January 19, Evening
C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling
"Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures." — Luke 24:45 · KJV
He whom we saw last evening opening the Scriptures we here see opening the understanding. In the first work He has many fellow-laborers, but in the second He stands alone; many can bring the Scriptures to the mind, but the Lord alone can prepare the mind to receive them. Our Lord Jesus differs from every other teacher: they reach the ear, but He instructs the heart; they deal with the outward letter, but He gives an inward taste for the truth, by which we perceive its savor and its spirit. The most unlearned of men become ripe scholars in the school of grace when the Lord Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, unfolds the mysteries of the kingdom to them and grants the divine anointing that enables them to behold the invisible. Happy are we if our understanding has been cleared and strengthened by the Master! How many men of deep learning are ignorant of eternal things! They know the lifeless letter of revelation, but its living spirit they cannot discern; there is a veil on their hearts that the eyes of natural reason cannot pierce. Such was our own case a little while ago: we who now see were once utterly blind, and truth was to us like beauty in the dark, unnoticed and neglected. Had it not been for the love of Jesus we would remain in utter ignorance to this moment, for without His gracious opening of our understanding we could no more attain spiritual knowledge than an infant could climb the pyramids or an ostrich fly up to the stars. The school of Jesus is the only one in which God's truth can really be learned; other schools may teach us what to believe, but His alone can show us how to believe it. Let us sit at the feet of Jesus, and by earnest prayer call in His blessed help, that our dull wits may grow brighter and our feeble understanding may receive heavenly things.