granted the mysteries

As I was reading this morning, it dawned on me that the very fact that I know God and understand such things as His holiness,  my inborn and undeniable nature of sin, who Christ is and why it was necessary for Him to die for my sins is an amazing gift of grace that I do not deserve and could never earn.  I realized that I should be praising God every day simply because He has chosen to impart such wisdom and insight to me.  That is no small thing!

Many men and women desire to be wise and learn all they can about philosophy and religion and how to "better" themselves, and yet their eyes are never opened and their ears never hear despite their great wealth of worldly wisdom.  Few people understand just what "God is holy" means, few acknowledge their sinful nature, and few really know the importance of Christ.  These are foreign concepts to the majority of the world.

Jesus makes it undeniably clear how blessed those that understand such things are in Matthew 13 - the beginning of His parables.  To His disciples He said, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted... ...But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your hears, because they hear.  For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not se it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Mt 13:11,16-17).

Here we are, with the full word of God at our disposal - the very mysteries of God written down for all the world to see - and still people do not see nor hear.  God, and only God, can reveal these things to the human heart.  Thus I see all the more that I am blessed beyond comprehension and in the presence of an Almighty God who has bestowed grace on one so underserving as I.