Got Understanding?

NOTE: This is a written version of the opening devotion I delivered to a Trail Life USA Troop 1874 on June 11, 2019.

What other languages do you know? How do you learn them? You learn them from someone who knows the language or from a book (written by someone who knows the language). How many of you know what the following means?

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour

Not many know the Middle English of the first 4 lines of the prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. You need someone who knows the language to tell you what it means (Disclaimer: While I know some of what the prologue means, I don't know Middle English):

When April with its sweet-smelling showers,
The drought of March has pierced to the root,
And bathed every vein in such liquid,
Of which power engendered is the flower

It's similar with spiritual things. Before I was a Christian, I didn't desire to read the Bible or even want to and if I did, I didn't understand anything in it. While no one has full, absolute understanding of the Bible this side of Heaven, there is Someone who does -- the Holy Spirit. When you become a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in you. He inspired the Bible as God's Word and inspired the writers of the Scriptures. With Him, you can understand and even desire the Bible as it is His Word. And He wrote it.

John 1:5 says that the Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. That Light is Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit comes to us by faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit is our Helper to understand the Scriptures and do what God wants us to do. It's like the old hymn says, "I need Thee every hour." We do. We know the lost certainly need Him, but the believer does, too, and we need Him every hour. We must abide in Him as we walk through life. He can open our hearts and eyes to understand His Word and do His Will. The Trail Life motto is "Walk Worthy" and we can walk worthy as we rely on the Holy Spirit. We can walk in faith in Him.

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