for we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand – [2 cor 1:13]
i would encourage you to go back and re-read the first 12 verses of 2 corinthians. paul is pouring out his heart to help this church, his friends, understand the heart and mind and will of God. his desire, that they would fully understand what he has written about the heart and mind and will of God. how? through what he has written.
as an apostle, paul was writing the very words of God. through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, he was penning scripture. amazing! stunning! that is why he could say – i hope you fully understand what i am writing. these are not just my words, my help. these are the words of the LORD to you and i so we can fully understand his heart and mind and will.
does that sound like an impossible ask. that you and i would ever fully understand what God has said to us about any one topic or issue. does to me. it sounds like an ideal for which to aspire but not a reality for which to pray.
for this reason, because i have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, i do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead – [eph 1:15–20].
according to these words written by paul through the inspiration of the Spirit, we can know. re-read it again. it does sound like an impossible ask, but i encourage you, no i strongly admonish you to ask today to fully understand. what are you asking to fully understand? i believe God has something about him, something about his character, his heart in relation to affliction, to suffering, to your conscience, to wisdom that you want to know more fully. think about the things God has been speaking to us about in 2 corinthians. which of these things do you desire to more fully understand. today ask. today believe, that by the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead, that by God’s great power in Christ he would give you understanding, wisdom, and obedience. he may give it to you today. it may take several days or weeks of asking. but ask!
ask your wise and love Father! he wants to help you fully understand.
~ john ryan