"Our Heavenly Father, revealing his majesty [in the gospel], lifts reverence for Scripture beyond the realm of controversy."
~ John Calvin
There's something beautiful that happens when one opens their heart to God's reality. Their heart like a budding flower opens and blossoms, embracing the light of the Spirit. The "light of the gospel" is not just seen, as if by our mortal eyes, but experienced fully be the senses of the soul. When this happens, all the theological questions one might be struggling with fades away in the background, and the only thing that remains is the pure awe one has in finding oneself witness to being in the presence of God's glory.
Nothing else matters but the glory of God!
Jonathan Edwards describes he who is "spiritually enlightened" as one that does not "merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart."
Edwards goes on to say:
"There is a twofold understanding or knowledge of good, that God has made the mind of man capable of. The first, that which is merely speculative or notional...The other is that which consists in the sense of the heart: as when there is a sense of the beauty, amiableness, or sweetness of a thing...Thus there is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgement that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness...When the heart is sensible of the beauty and amiableness of a thing, it necessarily feels pleasure in the apprehension...which is a far different thing from having a rational opinion that it is excellent."
Has your soul broken open and allowed the light of the Spirit to flood the innermost sacred parts of your heart to behold the glory of God? To taste His glory?....
There was a time I let theological questions get in the way of experiencing God's glory. In fact, I let such questions create a boundary between experiencing God for I started going about seeking His truth by means of man's knowledge and not God's Word. Man has much wisdom to offer eachother, but when it comes down to it, we are but a breath to God. True knowledge rests in God's Word and through the whispers of His Spirit that awakens us while reading His Word and opening it up to Him through meditation.
What did I gain from seeking truth from man first and God second? Confusion, restlessness of spirit and an even thirstier soul that felt near to perishing. I learned, that God's glory is less to be understood by the mind but more to be experienced by the heart.
Let's be filled with the Holy Spirit today and savor God in all His glory, letting His light awaken the senses of our soul as we bring lift high our praises!
Heavenly Father,
We are beings created to bring You praise honor and glory. We pray that Your spirit awakens our hearts, letting them bloom so that the light of Your Spirit penetrates every corner of our souls. We seek knowledge of you, but even over knowledge, experience of you. We thirst to taste the glory of God and have its truth echo joyfully in the corridors of our hearts. Cleanse and purify our hearts, renew them as we come to You, laying down the essence of who we are, so that we can become more like who You are. Help us lose ourselves in Your love so that we may shine your light even brighter amidst the world's darkness, helping to vanquish it and bringing about a greater depth of love to those around us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and forever will be.
In Jesus' precious name,
Amen.
