Come to Understand the Will of God
With study, we can come to a proper understanding of God and his will. While we can learn a lot about Him by studying nature, other things can’t be discovered until we read and study the word of God.
The Proverb says, ‘trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding’ (Pro. 3:5). To ‘lean’ on one’s own understanding is an attempt to support one’s own self. Without recognizing God and trusting in his word, even the greatest of minds become foolish and dark and contrary to God. The Einsteins of the world can discover great physical truths, but if they fail to recognize God then they are doomed to draw many wrong conclusions.
To study the Bible one must know how to read and comprehend. A recent article, Whole Language, Half an Education?, noted that over half of all first year college students in the state of California need remedial reading, as well as mathematics. It was also pointed out that 60% of 4th graders are behind in reading. Imagine the repercussions when it is God’s desire that people read and understand his will. We live in a society that is failing to teach this elementary skill. The results could be frightening. (Insight Mag, http://www.insightmag.com/articles/story3.html).
Paul, the apostle, taught that understanding God’s will is necessary if one is to "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord" (Col. 1:9,10). Paul’s prayer for the church was that it be filled with all spiritual wisdom and understanding. This should be our prayer too. The world tells people they can trust their feelings. This is dangerous because feelings can be wrong, since they rise equally from good and bad information. To the Ephesians, Paul referred to those who became "darkened" in their understanding (Eph. 4:18). Do you know why? Because of ignorance and spiritual blindness. We may have come into this world ignorant, but we shouldn’t leave it that way.
The mind will be darkened by taking a decidedly slanted and ungodly view of the universe (Romans 1:20-32). Take God out of one’s world picture, throw everything to chance and time, and even one’s appreciation of life is changed. To understand the will of God, one must first believe that He exist.
A Scribe rightly noted that we are to love God with all of our heart and understanding (Mark 12:33). The word for understanding refers to the putting together of things mentally as when streams of a river join into a larger stream. We are to love God with all of our understanding. I think this begs the question, what shapes our understanding? Books, television, and newspapers can reshape and distort our understanding of God. If this becomes the case, will we be pleasing to God? Our understanding of God comes from nature, but it also needs to come from the Bible. How is it possible to love God with "all" of our understanding if we have a distorted view of God and His will?
Great mysteries wait to be discovered by anyone who will read the Bible. Paul told the Ephesians that if they read what he wrote, they would understand his insight into the mysteries of God (Eph. 3:4). Later, in the same letter, he warned them to not be foolish, but understand what is the will of the Lord (Eph. 5:17). Questions of great significance wait to be answered as one reads the Bible. One cannot do what one does not understand. The student cannot complete the assignment if the lesson was not understood. Likewise, insights into these great mysteries are attained by diligent study. Some day we will be called to answer if we did God’s will (Matthew 7:21ff). It is vitally important that we now come to understand that will.
Let us study the word of God and pray for spiritual wisdom and insight. Let’ s enjoy the fellowship and edification we have among believers. Let’s learn God’s will and teach it to the lost. Do not be foolish, but understand these things.
Dan Mayfield
©1998 Dan Mayfield. Permission granted to use this article in any manner, as long as: 1) the content is not changed and 2) the name of the author is left on the article.
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