January 3

 ‘Clouds and darkness are around about Him.’ – Psalm 97:2

                I’ll admit that the lesson in today’s devotional is difficult to discern. Oswald Chamber’s talks about how simple and familiar the teachings of Jesus are to the unbeliever. At a glance, Jesus’ teachings seem to focus simply on doing good deeds and being a good person. They appear to be a list of guidelines and suggestions which we are to follow, but if this is the case, then why offer the sacrifice of Christ in the first place? Why not just stick with the commandments given to the Moses in the desert?

                When a person takes the first step of faith in Christ, moving away from generalization and toward studious examination of His teachings, the lessons become imperceptible by our own logic and devices.  When the author of the Psalm talks about ‘clouds and darkness’, he is talking about our limited ability to decipher Christ’s complexity. The only way to pierce the darkness is to examine the Bible with the light of God’s truth leading the way. We must place faith in His teaching, and study it without the familiarity of our conditioning.

                Jesus asks that we become empty vessels so that we can contain nothing but His teaching. To hang on to our perceptions, which are based on fallible logic, while studying His living word will result in our misunderstanding of the lessons. Moreover, God is speaking to us through His word. If we are applying our logic to His lesson, we are in essence speaking over Him. If we are to grow in Christ, we must learn to listen openly and study diligently.