What is understanding, and how can we get it? How is it different from knowledge and wisdom? I went to God with this question for decades, but He waited until now to give me the answer.
Previously, God had shown me that all wisdom, knowledge, and understanding come from Christ. God showed me that 1 Corinthians 1:30 tells us that Jesus is our wisdom and that wisdom consists of righteousness, holiness, and redemption (the freeing of a slave from sin). And He also showed me that all knowledge that is knowledge is knowledge of the truth. It does little good to have knowledge of that which isn’t truth. And Jesus is the Truth. That means that knowledge is knowledge of Jesus. And knowledge is more than just knowing about Jesus. Rather, it is the intimate planting of the Seed of Christ as we yield to His grace, which is through faith, which comes by hearing the Word (Christ) of God. But what about understanding? What is understanding? Then, we have these two verses:
Lean not on your own understanding. (see Proverbs 3:5-6)
Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (see Proverbs 4:7)
During a Sunday service, I got a picture of a giant jigsaw puzzle, and members of the body of Christ trying to put it together. We keep trying to get all the pieces and fit them in their places. As I thought about that, a thought came that many of the pieces seem to fit in one place, but there’s something a little off. You can force them into place, but they don’t quite work. That’s when God showed me that it’s not just the problem of getting all the pieces in the right place. It’s the problem that we have two different puzzles, so I said so. That’s when one sister started laughing and said, “I was just about to say the same thing.” One puzzle is of our own understanding and the other comes from God.
We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. (1 John 5:20)
We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. Colossians 1:9
Well, it didn’t end there. Not only are there two different puzzles, but those puzzles are totally different in their nature. The spiritual puzzle isn’t a puzzle at all, but it is the essence and glory of Christ in us. If I try to put the wisdom and truth of God into a cistern, I’ll find that cistern to be broken and unable to hold the flowing stream of Christ that comes from the throne of God. What about understanding? Understanding is the Christ in us that has been built up through God’s by-grace-through-faith process. This Christ in us never disconnects from the Father but is always immersed in that flowing stream of life from heaven. This has to do with acknowledging who we are in Christ both individually and as a body.
Understanding doesn’t come by careful analysis, theology, and hermeneutics. Understanding comes by being led by the Spirit of God and being transformed from glory to glory into the image of Christ.
