Verse for today – “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph. 1:17).”

For many years I worked as an automobile technician. I enjoyed the job, most of the time, and found it to be an interesting challenge. Each day I was asked to repair broken cars or trucks so that their owners could quickly and easily travel about the country. The most difficult problems were what we called performance issues; for example, the engine does not run, it lacks power, it cuts off intermittently while I am driving, it goes “zippeite, zippeite, zip” and acts strange every third day. These problems were not usually that hard to repair—once you understood the exact cause of the malfunction! The real challenge was understanding! So many minute details must come together each moment of an engine’s operation, to enable it to run smoothly, powerfully, and efficiently. Early in my career I had little to no understanding of this type of problem, and any vehicle experiencing such difficulty was repaired by someone else. Definitely not me! But as the years went by and my knowledge and understanding grew, I became more proficient. Now, getting back to Paul’s prayer.

Each day you and I live in an extremely complex world. We need wisdom and knowledge in order to live successfully, joyfully, and productively. I propose to you that there is one area of life that is of supreme importance; that is the knowledge of God! God made the universe. It is His character and personhood that establishes what is right and wrong; what is wise behavior and unwise. There is no cosmic list, older than God, that establishes what is right or wrong! God Himself is the definition of right and wrong. For example, it is right and wise to be kind because God is kind. It is right and wise to be honest because God is honest. It is best to be both just and forgiving because, you have it, God is just and forgiving. There is no person or thing more crucial for you to understand than God Himself.

This is Paul’s prayer. First, he prays for a spirit of wisdom… in the knowledge of Him. Wisdom takes all the information, details, and truth about something, puts them all together, and understands how they relate to one another. We will never understand everything about God because He is so much greater than we; however, God has revealed those things to us that we need to understand. This brings us to the second part of Paul’s request. He prays for a spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Him. We can go a lifetime knowing little about God unless He reveals Himself to us. But, if we humble ourselves before Him, ask for His help and forgiveness, and pay close attention, He is much nearer than you think!