To Live is Christ — totally dependent

Today’s devotional verse is one that I’ve wrongly interpreted in the past. I thought that it was talking about the mysteries of heaven, but to get that interpretation, I pulled it out of context and failed to look closely enough.

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

While this may be true about heaven that is not the intended focus. I realized this when I looked at the source of this quote. It apparently came from Isaiah 64:4, but when I read that verse carefully, there are some differences. 

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him. (Isaiah 64:4)

Did Paul misquote Isaiah? What is going on here? As I began looking into this, I found this in a commentary . . .  

Men might hear with the outward ear, but they could only by the Spirit “perceive” with the “heart” the spiritual significancy of God’s acts, both those in relation to Israel, primarily referred to (in Isaiah) and those relating to the Gospel secondarily, which Paul refers to (in 1 Corinthians).

This tells me that Paul’s “quote” was not intended to be verbatim. He was quoting an Old Testament truth, not the exact words. He was rephrasing what Isaiah said just as I sometimes say, “In other words. . . .”

With that, I see that both verses are about the inability of the human mind to discern what God is doing unless the Holy Spirit reveals it. My eyes are not good enough to see God in action. My ears are not keen enough to hear His voice. My heart cannot discern what He is doing in my life. For this, the context says,

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. (1 Corinthians 2:10–12)

Just as I cannot know what someone else is thinking unless they tell me, I also cannot know what God is doing unless He tells me. Today, He is telling me that today’s devotional verse is not about heaven; it is about right now. It is about seeing the work of God in my life and the mystery and purpose He has for me. Paul and Isaiah both affirm that apart from the Spirit showing me, I cannot see God at all.

This is a wonderful reality. It is also humbling. I tend to think of myself as reasonably smart and discerning, but He says that without His Spirit, I am blind and ignorant of God and His ways. This means that I not only am unable to see what He is doing in the lives of others and in the rest of the world, but I cannot discern His dealings with me either. I cannot “get it” apart from the Holy Spirit revealing it to me.

When Paul wrote these verses in 1 Corinthians, he was operating under a similar reality concerning revelation from God. The Holy Spirit showed him the significance of this Old Testament truth from Isaiah 64:4 in two ways. It spoke to the blindness of God’s people then, and the blindness of the human heart now.

The difference between what I glean from Scripture and what Paul saw in Isaiah is that Paul was using what the Holy Spirit gave him to write Scripture. (Note that in the following verses, prophecy is not about telling the future. This word simply means telling forth the Word of God.)

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19–21)

The Spirit gave Paul the truth from Isaiah that he might share it with others, writing it for generations to come. My role in receiving revelation is to realize that all truth is from God, and I am supposed to heed it — pay attention to it — do what it says. I may not see the results of my obedience, but I am to obey anyway.

In the days ahead, I am certain God will show me more about this verse. Right now, I need to humbly thank Him for freely revealing truth to me. I also must also continue to love and wait on Him.