Understanding Part 12

Proverbs 9:10 NKJV

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

The scripture tells us that understanding comes with knowledge of God. If we sincerely want an increase in understanding we must pursue knowing God. Knowledge of God comes through His Word and fellowship with Him. We fellowship with Him through prayer and meditation, by involving ourselves in His work on earth as submitted servants, and by living our lives in accordance with the Book He supplied as our guide.

Understanding Part 11

Proverbs 8:1-6 NKJV

Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, beside the way, where the paths meet. She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors: “To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O you simple ones, understand prudence,
and you fools, be of an understanding heart. Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things;

These verses in Proverbs 8 reveal that one of the ways we get understanding as well as wisdom is by listening. We usually do more talking to God than listening to Him. It is challenging for the natural mind to be aware of a being that does not appear in the flesh. So we often talk to God and hope He hears us, but never expect that He might want to say something back. Even more challenging is practicing listening to Him even when we are not praying. It may be that we need to hear from Him more than He needs to hear from us. It could improve our level of wisdom and understanding if we realized that as Solomon said, wisdom and understanding are on the hilltop and in the meeting places. They are at the entrances everywhere we go. Sometimes we are in too much of a hurry to hear the voices of wisdom and understanding that speak to us to help us avoid hurting ourselves. Pride is another thing that hinders us from hearing. We have often had our minds made up about what we should do, want to do, plan to do, and we close our ears because we don’t want to be told anything to the contrary. It will be smart to humble ourselves and begin to give wisdom and understanding a chance to speak by surrendering our wills to God’s will and listening for the voice that is ready to speak to us in every situation of our lives.

Understanding Part 10

Psalm 119:130 NKJV

The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.

It’s amazing how sometimes simple people can have more spiritual understanding than those who appear to be so intelligent. The difference is the attitude toward God’s Word. The psalmist here says that when the Word enters our hearts we are enlightened. Though we may be simple it will give us understanding. That requires humility – coming to the Word with a desire to learn and not coming as though we already know it all.

Understanding Part 9

Psalm 111:10 NKJV

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

Psalm 119:34 NKJV

Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

One of the ways we can tell that we are growing in understanding is to observe how well we follow God’s instructions. The psalmist here says that those who do the commandments of God have good understanding. That makes sense. We exhibit a lack of understanding when we go contrary to what God has said. That’s why Psalm 119 included a prayer, “Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law.” May the Holy Spirit continue to teach and guide us into understanding more and more. That will result in our walking in obedience to what the Lord commands.

Understanding Part 8

Psalm 47:7 NKJV

For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding.

The psalmist here says we should sing praises to God with understanding. He says that God is King of all the earth. When you come before a dignitary, if you are going to give praises to that person, you would know something about them so you could speak intelligently – with understanding. How much more should we speak with intelligence and understanding when we praise the highest dignitary – God, who is King of all the earth. We should refrain from saying things we don’t understand. We need to mean what we say to God, and how can we do that if we don’t understand what we are saying. The only time it is legitimate to praise God without understanding is when we praise Him in our heavenly language. Then we understand that the Holy Spirit is helping us praise Him perfectly.

Understanding Part 7

Psalm 32:8-9 NKJV

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.

The psalmist David prophesies in the 8th and 9th verses of Psalm 32. Speaking on behalf of God, he says that the Lord will instruct, teach and guide us. In response, we should not be uncooperative like a horse or mule that must be forced to obey. He said these animals are like that because they have no understanding. That tells us that when we are stubborn it is due to a lack of understanding. In this case he is referring to spiritual understanding. If we understood who God was and how He cares for us, we would not hesitate to obey Him thoroughly, immediately and without having to be persuaded to do so. May God grant us understanding that we may become easy to instruct, teach and guide.