When You Don't Understand the Scriptures

I was just reading 2 Peter during my devotional time this morning and I came across chapter 3 verses 15-16: "just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures" (emphasis mine).

I don't know about you but I took comfort in those 11 words in verse 16. To know that even the people in Paul's day thought some of the things the Spirit led him to write were hard to understand. Even the apostle Peter, who physically walked with Jesus, claims they are hard to understand. I suppose that it would not be a stretch to say that Paul may have found some of the things he wrote difficult as well; since he was "carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21).

We give up far too easily when it comes to understanding God's Word. We settle for surface level interpretations of some of the deepest, most valuable truths in the Scriptures. And maybe this is, at least in part, due to the fact that we don't understand Godly wisdom. Proverbs 9:10 tells us that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." That means that if we want heavenly wisdom, we must seek the Lord, not facts.

If your goal in understanding the Bible is to gain knowledge or to outsmart an atheist, you're going to come up with many facts but no real wisdom. Look at John 5:39-40 - "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." God's Word has life and is alive because it points us to Jesus. When we view God's Word as something we must intellectually solve, we will gain nothing more than facts (which by the way, do not save). But when we view God's Word as God's way of pointing us to Himself that we may know Him (Philippians 3:10), then we find life in the Savior.

But what do you do when you honestly are perplexed by a passage of Scripture? I think the first response is to pray. I'm not talking about those short tweet-like prayers that we have become all too accustomed to. I'm talking about real, fervent prayer (James 5:16). Ask God for wisdom and He will give it to you (James 1:5). Why would we trust our own wisdom when it comes to the infinite wisdom of God? Even the foolishness of God is wiser than man (1 Corinthians 1:25).

I think the next step is to study that passage with all your might. All throughout the book of Proverbs we are told to seek the wisdom and truth of God as a treasure; Solomon pleads with us that we would search for it diligently. We give up far too easily and would rather find a good commentary that we agree with than discover truth for ourselves. Do you realize that you have the same Holy Spirit in you that the greatest theologian has? He leads all believers to truth and understanding of God's Word. Do not think I am discounting a good commentary or saying that God has not given us great men and women to help us understand doctrine. But God also wants us to learn to understand His Word through the greatest Bible Study tool He ever gave us: The Holy Spirit (not that the Holy Spirit is a tool, He is a person. But you know what I mean).

So "study to show yourself approved" (2 Timothy 2:15). Search the Scriptures diligently and find Jesus in every page, every word, and every phrase. If we could all learn that the goal of Bible Study is not facts, we could change the world. The goal of Scripture is to find and follow Jesus and to be sent out on a mission to help others do the same.