Does God Give Us Understanding?
Can He? Has He? Does He?
Earlier this month, I posted two articles about reading, interpreting, and God’s role in our enlightened understanding. After publishing the second article, Can We Interpret the Bible on Our Own?, I remembered a text that encouraged me, and would’ve fit nicely in that article. Today, I want to share it, hoping to encourage others.
2 Timothy is Rabbi Paul’s farewell letter to Timothy, his beloved apprentice. Paul’s end is near, and this letter tastes urgent. Urgent in the sense of a teenage soldier, on the night of June 5, 1944, in restless anticipation that he might not survive the next morning’s landing in Normandy, frantically writing his momma. Paul writes desperately. His tone is blunt. His words are direct – whether as a rebuke or as encouragement. And he wants to leave young Timothy with a touchstone, so he uses word images that will outlive his death.
In the opening paragraph of what we refer to as chapter 2, Paul encourages Timothy to lean on God. Paul won’t be around to lend a hand, give sage advice, or bring light to moments of darkness in Timothy’s life. He encourages Timothy to lean in, and seek the grace of God that is available for those in Christ. The torch is being passed, and Paul wants Timothy to be ready, and up to the task. Paul encourages Timothy to remember the instructions he gave, and to share them with other faithful teachers who will share them with others. Paul is seeking message immortality – not in an arrogant or prideful way. Paul claimed to have received his message directly from Jesus, and he wants to ensure that Jesus’ message endures through a chain of faithful teachers. He sobers the message by encouraging Timothy to eagerly share in the suffering of Christ. Paul suffered; he knew that Jesus suffered; he knew Timothy would likely suffer. Paul knew there can be no joy without suffering. He encourages Timothy to be a “good soldier” of the Christ. Beginning with the soldier analogy, Paul gives Timothy three practical examples to follow:
Good soldiers don’t get distracted by civilian business affairs; but doing their job, they please the one who enlisted them to the army. Who enlisted Timothy? God or Paul? What do civilian business affairs represent?
Athletes are not given the crown unless they compete according to the rules. What are the crown and the rules? Who is the athlete?
Farmers, who work hard, should share in the first fruits of their harvest. Who is the hard-working farmer? What is farming? What are the first fruits of the harvest?
Clearly, Paul, as an educated man, would have no issue stringing words together. He could have simply said to Timothy:
Stay on task, do your job, and please the one who called you
Do what you should do; the crown is yours
Work hard, and receive the first fruit of your labor
But, he didn’t. What’s Paul doing in this text? We’ve already stated it. He’s desperately trying to shape Timothy’s future. Maybe Timothy was prone to slacking off, or becoming discouraged, or in his youthful immaturity, he wasn’t as focused as he should be? This is all speculation, but we know what Paul wrote, and we know the next sentence, as well.
He wrote, Timothy, “think on these things, because God will give you the understanding in all of them.”
I doubt a day went by in Timothy’s life that he didn’t run into a Roman soldier, an athlete, or a farmer. Paul is imitating his Rabbi – who spoke about birds of the air, flowers of the field, specks and planks in our eyes, houses built on sand or rocks, or seed scattered on various types of soil. Pictures outlive words. A steady, regularly encountered picture becomes a perpetual reminder. Every time Timothy saw a Roman soldier, an athlete, or a farmer, he remembered Paul’s words.
Wouldn’t it be great to know how this letter impacted Timothy?
It is important to see that God gives understanding. It is important to see that Timothy is encouraged to think. This is the beauty of Biblical literature. It is not about answers; it is about contemplation. Could God zap Timothy with understanding of Paul’s message? Yes. He’s done that, and He still does. But He can also use Timothy’s brain to think, meditate, and ruminate to arrive at the answers – revealing them slowly, over time, and embedding them into Timothy’s psyche.
A word of caution – Divine understanding is a gift. We shouldn’t assume all human thinking will always elicit Divine understanding.
Whether words on a page, or images in our mind, messages are sent – though sometimes veiled in a dim mirror. On occasions, Jesus healed the physical blindness of some, and on others, He opened their spiritual eyes. With Paul, or Saul, it’s a bigger story. Remember how he was struck down with a bright light, and heard a voice from heaven? Saul met Jesus. He’s doubly blind. He’d been spiritually blind for many years, but now he couldn’t physically see either. He was led into Damascus, and for three days Saul sat in darkness, not eating or drinking anything. Then, a man named Ananias, hesitantly came to Saul, after receiving a vision and instructions from the Lord. There seems to be a lot of “visual” context in this story! Ananias, as instructed, told Saul the Lord had told him to lay hands on Saul’s eyes so he could “receive” his sight and be filled with the light of God’s Spirit. He touched Saul’s eyes, and immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see. This is not regaining old sight; this is receiving new sight.
Now, the condemned Paul is writing to Timothy, wanting Timothy to see and remember.
Think, Timothy, and God will provide the understanding.
It’s important to consider whether we believe this can happen to us. Think about the answer, and God will give us understanding!