Chapter 5. That Man Knows Not Himself Wholly.

7. For it is Thou, Lord, that judgest me; 1 Corinthians 4:4 for although no “man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him,” 1 Corinthians 2:11 yet is there something of man which “the spirit of man which is in him” itself knows not. But You, Lord, who hast made him, know him wholly. I indeed, though in Your sight I despise myself, and reckon “myself but dust and ashes,” Genesis 18:27 yet know something concerning You, which I know not concerning myself. And assuredly “now we see through a glass darkly,” not yet “face to face.” 1 Corinthians 13:12 So long, therefore, as I be “absent” from You, I am more “present” with myself than with You; 2 Corinthians 5:6 and yet know I that You can not suffer violence; but for myself I know not what temptations I am able to resist, and what I am not able. But there is hope, because You are faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but wilt with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 I would therefore confess what I know concerning myself; I will confess also what I know not concerning myself. And because what I do know of myself, I know by You enlightening me; and what I know not of myself, so long I know not until the time when my “darkness be as the noonday” Isaiah 58:10 in Your sight.