Understanding God

If you’ve spent any time at all studying the Bible, I’m sure you came across something about God that you didn’t understand.  Precisely how God works or why He does things the way He does will likely always be a mystery.  From Eve and the serpent, Noah and the flood, Jonah and the whale, the walls of Jericho, all the way to the death and resurrection of Jesus, we may never know exactly the how and why of any of these incidents.  What we do know for certain are the lessons being taught by these events – trust God, love God, keep His commandments, and love your neighbor as yourself. Understanding the details of how something works isn’t always necessary.

Trusting God

Most of us use smart phones, computers, televisions, and automobiles without knowing any of the details as to exactly how they do what they do.  We are content with the results these things provide and are therefore satisfied with our basic understanding of how to make them function.   When we trust and love God, follow His commandments, and love our neighbor as God prescribes, we are blessed with the results of contentment and a joy-filled heart. All of us who have walked with the Lord for a number of years can identify precise results of our relationship with Him.  We can clearly see God working in our lives without fully understanding the precise details of how these things come about.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”  Proverbs 3:5

Listen for the Holy Spirit

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have been blessed with a direct connection to the mind of God.  The Holy Spirit lives inside every believer and points us in the right direction even when we are unclear precisely what God’s goal might be.  1 Corinthians 2:10-11 tells us this, “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”  As children of God, we have access to the Spirit of God and are therefore able to know with some certainty the path God wants us to follow. Sometimes we may not understand why God is nudging us in a certain direction but we know in our heart it is His choice for our life.

Avoid the Enemy

There are many things vying for our attention in this world – money, power, pleasure. All of these things can be used by the enemy to pull us away from God.  When we trust our bank account more than we trust God, we are moving down a dark road to nowhere.  When we trust our intellect more than we trust God, we are on our way to an empty space disconnected from the truth.  In Jeremiah 9:23-24 we learn where the ultimate security comes from, This is what the Lord says:  “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.

The Essence of God

Simply put, understanding God is equal to understanding kindness, justice and righteousness.  When we take hold of these three concepts, we are embracing the essence of God.  We don’t need to know all the intricate details of how and why God is enacting His plan in our lives; what we need is the faith to trust and obey his guidance.  Praise God for sending His Son.  Praise God for the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Praise God for our eternal existence.  Praise God for providing us with all the understanding we need to love Him, trust Him, and to share that love with those around us.

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