The Gift Of Understanding

Read: 1 John 5:15-20

We know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. 1 John 5:20

IN WORD

The world is full of agnostics—literally non-knowers, people who claim (about God or any other subject) that they just don’t know. Acknowledging darkness in the midst of a dark kingdom is certainly understandable, but we aren’t left in the darkness. When we come into God’s Kingdom, we come into a culture of understanding. The King wants us to know things. He wants us to be able to see clearly.

That doesn’t mean we’ll see everything, or that we won’t go through some disorienting times, or that we’ll have answers to every question. We are never promised omniscience, and sometimes true faith means clinging to God in spite of unexplained mysteries of problems and pain. But there are some things we can know regardless of what we see—that’s what faith is. We are promised wisdom and understanding when we ask for it. And that understanding comes in the form of Jesus.

That may seem shallow at first glance, but it really isn’t. The world is in search of wisdom; we seek a deeper connection with the wise one. Scholars seek to know facts; we seek to know a Person. Most people want to understand life; we want to understand God.

These are significant distinctions. Our understanding is based in a relationship of trust. Our limited mental capabilities are not enough to unravel the mysteries of the universe, but our relational connection with the Son of God is enough to put the mysteries on the shelf until we see more clearly. In the Kingdom culture, we have to embrace a foundational concept that truth is a knowable Person, not a set of facts. And in our knowledge of Him, we have life.

IN DEED

Cling to that at all times, especially during hard times. Security comes not in knowing the path ahead but in knowing the one who walks it with you. Facts will not comfort you. He will. And over time, He will give you understanding.

ADDITIONAL READING: Psalm 32:8-9

It has pleased God that divine truths should not enter the heart through understanding, but understanding through the heart.

BLAISE PASCAL