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A Mysterious and Tender Presence, February 17
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth:
so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
John 3:8
.
The greatness of God is to us incomprehensible. “The Lord’s throne
is in heaven” (
Psalm 11:4
); yet by His Spirit He is everywhere present.
He has an intimate knowledge of, and a personal interest in, all the
works of His hand....
It was the Maker of all things ... who created the human soul, with
its capacity for knowing and for loving. And He is not in Himself such
as to leave the demands of the soul unsatisfied. No intangible principle,
no impersonal essence or mere abstraction, can satisfy the needs and
longings of human beings in this life of struggle with sin and sorrow
and pain. It is not enough to believe in law and force, in things that have
no pity, and never hear the cry for help. We need to know of an almighty
arm that will hold us up, of an infinite Friend that pities us. We need
to clasp a hand that is warm, to trust in a heart full of tenderness. And
even so God has in His Word revealed Himself.
Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. The carnal mind cannot
comprehend these mysteries.... The worldly-wise have attempted to
explain upon scientific principles the influence of the Spirit of God upon
the heart. The least advance in this direction will lead the soul into the
mazes of skepticism. The religion of the Bible is simply the mystery
of godliness; no human mind can fully understand it, and it is utterly
incomprehensible to the unregenerate heart.
The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain
it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them. Men having fanciful
views may bring together passages of Scripture and put a human con-
struction on them; but the acceptance of these views will not strengthen
the church. Regarding such mysteries, which are too deep for human
understanding, silence is golden.
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