Obtaining Insight

Insight. It's the ability to see past the surface into the deep. So many churches are starving for this very thing. I wonder what the greater problem in the evangelical church todays is? Is it the fact that the Word of God isn't preached? That's a huge problem. Huge. Many people are just making stuff up in the pulpit. They don't even teach the Bible. They advocate homosexuality and universalism from the pulpit! The problem? They don't teach the Bible, they teach their own thoughts, their own views, and their own opinions.

But I wonder what the greater problem is today in the evangelical church - is it the fact that churches don't teach the Bible or is it a lack of insight into the Bible? There are thousands of churches who believe the Bible is the the inspired Word of God. But so often you leave these services feeling quite hungry and malnourished. Why? Because the surface truths are preached over and over again, but it all seems like regurgitated truths memorized from youth: "Christianity is a relationship, not a religion"; "It's not about what you know, it's about who you know"; "God can't be put into a box". None of those statements are false. They're all true. But so rarely are they unpacked. Often times the Word is proclaimed, but there's no insight into the Word. And that's unfortunate because the Proverbs say that insight and wisdom will literally save your life. The Father speaking to the Son says to him, "Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom." Insight, wisdom, understanding - unless we have those things, we will suffer and suffer big time. We will be captives to wolves, we will not have the discernment to protect ourselves, we will not understand God's path to full joy, we will be riddled with questions that plague our minds, and we will suffer big time because of our lack of insight. The prophets say, "My people perish for a lack of understanding." In other words, they read the Bible, but they don't get anything out of it. Why? They lack insight. It all seems so dry and boring and stale. And that's unfortunate, too, because James 1 says that wisdom (insight/understanding) is the key to dealing with suffering. All of us hate suffering, no doubt. Most of us make the mistake, though, of spending all of our energy trying to escape suffering through the pursuit of wealth, drugs, food, alcohol, power, prestige, etc. But, Jesus said, "In this world you WILL have trouble." In other words, you can't escape suffering. Paul described himself as "always rejoicing, yet always sorrowful." That's the Christian life - you're always sorrowful because you live in this world where you can't escape suffering. So instead of trying to escape suffering, the Bible tells us to learn how to deal with suffering. How do you do that? You have to get wisdom. You have to get insight. You have to get understanding. Wisdom and insight is the key to dealing with suffering.

Now that leads me to the main thing I wanted to talk about: How do we get wisdom? Well the first one is obvious: it's the key to getting anything from God - ASK. James 1 says, "If anyone lacks wisdom he should ASK God who gives GENEROUSLY without finding fault, and it will be given to him." That's always the first step to receiving ANY blessing from God - ASK. Later in the book of James, he says, "You do not have because you do not ask." Wow. What a thought. That's like a bank saying, "We're giving away free money to anyone who comes into our bank ans asks for it" and then you not going to the bank to ask for it. Why? Pride and lack of faith. "I can do this on my own. I don't need free money from anyone!" Lack of faith - "No bank is going to give me free money. Nothing's free in this life!" That may be true with banks, but it's not true with God. Everything is free with God. Everything. In fact, there isn't anything that can be earned at all. James 1 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from ..." where? "...above." You won't find what you're looking for on this earth. It has to come from "above" - from the Father. He gives wisdom, he gives revelation, he gives us his Spirit, he gives joy, he gives peace - all of it for free. It's ours for the asking.

However, that doesn't mean that we just sit around all day and ask. Jesus didn't just stop at, "Ask and it will be given to you". He went on to say, "Seek and you will find." That's step two: Seeking. That's the hard part. Proverbs 1 says it's like mining for gold. It's backbreaking work. It makes you sweat. Except it's not physical work, it's mental work. It's mental agony. It's what the Bible calls "meditation". Meditation is the Bible's word for pondering or reflecting. It doesn't mean emptying your mind, it means filling your mind. Filling your mind with God's truth. But it doesn't come about simply by reading, it comes about by reflecting, pondering, mulling over and thinking hard about God's Word. It's hard work!! That's why Paul says that those who preach and teach for a living actually do LABOR. It's just that they're using a different muscle - their brain. But that's what it takes to get insight. And to further demonstrate this fact I will end this blog with the following verse and I want you to tell me what it means: 2 Timothy 2:3-6: "3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs-- he wants to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops." What does this verse mean? Paul is using three illustrations - a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer. What does he mean by this? I'll give you one clue: The only way you'll fully understand it is if you take Paul's advice in v.7: "Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this." May God's grace lift us to new heights as we take the time to treat God's Word like a home we live in instead of a hotel we occasionally visit. In doing this we will have insight.