the deep things of God

I happened to be reading through 1 Corinthians today and something really struck me. It's a verse I know all too well, and one of my favorite footnotes in the Bible.

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man's heart; things which God has prepared for those who ³love Him.''

Footnote 9³: To realize and participate in the deep and hidden things God has ordained and prepared for us requires us not only to believe in Him but also to love Him. To fear God, to worship God, and to believe in God (that is, to receive God) are all inadequate; to love Him is the indispensable requirement. To love God means to set our entire being — spirit, soul, and body, with the heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30) — absolutely on Him, that is, to let our entire being be occupied by Him and lost in Him, so that He becomes everything to us and we are one with Him practically in our daily life. In this way we have the closest and most intimate fellowship with God, and we are able to enter into His heart and apprehend all its secrets (Psa. 73:25; 25:14). Thus, we not only realize but also experience, enjoy, and fully participate in these deep and hidden things of God.

I think the thing that has always struck me is that love is the indispensable requirement. Not believing, not working, not struggling to please Him. Without loving the Lord, it is impossible for us to enter into everything that He has prepared for us. After I read that, there was just such a searching within me, as if I wanted to know the secret. How can all this become my reality?

1 Corinthians 2:10 continues: But to us God has ¹revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

Footnote 10¹: Different from taught. To be taught is related to our mind; to have something revealed to us is related to our spirit. To realize the deep and hidden things God has prepared for us, our spirit is more necessary than our mind. When our entire being becomes one with God through loving Him in intimate fellowship, He shows us, in our spirit through His Spirit, all the secrets of Christ as our portion. This is to reveal the hidden things planned by His wisdom concerning Christ, which have never come up in man's heart.

I was so encouraged. I have to admit that the favorite part of my day is when I can be by myself and just spend some quality time with the Lord. I am free from anxiety, free from responsibilities. Free to just spend time with Him. And to know that this is the way to enter into the depths of God is all the more encouraging. Thank you Lord, that You've even prepared so many deep and hidden things for us.

What a blessing we have. Lord, I want to fully know these things.

to Him I will give to eat of the hidden manna

The Lord has come a long way in me the last three years. And looking back, I realize His timing is so perfect and His intentions are so good. A few nights ago, I told my dad that I was in awe and thanksgiving with where the Lord has taken me.

Coming to college, I thought I knew the Lord, but the Lord has since showed me that it will take my entire lifetime to experience just a small portion of what He is. Praise the Lord that much of the land remains to be possessed. I was a good church kid all throughout high school, and while I did enjoy the Lord in a genuine way, it stopped there. There were highs and lows but it was always just superficial enjoyment, and not much inward dealing. No doubt that was good; to enjoy the Lord is never a bad thing, and I am thankful that those years established a solid foundation in my Christan life.

But the Lord wants to move on in all of us. The Lord wants to spread from our spirit to our soul. Since moving to a new environment, the Lord has placed me in situations contrary to my upbringing and contrary to my value system. But I've begun to learn that the Lord is sovereign. I'm exposed to see that we can love so many other things over the Lord. We can love our reputation before the saints or our ideas about what it means to be a good Christian more than the Lord.

The Lord has dealt with each of those things inside of me, and ironically, I've become more human in the process.

Maybe it's not so ironic. God wants to make us God-men. Men. Ultimately, we're still human by nature, but we have God in us. That's what makes the difference. Whether we have the person of the Lord in whatever we do. And a God-man is one who is so human, yet knows how to contact and depend on the Lord in every situation.

I'm beginning to think that God has now become my personal God. He is no longer just the God of my parents, the God that happened to be thrown into my upbringing, the God of some sort of religious duty. He is my God. He's become so personal and unique to me.

I'm eating the hidden manna.
I'm getting God into me.
Cause when God gets into me, I get into God.