Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
What will you do while you wait for an answer? There are times where the waiting process can be very difficult. I've been in many of those seasons and I'm in one of those seasons right now. I'm waiting, and it would be very easy for me to take what I don't understand and fill in the blank with something that I want that would make me feel better.
A Warning Before This Verse
Today's Verse of the Day is an encouragement with a little bit of a warning.
It comes out of 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 18. It says, "Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever! Amen."
Right off the bat, he starts with a word: "Rather." That means that something came before this verse. If you look at the immediate context of what Peter is saying, he's actually describing the day of the Lord—this is when everybody sees Jesus coming back.
There is a lot of vivid imagery that Peter paints with his words to show us how intense those days will be. He warns the church about something that people will do when they don't know what to process, when they don't have that make sense, and there's a lot of discomfort going on in the world.
He says that people who don't have understanding will twist their understanding and do it to the Word of God. They'll take the Scripture and they'll twist it to make themselves feel better.
We must be careful not to be like those people, whether we are the ones who will see Jesus come back, or we can learn from those who will see Jesus come back.
The Weight of God's Word
It's important for us to take Peter at his word here. He says: what happens to those who do that? They actually go toward destruction. He says that when we twist the Word, we make something out of it that God never intended.
I can think of many examples in Scripture where people who spoke on behalf of God, or were known as having a reputation for speaking God's words—like prophets—when they said things that God didn't say, they were dealt with severely by God. There was a weight to God's Word.
Don't Fill in the Blanks
As we learn from Peter, what I would challenge us with and encourage us with today is: don't make something out of an unknown just to feel better. There are times where we have to be comfortable with the unknown.
There are so many things about Jesus I don't understand. There are things I go through in my life I wish I had answers to, and there are things I will not know until I see Him face to face.
If I'm not careful—and I haven't been in the past—I've filled in the blank. I've gotten it twisted. I've taken the Word of God and I've used it to my advantage so that I feel better in my unknowns.
You May Find Yourself There
Maybe you find yourself in that place right now. You really want some resolve. You got a diagnosis a long time ago and you've been waiting for an answer for your healing that you haven't seen yet. You've been pinning your thoughts and your hopes on things that aren't necessarily found in the Word of God.
Maybe you have a relationship that's been broken and you're waiting for it to be restored. You're leaning on all of these good sayings and good sentiments from the people closest to you to get you through. But it's not what the Word points us to.
Go to the Word
I would encourage you today and challenge you to go to the Word and let it speak for itself. There's no need to twist it or change it. The truth will always outlast anything that's false or fake.
If Jesus means what He says when He says that He is the truth, then when you face unknowns in your life, when you have an opportunity to make something out of something you don't understand to make yourself feel better, you can choose to trust God.
Choose to Trust
You can choose to say: Jesus, I don't know how this is going to turn out, and honestly, I'm really uncomfortable. But I won't get it twisted. I won't make the Word what I want it to be. I choose to take You at Your Word and trust what You say.
