Chapter 8: Understanding God’s Word

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After Job takes his turn questioning God, God Almighty responds with His own set of questions. “Tell Me, if you know all this” says God in Job 38:18. The questions that God asks Job illustrate the limits of our human understanding. Indeed, the greatest education that I ever got was the

knowledge of just how little I really know when it comes to the universe of knowledge available and known by God. Yes, I completely realize that without God I am only a small part of what is possible for my life. But with God I can be all that He wants me to be. God asks Job “Who placed

wisdom in the mind of man?” He then asks Job “Who placed understanding in the heart of man?” Who did these things Job?

“Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart?” Job 38:36

Think about the organ of our heart for a moment. We know that there is life inside the blood. We also know that it is the heart organ that pumps this life throughout our body. When God places understanding in our heart,

God knows this understanding will also be pumped throughout our entire being. We rely upon the blood being pumped by our heart to bring life to our physical being. Likewise, we can rely upon the understanding being pumped by our heart to bring life to our spiritual being (our spirit-soul).

God Gives Understanding To The Committed Heart!

When it comes to understanding God’s Word, a complete science has

emerged called hermeneutics. This science seeks to pick apart the word of God and sift through it for truth and meaning. However, early in this book I told you that you couldn’t read the Bible with only your intellect. You need a heart for God to understand God’s Word. With only your intellect, you are

reading someone else’s mail. You will have no intimacy with the subject and you will not see behind the scenes for God’s meaning. Therefore you will lack perspective on what you read. In a way, it is like reading a recipe card that sounds simple enough to understand [cook, bake or make] with one big exception. The units of measure are totally unknown to mankind.