Can You Say “I Know”

2 Timothy 1:12

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2 KJV). It is always the work of the Spirit of God to bring order out of chaos, light out of darkness, definiteness out of indefiniteness, certainty out of uncertainty, a clear experience out of a mixed state of the affections and will.

My comrade, does your spiritual experience somewhat resemble the primal earth? Is it shapeless when compared with the rounded, clean-cut life of some Christians you know, void of the triumphant experience of salvation which they possess, and with gloom and deep shadows where there should be an unbroken flood of light? The Holy Spirit is continually brooding over you, moving over the God-created depths of your heart, to change this unhappy state of things and to bring your experience to that condition of which even the Father Himself shall say that it is “good.”

A man ought to be as sure of his salvation from sin as of his existence. There is no foundation in the Bible for a “hope-so” religion. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,” wrote John, addressing Christians, “that you may know [not guess, or think, or hope, but know] that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

Read the things that John says “we know” in his very positive epistles. “We know that we are of God” (1 John 5:19); “We know that the Son of God is come”

(1 John 5:20); “We know that we dwell in him, and He in us” (1 John 4:13); “We know that we have passed from death unto life” (1 John 3:4); “We know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him” (1 John 5:15); “We know that we are of the truth” (1 John 3:19).

Have you this certain knowledge? Have you let God finish His fair creation of purity and peace in your heart? The Spirit of God is brooding over you always, to help you, to teach you, to carry you ever forward, to finish the work of your glorious salvation.

The Bible hope is a sure one. Make sure of yours by believing God till you can exchange its faint expression for that triumphant cry of Paul’s, “I know whom I have believed” (2 Timothy 1:12).

Elizabeth Swift Brengle, Half Hours with My Guide