How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. (Psalm 119:103-105)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
In Psalms and Proverbs, we’re told repeatedly to gain wisdom and understanding. I’m fond of understanding, but I have to confess, I’ve had some strange conversations with God about it. One that gets rehashed once in a while is this:
Me: “God, I don’t understand!”
God: “That’s OK. You don’t have to.”
Me: “No, You don’t understand, God. I don’t understand!”
It’s a good thing that God is so patient. I’d like to think we’ve all been in the same boat. Understanding and not understanding cause problems. The first problem is when understanding becomes the end, not the means. When this happens, understanding becomes an idol. If I understood, then everything would be OK. Well, no it wouldn’t. But I could tolerate it better. But that removes faith in God from the equation. This is why God commanded us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts (translation: will, not emotions.)
Another problem is when understanding equals approving or accepting. If I understood, then I would believe, or obey, or approve, or accept. Instead of being our idol, we make ourselves out to be god, and understanding is the whip with which we flog our servant, Jehovah.
A third problem is when, because we haven’t understood, we throw understanding away and make emotions our idol instead. We don’t have to understand; we just need to feel happy. “Understand” in various forms (Understand, Understanding, Understood) is found in Scripture more than two hundred times. Happy, happiness, and feel fewer than fifty.
The proper order for us to follow, it would seem, is 1) Trust, 2) Understand, 3) feel. When we let them get out of order, it leads to a broken life.
Me: “No, You don’t understand, God. I don’t understand!”
It’s a good thing that God is so patient. I’d like to think we’ve all been in the same boat. Understanding and not understanding cause problems. The first problem is when understanding becomes the end, not the means. When this happens, understanding becomes an idol. If I understood, then everything would be OK. Well, no it wouldn’t. But I could tolerate it better. But that removes faith in God from the equation. This is why God commanded us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts (translation: will, not emotions.)
Another problem is when understanding equals approving or accepting. If I understood, then I would believe, or obey, or approve, or accept. Instead of being our idol, we make ourselves out to be god, and understanding is the whip with which we flog our servant, Jehovah.
A third problem is when, because we haven’t understood, we throw understanding away and make emotions our idol instead. We don’t have to understand; we just need to feel happy. “Understand” in various forms (Understand, Understanding, Understood) is found in Scripture more than two hundred times. Happy, happiness, and feel fewer than fifty.
The proper order for us to follow, it would seem, is 1) Trust, 2) Understand, 3) feel. When we let them get out of order, it leads to a broken life.
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