Gone with the Wind is a Confusion in the Word

Scripture: Acts 2:5-8

Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.   And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.   They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?   “And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?”

Insights:  Today’s verses show us the confusion found in the crowd of witnesses who heard the Holy Spirit come upon the disciples.  Notice some of the key words describing their mental and emotional state, “bewildered, amazed and astonished.”  Notice their questions, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?” “And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?”  These people have no idea what the Spirit of God is doing because they are lost at this point in the history.  John 16:13 states, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”  The Holy Spirit guides us into all the truth.  Another passage which helps us to understand this reality is 1 Corinthians 2:12-14, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.  But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”  A lost person can read the Bible and appreciate the beauty of its prose or the flow of its story, but it will be on the same level with which they read Shakespeare.  The message behind the Word is spiritually appraised or as other translations state, spiritually discerned.  In other words, only a true believer who is under the control of the Holy Spirit is going to understand the spiritual truth found in the Bible.  Because the Spirit is guiding us to truth and because He is opening up our spiritual eyes to understand what we are reading, the confusion so many talk about regarding the Bible is gone.

Questions:

1. Are you living fully under the control of the Holy Spirit?
2. Do you understand the Scriptures when you read them?                              

Prayer: Father, thank You so much for sending the Helper, Your Holy Spirit.  Because of You I am able to understand what the Scriptures mean and can apply the biblical truths to my life.  Increase my hunger for Your Word and continue to open my eyes to its meaning.   Amen.