Desiring God's Word

I need to be willing to pursue God's word in order to gain understanding. 

 
John 7:15-18  The people were surprised when they heard Him. "How does He know so much when He hasn't been trained?" they asked.

16  So Jesus told them, "My message is not My own; it comes from God who sent Me.  17  Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether My teaching is from God or is merely My own.  18  Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies.

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There are a lot of impressive speakers these days, people that can keep you listening without staring at the clock, it is pretty common to have someone that is very skilled at communicating. It really isn't a surprise these days but in Jesus time they didn't have any classes on communication.

To the crowds that have been drawn to Jesus, his teaching is surprising, there wasn't anybody that spoke like him, ever since he was twelve years old he has been surprising his audience. (Luke 2:41-52)

It is always obvious that he knows stuff and he isn't making this stuff up as he goes. If is difficult to believe that he could possibly know much since he hasn't been to any of the rabbi schools. Everybody knows that he learned the carpenter trade from his earthly father and none of the local authority's on scripture or spirituality have taught Jesus.

Jesus let's them know that he didn't need to be trained to know any of this stuff all he needs to do is listen to what his heavenly father tells him to say. I love Jesus remark to the skeptical crowd:

Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether My teaching is from God or is merely My own.

If you read that too fast you don't realize that Jesus was rebuking the crowd for not knowing the truth of his message. Jesus says they don't understand his teaching because they don't want to do the will of God. I have to want to want to know, Jesus told this crowd that they have a choice to make, if I want to do his will then I will have understanding and if I don't understand then it my fault. I have to be careful to be sincere in following Jesus and desire to make him my Lord.

Choose To Know God
Proverbs 2:2-6  Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.  3  Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.  4  Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.  5  Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God.  6  For the LORD grants wisdom! From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

We have an entire book in the Bible that encourages the pursuit of Godly wisdom. The whole book of Proverbs talks about making good choices. Nobody is forcing me to live with Jesus as the Lord of my life. I have to make the choice to pursue his teaching, I have to have the desire that prompts me to actively seek out how to please God, I can't be lazy, sitting around talking about knowing God and what his will is doesn't do me any good, I have to pursue it.

1 Corinthians 1:18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

Lord, I don't want to be in the crowd that thinks that all of this is a bunch of foolishness. I don't want to use you for my own personal gain. Help me to grow in my desire to study your word so that I can know you.