we obey what He says through His word, man, our hearts are pure. There’s this perfect communication between the two of us. There’s nothing to break, ah, that communion. And, um, I was reminded of how perfect the Father, um, is. And also, what a sinless life His son, Jesus, led. But still tempted to sin. And I found myself in Hebrews chapter 5, verses 7 and 8
And the days of his flesh Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who is able to save him from death and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son he learned obedience through what he suffered.
So, I went from thinking, ‘Oh, I can be better connected when I’m obedient. I can better understand God’s word when I’m obedient,’ and guess what? That’s often going to come through suffering. Our Lord and savior did it. The Great Shepherd of the sheep, the Good Shepherd, the chief Shepherd, our Savior Jesus Christ suffered for us and through tears and cries He said, “Father, please let the most terrible thing pass from me.” And I think probably in those 40 days in the wilderness, He, wilderness, He was crying out, “Father, help me to obey. It is so hard. And I’m hungry because I mean my humanness right now is my God-man self, help me not to be tempted to the power that the enemy’s tempting me with. I know I have full power in You. And I think how that’s got to be us. We cannot shepherd well unless we are in God’s word. We cannot shepherd well unless we’re obedient and connected to Him in our communion with Him. We cannot shepherd well in ourselves. You know, in workshops Doug and I often say shepherding is a supernatural job that requires Supernatural power. And we know that Supernatural power can only come through the Holy Spirit. So today, shepherd leader, I leave you with this challenge, um, obedience, crying out to him with tears and cries and saying, ha, “Father, help me because it’s really hard right now and I really don’t want to like this person or I really don’t want to go down that road or I really don’t want to walk away from everything You’re saying to walk away from to do what You’re calling me to. Um, I don’t know what’s there.” But obedience is the key to understanding His word and to being in deep communion with Him. So as a fellow shepherd leader who suffers and struggles, um, I pray that in your suffering and in mine, um, we can learn obedience and be even more deeply connected to the Father and even understand His word even more effectively than ever before. Thanks so much for listening. Thanks so much for loving the shepherding message. May you live deeply into your calling this week. Take care.
