Understanding God’s Word

Psalm 119 is a 176-verse celebration of the glory of the Word of God. To David, it is the most precious of gifts. More than anything else, he wants to align his life to God’s Torah, His instructions, His pattern for a fruitful life. And, to do this, he needs ‘understanding’.

What is this ‘understanding’? David knows that it isn’t something that comes naturally or is the product of education. It’s something he has to ask God for. And he also knows that without it, he won’t be able to keep his life properly in line with God’s laws.

So, what is it? It’s what Joseph had, which enabled him to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis 41:39). He recognises that he couldn’t interpret the dreams, but that ‘God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires’. It is what Ezra had when he expounded the Law to the people (Nehemiah 8:5-12). Before Ezra started, he and all the people spent time worshipping God, coming to that place where He could engage with them and speak to them, Spirit to spirit. As Ezra read and explained the Torah, the people began to be deeply convicted of their sin. They started weeping. They understood the Word of God.

This understanding doesn’t come from academic study, from reading all the right books, or going to all the right courses and conferences, helpful though they might be. It comes from our relationship with God. Understanding is seeing as God sees and hearing what God says. And the only way to get it is to receive it as a gift from God.

God’s gifts don’t come by post! He gives them to us personally when we meet with Him and He with us. True understanding is impossible without being in relationship with God – the closer, and more submitted to Him, the better.

If I’m going to observe God’s instructions for my life with all my heart, I must start by being in a good relationship with Him. It’s the relationship that the Bible calls ‘the fear of the Lord’. Isn’t this what the writer of Ecclesiastes was thinking when he concluded his book with these words: ‘Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: ‘Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind’ (Ecclesiastes 12:13)?