SISTER, YOU MISSED IT

About 15 years ago, I delivered what I thought was a very moving sermon one Sunday morning. After church, one of the ministers came up to me and said, "Sister, you missed it." His statement was intended to let me know that I had failed to preach the truth. I was stunned... and completely baffled. As I preached, I felt the move of God upon me to speak. How did I speak untruths in the process, and not know it? I believe the Holy Spirit would’ve nudged me and gotten me back on track if that were the case.

I went home from church that day, and sat down at my study table and prayed, "Lord, please show me where I missed it." I began the study of the text once again starting at the very first verse, and in the second go-around, the Lord gave me the exact same revelation that He had given me the first time.

I slammed my Bible shut and said, “He’ll get it later.” Neither he nor I, ever brought it up again.

The apostle Paul’s prayer to God for the Ephesian church was that God would give them the ability to see with their spiritual eyes the true riches of God, and that they would be filled with wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

In this age, we may not see everything with perfect clarity. Again, the apostle Paul said, “Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Cor. 13:12). We may not agree on everything concerning the Bible. For some, enlightenment will come later as they receive the faith to believe and receive the truths of God. Even so, we still have the ability to dwell together in unity even while we disagree.

When we build our house on the foundation of the Rock, it will stand. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and revealer. He uncovers truth when we really want to know the truth, and when we’re ready to handle it. He will make it known to us and cause us to see, just as Paul prayed in the first chapter of Ephesians.

There have been times when I asked God hard questions and He said that I was not ready to know the truth about what I asked. Then as years passed, He revealed it to me as I was mature enough to receive it. A newborn baby cannot consume a steak when he is first born but as he grows and develops, in time he will have the capacity to digest a steak.

There is no need to agonize over who is right, and who is wrong. In time, the Holy Spirit will work that out. Just keep growing.

James 1:5-6 (NKJV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

1 John 2:20-21 (NKJV) You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

Go in peace.

To God be the glory.

Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove