Resources/Articles
"How Can I, Except Someone Guide Me?"
“How Can I?” is a question many people have asked most often when there is something they do not understand. The situation was true in Acts 8 when the eunuch was asked by Philip if he understood what he was reading. The eunuch asked in response, “How can I, except someone shall guide me?”
Do we assume from the eunuch’s response he was incapable of understanding, or was he illiterate? NO in both cases! He was head of the treasury for Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. You must be literate and intelligent to fulfill such a responsibility. His question is one like many others who either read something for the first time or read something several times with “getting” it.
Ephesians 5:17 says, “Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” It accurately describes the circumstance of all who lack knowledge and/or who refuse to know the will of God. The Eunuch wants to know but needs guidance. How will he ever learn? Is he like some of those in 2 Timothy 3:7, who are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”? NO. He admits what many fail to see - “I need help.”
The eunuch is someone like us. We had to have someone sit with us and teach us about what we were reading in the Bible. Someone had to help us see what sin was. Someone had to lead us out of the darkness we were in to the light of the gospel. It had to be pointed out to us who to follow and what to give up.
God can use another Christian like you as an agent for His gospel to enter the heart of another soul. You may know someone who sincerely does not understand the Bible, or who has read the Bible and is convicted that the Bible cannot be understood. Help them. Show them. Read with them. Teach them.
The next time someone says, “How can I?” about understanding the Bible, tell them they can. Take the subject which puzzles them, confuses them, or concerns them the most and offer a Bible study where they can learn and understand. You may be the difference in someone not knowing about God to them becoming a Christian. Do you understand what you can do?
