Understanding as a Limitation

 

The power of God is in no way limited by my understanding of it. However, my insistence on understanding the power of God limits by ability to receive it. 

The faithfulness of God is in no way limited by my understanding. However, my need to understand the faithfulness of God critically limits my ability to receive it. 

While the love of God is in no way limited by my understanding of it; my desire to fully understand God’s love can limit by ability to truly receive it. 

Insert any number of words into this claim and it remains true: goodness, justice, forgiveness, mercy, will….

The need to understand and explain is a human desire. It is one critical difference between humanity and the divine. God told Moses in Exodus 3:14, “I am who I am”. What kind of introduction is that? God is. He needs no explanation!

We are told in scripture that God existed before anything was created; that His spirit hovered over the dark void. (Genesis 1:1-2) In the opening of his gospel, the disciple John explains that all things that now exist were created by God. Further emphasizing the point, he states that apart from God, nothing was created that exists. (John 1:3) Genesis chapters 1 and 2 tell the testimony of the creation of mankind. God required nothing in His work of creation, He acted independently and all other things had their origin in Him. As the source, God has no need to understand, He already knows! He is the starting point and all things find their explanation within His very existence.

As humans, our desire to understand is a grasp for knowledge and control. While there are countless things we can understand, there are others we cannot. Often our pursuit of understanding becomes a source of frustration and can in fact limit our relationship with God.

Throughout scripture we see verses that express the limits of human understanding: 

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8-9 

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.  Isaiah 40:28

Man beholds from afar.  “Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him;
The number of His years is unsearchable.  Job 36:26 

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.   1Corinthians 2:10-11

We are not made to understand fully! Part of our limitation is a lack of understanding. God created us this way and for good reason! We are created for relationship with Him and dependence on Him. Faith is the basis of our relationship with God; it is the connection that holds us to Him. Our relationship with God requires faith, not understanding.

We are instructed in scripture to not depend on our ability to understand.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. 

Proverbs 3:5-6

And yet we often hunger and pursue understanding. Many of us demand understanding at times! We pray ceaselessly asking God “why” and “how” and desiring to know what He is doing and will do. The danger of this is that it can limit our ability to receive the very thing we are believing for.

Consider the need of physical healing as an example. We read promises in scripture of God’s ability and will to heal us. We believe that He can and have testimonies of times when He has healed us or someone else. But there are times when our prayers for healing go unanswered. This can be confusing and difficult. Often in this situation we seek to understand God and His ways. We ask Him and ourselves why the person is not experiencing the power and healing of God. We wonder if it is a matter of timing. We may ask what God is doing instead, or fear that He is trying to teach us something that we are missing. We are desperate to understand!

These questions often lead to doubts and insecurities. Perhaps we wonder whether God is in fact able and willing to heal. We may turn our questions inward and fear that we lack faith, obedience or trust. The focus on these doubts and insecurities does nothing to build our faith – they are in fact destructive to faith! It is impossible for faith to grow when we are focusing on what we perceive as a lack from God. When we are focused on what is not happening, it is also difficult to notice what is happening! If doubt increases to the point of questioning God’s character and connection with ourselves, we will begin to undermine our own pursuit of God.

In this way, the need to understand is a limitation. Our desire to understand has faith mixed into it, at least in the beginning. We want to understand, thinking it will increase our faith. Returning to the example of praying for healing; we think that understanding would give us the ability to adjust or improve our response to the healing not manifesting when we first prayed. We ask and seek God for understanding because we believe in Him; that is faith!  The problem occurs when we experience the lack of understanding we are seeking. If we begin to pursue understanding more than God Himself, we are immediately limited in our ability to receive.

We may believe that God is good and faithful to us. But in places where we don’t feel His goodness and it seems to us that He is not being faithful, we begin to question and doubt. A likely response to this is to pray and seek to understand what God is doing. While I don’t believe there is anything destructive about that response or desire to understand, I do believe that it can become a limitation. In our effort to understand, we often will begin to evaluate God. We evaluate His character, His will and His actions. Questions like these:  “Why is God allowing this?” “If He is good (powerful, faithful, forgiving, healer, merciful, etc.) then why/how is this situation not changing?”  “God must not care about me or is somehow limited in what He can do, because this circumstance is not changing.” While I don’t think there is anything adverse about these questions, they certainly can lead to a decrease in faith. Faith is built when we focus on what we see, know and experience about God.

It is possible to ask questions and process doubt in a way that supports and builds faith. But this requires that we surrender our demand to understand God and trust in His love and goodness towards us. We can be in doubt about God’s ability to heal but still believe that He loves us and the person we are wanting to see healed. Coming to God with faith in His character and asking Him to speak to us and our doubts is a choice of submission and trust. This is very different than wanting God to answer all our questions in order to alleviate all doubt.

There is a reward for surrendering our quest to understand. God promises to meet us in places of anxiety and uncertainty. As Paul writes to the Christians in Philippi, he makes the bold claim that the peace God gives exceeds understanding. This is the reward for trusting in God and bringing our questions and needs to Him.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.        Philippians 4:6-7

Peace that is powerful, deep and protective is the promise made here. When we exchange our anxieties for God’s peace we get Him; we get the work of Christ in our lives. That is a powerful exchange!  Our ability, as humans, is limited anyway. In this way we are different and desperate for God. In our choice to yield our human desire to understand, we are able to receive His divine peace. The peace of God is based on the unlimited knowledge, power and purpose of God!

The peace of God is not something we can create or bring about on our own. It is God’s and we must receive it from Him. Since there are no limits on God, there is no limit to extent of His peace. Understanding God’s peace is not required in order to receive and experience it. The promise is that peace is far better than understanding anyway.