Colossians 1:9-10
"Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."
Ephesians 5:17
Few things bother me more than a half-empty water glass. When eating at a restaurant, I do begin to worry when my glass reaches half-empty. My wife notices me shifting my eyes and glancing about the room for the waiter, and she realizes that the waiter has forgotten me for the moment, and there is a very good chance I will finish my glass before they return. That means I will be forced to eat, at least for a few minutes, with a dry mouth. For some reason this bothers me to no end. (Don't worry -- I never verbally express my frustration to the waiter. Their only clue that I am having a bad experience comes when they collect the tip. Hey, hey, I'm just kidding! Waiters out there please don't clobber me! I know you're busy!) At night I always completely fill up a glass with cool water and put it beside me on my night stand. Yet every morning when I wake up I carry a half-full glass back to dump in the sink. I end up wasting half the water I poured for myself; but do you know still yet at bedtime I can't bring myself to only fill the glass half-full. I know logically I probably will never drink it all during the night, but it does comfort me to have a full glass.
Paul says his prayer is that we would be full of understanding. It is a troubling, discouraging world. How great it would be to have that quiet confidence that no matter what happens, God has already filled us with the understanding we will need to deal with our situations. Now understanding can be a misunderstood / misapplied term in certain settings. It's best to consider, from a Biblical point of view, God's plan for filling us with understanding.
Consider some Biblical examples of people filled with a special understanding:
1. God gave Bezaleel a special understanding for handcrafting items for the Tabernacle.
Exodus 31:1-4
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass..."
2. God gave the tribal rulers special understanding so they could lead.
Deuteronomy 1:13
"Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you."
1 Chronicles 12:32
"And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment."
3. God gave Abigail understanding so that she could save her household in spite of her foolish and wicked husband.
1 Samuel 25:3
"Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb."
4. God gave Daniel and his friends great understanding to place them in positions of power in Babylon.
Daniel 1:17
"As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams."
5. God gave Solomon more understanding than anyone before him so that he could lead Israel wisely.
1 Kings 3:12
"Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee."
We need understanding to make the right decisions in life.
Psalm 111:10
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments."
Psalm 119:34
"Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart."
Psalm 119:144
"... give me understanding, and I shall live."
Proverbs 3:13
"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding."
Proverbs 4:5-8
"Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee."
We need to know the Source of our understanding: God's Word.
Deuteronomy 4:5-9
"Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this Law, which I set before you this day?
Psalm 119:99
"I have more understanding than all my teachers: for Thy Testimonies are my meditation."
Psalm 119:130
"The entrance of Thy Words giveth light; It giveth understanding unto the simple."
Proverbs 1:1-4
"The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion."
Understanding is not an automatic gift from God; understanding must be asked for and it must be sought.
A. We must for understanding—it is not an automatic gift.
Psalm 119:169
"Let my cry come near before Thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to Thy Word."
Proverbs 2:3
"Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;"
B. Understanding is "gained" and "learned" and "stored up" — it is not something“implanted”.
Proverbs 1:5
"A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:"
Proverbs 2:2
"So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;"
Proverbs 4:7
"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding."
Proverbs 15:14
"The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness."
Proverbs 10:14
"Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction."
It would be foolish for us to wait for a desperate situation to surprise us, and then to hurriedly pray and search the Scriptures for God’s Will in that situation.
How much better to have been “laying up” that knowledge and that wisdom for just such an event!
Understanding by itself is not sufficient.
A. We must have a desire to obey what we understand to be God’s will.
Consider how Solomon had such a great gift of understanding—yet he ended up building temples for his wives' idols! It wasn’t his understanding that was the problem—it was his desire.
1 Kings 11:6-9
"And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.
Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,"
Psalm 40:8
"I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy Law is within my heart."
Proverbs 21:16
"The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead."
Do you want to face Peer Pressure or Parental Pressure? When our Desire to obey is not as strong as it ought to be ( perhaps because of Peer Pressure from the world ), we must be aware that God’s Parental Pressure is coming. God sometimes puts His own pressure on us to make the right decisions.
Psalm 32:8-9
"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee."
B. As we grow in understanding, we must not get haughty but instead keep a humble spirit.
1 Corinthians 8:1; 8:4; 8:7; 8:9
"Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one... Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge … But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak."
The more understanding we gain, and the stronger we feel that we have a grasp of what the Christian life is all about, the easier it becomes to look down on others. We must remember that we have not and never will “arrive” at that level of perfect knowledge and understanding – we are always in the process of growing.
Our conscience and our mind can fail us. We are Spirit-filled but we are not infallible. There will be times when we are wrong, when we misinterpret Scripture, when our conscience misleads us, when we feel in our hearts that something is right only to discover that we have been mistaken.
In all cases, Christian love says, “I will love other Christians, exactly right where they are in their spiritual walk. My understanding is different than theirs-- my understanding may actually be better than theirs (more in line with the Scriptures) but I won’t let myself get puffed up into a better-than-him mindset.”
Understanding: Do you desire it? Ask God for it, but don't expect some magical "implantation". Search for understanding in God’s SourceBook. As you begin to discover understanding, apply it and obey it. Use your understanding in a loving way to help others—never abuse your knowledge in a way that would hurt or demean another Christian.
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