15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
“What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God. What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight, and contentment, than anything else? Knowledge of God. What, of all the states God ever sees man in, gives Him most pleasure? Knowledge of Himself.” J.I. Packer
“In Christ the heart of the Father is revealed, and higher comfort there cannot be than to rest in the Father’s heart.” Andrew Murray
"Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders." Deut 33:12 (NIV)
When the Word speaks, He proclaims the Divine – we would all do well to have ears to hear. Truth and Wisdom are our Lord’s native tongue and Truth and Wisdom do not disappoint both being beneficial and desirable to the soul. We find in Proverbs:
1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, 3 and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Prov 2:1-6 (NIV)
14 Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. Prov 24:14 (NIV)
Wisdom applied will keep us from dark ways and crooked paths helping us remain in the narrow way. This is how the psalmist tells us we can keep are ways pure:
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalms 119:9-11 (NIV)
“The message of the Bible is addressed primarily to the mind, to the understanding.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Not too dissimilar, Paul tells us in Romans that as we renew our minds through the Truth of God’s Word, we will become discerners of God’s good and pleasing and perfect will – which, by the way, we do not want to miss:
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
“Have you ever felt the magnitude of God’s encounter with you? Have you so sensed His eternal purpose through you that you have radically and thoroughly released your will to His will, and your heart to His Heart? Have you been progressively experiencing God’s shaping your character to match His assignment in your life?...Every Christian is...called by God to be on a mission with Him in His world.” Henry Blackaby
Jesus stated earlier in John that His Words were reliable and were straight from the Father – He could be trusted – yet some of His hearers remained clueless – some things never seem to change:
25 "Who are you?" they asked. "Just what I have been claiming all along," Jesus replied. 26 "I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world." 27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." John 8:25-29 (NIV)
In our verse for today, the high privilege and standing of the believer is also strikingly taught – we are a friend of Christ as well as a child of the King. Christ has given us an exalted status indeed. As long as Christ is in heaven, we need never say we have no friend to turn to. Christ is the friend who sticks closer than a brother. He is our Hope, our Comfort, our Guide, our Joy, our Refuge, our Sufficiency and our Strength. He remains faithful – “the lamb-like Lion...the lion-like Lamb” (Lael Arrington).
14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." Psalms 91:14-16 (NIV)