Do You Know?

John 16:^16&18 “In a little while you won’t see me anymore. But a little while after that, you will see me again.” “And what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.”

Yesterday, we said that when God says to us, ‘in a little while’, it does not really help us because we are wondering what He means. For some of us like in the case of the disciples, that little while is just a few hours to go. Yet in a little while for some of us, it is just three more days, and what we have been waiting on God for will happen. We have to get comfortable with ‘in a little while’ because of the heart of the Person that is saying it. He has our best intentions at heart.

“…what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.” Interestingly, for the first time, the disciples admitted that they did not know. Usually, one person amongst them will volunteer an answer. The closest to this was when Peter told John to ask Jesus who would betray Him. But typically, they are very smart, always coming up with answers. However, for the first time, they admitted that they did not know, and it is a huge lesson for us. The lesson is, until you know that you do not know, you never know. You begin to know the moment you know that you do not know. That is the beginning of knowing. But until you know that you do not know, you never know. So, I am speaking with someone who is about to take a major step as their Pastor. And the person is making a lot of effort to bamboozle me and to let me know that they are experts.

I smile. Even the little potholes that I see in their plan, I cannot say because the person knows it all already. Only for a few years to pass and the same person admits to not knowing. Why do you have to go through that first? Why don’t you start with admitting that you do not know? Which is where to start from if you do not know. Have you been married before? You are single and they are telling you about marriage in marriage counselling, but you are not listening. Sometimes when I take marriage counselling class, or when I peep into marriage counselling classes, the soon to be married people are not listening. They are just there to mark the attendance because everything you talk about, they know already. The Pastors and Ministers that take marriage counselling know what I am talking about. You can literally see it in their faces that they think you are wasting their time. They believe they already know all these things.

Then just one year into marriage, somebody is raising a life or death alarm. Until you know that you do not know, you never know. You have never been married before, so when you sit down in front of people that are counselling you, forget about everything you have learnt from books. You know nothing; go there seeking to learn, that is when you can actually learn. All your life, you have been in paid employment and you want to venture into business. Writing beautiful business plans does not prepare you for entrepreneurship. Go and listen to the people that have gone ahead of you. When you listen, you save yourself a lot of heartaches.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, please help me develop a listening heart and a teachable spirit, in Jesus Name. Amen!