But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
One of the joys of ministering to people using God’s Word is when they see a connection between what they are reading and how it applies to their life. I once worked with a man who was facing prison time for DWI and was referred to me for counseling. He was a religious man and even attended church, but his knowledge of the Bible was minimal. A preliminary review of his knowledge about salvation was primarily works based in his thinking. As we explored the event leading up to his latest arrest, his focus was on how he was going to beat the charge on a technicality.
Exploring deeper, we talked about how his use of alcohol was impacting his life. Needless to say, it had caused a lot of trouble both personally and professionally. With that in mind, we talked about how difficult it was to keep his drinking from ruining his life. He had tried everything, but it was just not working. Each week I gave him reading assignments from that Bible about having victory over sin and asked him to write a summary of what he read. When he returned each week, we reviewed his assignments. Unfortunately his understanding of what he read was not even close to what it taught.
Despite emphasizing the gospel each week, he still did not present a clear testimony of salvation. So, we spent an entire session discussing in great detail what Christ did on the cross and why He had to die to save us. We discussed how the moment that we trust Christ as our Savior God the Holy Spirit comes into us to seal us until the day of redemption and gives us the power to have victory over sin in our life (Ephesians 1:12-14; Ephesians 4:30). With each point, I made sure he understood what I taught him. Then, I summarized the entire plan of salvation and asked him what he thought about it. He replied correctly a clear understanding of the gospel. I asked him then if he believed it. He paused for a moment, thinking, then said, “Yes!” About five seconds later, he exclaimed, “Oh, Oh, Oh, I see it now, I see it now!” and started feverishly pulling his homework papers out of his bag that he had written about the passages he read. With each one he summarized correctly what the passage was teaching and how it applied to his life.
From that moment on, he came to each session hungry to learn. Soon, he saw the connection between his drunkenness and what it said to God. It disgusted him like nothing he had ever experienced before, because for the first time he saw it with saved eyes as sorcery before a Holy God that He now loved. He desire to drink disappeared and his desire to learn more so that He could teach others what he knew in his Alcoholics Anonymous group sky rocketed. We spent about a year together overall, but he continues to take what he has learned to help others have victory over drunkenness.
Some people think that 1 Corinthians 2:9 is talking about God having wondrous things in heaven that we cannot even imagine. However, in the context of 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, today’s Scripture is part of a larger passage that describes how the Holy Spirit illuminates the believer about the deep things of God and how it applies to their life. This was demonstrated perfectly in this man. The moment he trusted Christ as His Savior, his spiritual eyes were opened and he understood what he had read and what I was teaching him. Sadly, many people do not understand the deep things of God and may even ridicule you and accuse you of being in a cult. However, do not let it stop you from patiently, lovingly presenting the truth of salvation through Christ in the hope that they too will have their moment when their hearts and minds are opened and they receive the glorious light of the gospel that leads them to wisdom and victory beyond all understanding.
