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I Don't Understand

           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. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.  (Proverbs 3:5)


Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

 

This is my homework for the week. I’m supposed to camp on it, meditate on it, look at it in multiple translations and ultimately memorize it. I’m sure I’ve told the story before, but I’ve had a conversation with God that went something like:

“I don’t understand”

“That’s OK. You don’t have to.”

“No, You don’t understand. I don’t understand.”

And, of course, there’s the little problem with people (including me) saying, “I don’t understand” when they ultimately mean, “I don’t trust” or “I don’t approve.” Needless to say, I need to camp out on the first verse above and I doubt I’m alone in that puptent.

The first thing that comes to mind is the parallel between “with all your heart” and “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” The New Testament version of the second list would add “with all your mind.” So why should we love with all our all-ours but only trust with all our hearts? Why should understanding not be part of the all-ours of trusting God?

Let me give a simple example. There are lots of people who are upset about the deforestation of the Amazon. I’m not saying deforestation is a good thing anywhere, but they are specifically upset about the Amazon as the major forest that supplies our oxygen. The problem is that 50-80% of our oxygen comes from the ocean.[1] Of course, the ocean is suffering as well, but the point is that according to the understanding of many, the big problem is the loss of rainforest even though that’s not really the biggest problem.

Simply put, our understanding is limited at the best of times, and nonexistent at the worst. The heart, on the other hand, was seen as the center of the will and the will can keep functioning even if the understanding doesn’t.

Tomorrow, we’ll consider the S-word.

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