“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 authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 16-12-15
Now in this passage Jesus was talking to the disciples. He was letting them know that they still had much to learn, but there was about to come a time they would not be learning from Him in the physical sense, but they would have the Holy Spirit who would teach them. I wonder too if He was specifically talking about His death on the cross when He said “but you cannot bear them now”.
This passage also resonates with me when I read it. You see I am one of those people who thinks “just tell me what’s coming and I’ll deal with it!” But really could I? Would I? I think, as much as I hate it at times, life unfolds as it should one step at a time. We do know the end of the story as Christians, we know that our side wins in the end. But it’s the stuff between now and then that I THINK I want to know.
The Holy Spirit living inside of us, tells us what the Father wants us to know. He knows the ways we should go. He can guide us, when we tune our ears to hear His voice. But we still have the free will to live our lives and to make decisions and to make mistakes and to succeed. If I knew how the story was going to unfold would I really make right decisions based on that knowledge or would I become so comfortable that I “knew” what was going to happen that I wouldn’t “need” the Holy Spirit to guide me therefore I would not spend the time in prayer that I should? This may sound like a lot of crazy rambling to you. But it’s really just me processing my own thoughts. You see I know me, and I really if I get down to it, I think that if I “knew” the story, I would become complacent and lazy. I would get that extra hour of sleep in the morning that my body craves. I would not spend the time that I need to laying my worries, my cares, my concerns, my life and my requests for my friends and families at the cross every day. You see I know that God’s got it. I know in my heart of hearts that the things that are worrying me, the things I care about, the concerns I have over the future, what is going on in my life and what is going on in the lives of those I care about that God has got it ALL. But when I come to Him every day, it’s so I can hear His voice.
And you know what brings me such comfort is that He knows what I can bear and what I can’t. I know that He will have me when the thing that’s gonna hurt comes. I know that He will have me when the good things come. I know that He has me. He has got my back. He goes before me, and behind me and beside me and all around me and within me. But hearing His voice say to me go this way, or go that way is what I need daily. As I bring all those things to Him and I lay them down and I ask Him to guide me through this day, I know that I will be able to bear what is coming at me today. As it comes, when it comes and not a minute before.
Oh Holy Spirit be my guide today and every day!
Restore 