John 16:5-15 I Saw The Elephant This Morning

I’d read this section the other day, but didn’t get time to journal.  Reading it again this morning, I noticed the two-ton elephant in the room that I’d entirely missed before.  In verse 5, Jesus said to His disciples, “But none of you have asked Me, ‘Where are You going?’”

He’d been telling them He was going away, and He’d just said, “Now I am going back to the One who sent Me.”  All this talk about His impending arrest and death had them stupefied, I’m sure, and finally He acknowledged what they wouldn’t – that they weren’t communicating with Him about it.  He used “when I go away” three times in the remainder of this section instead of just answering directly their unasked question.  But He also told them He was sending the Helper – the Advocate or Counselor – the Holy Spirit. 

He also gave them a list of all the things the Holy Spirit would share with them because He wouldn’t have time to do so:
 

1      The truth about sin

2      The truth about being right with God

3      The truth about judgment

4      The truth that sin is not believing in Him

5      The truth that being right with God comes from His going

6      The truth that judgment happened when Satan was judged

The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth, He said.  Their problem was that their emotions were on overload and this prevented them from being able to absorb all that He was saying.  Yes, they did need the Comforter.  We do, too.  When life overwhelms us as it was doing to them, our Comforter will lead us to know what Satan is trying to blind us to:  that death is not an end, but it does mark the end of our opportunities to accept God’s loving offer of eternal life.  That’s the most important truth we need revealed to us and that we need to share.

Father, help me to talk about the elephant in the room with people You put in my path.  Use my words to help them come to know Your truths and to reveal to them Satan’s lies.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford