Understanding Carefully

Author: Joseph

Date: May 9, 2021

Understanding Carefully

Author: Joseph

Date: May 9, 2021

Yeshua was tested by the Pharisees, who asked for a sign from Him. We can only infer for what reason they sought to test Him in this instance, but more than likely their intentions were find a reason to mock His power and discredit His ministry. They had no intention of understanding who He was or what His purpose was during His ministry. The disciples, contrarily, did not seek for signs from Yeshua, but they also did not fully understand Yeshua’s purpose even though they were being directly discipled by Him. People of all backgrounds often had trouble understanding Yeshua by the things that He did and the parables He spoke, but now that it has been fully revealed to us in the Bible, we can, with careful attention, understand Yeshua’s ministry and His words. With the help of God’s Spirit, we can also understand what God is speaking to us directly as believers, but we must intentionally and carefully seek to understand God’s words.

There is much that can be learned from the passage previously mentioned. For this article, we will focus on carefully understanding God’s words. We will learn how easy it is to misunderstand what God is speaking to us either by sin within us or by a lack of careful understanding. These two things are demonstrated through the Pharisees and the disciples of Yeshua.

The Pharisees sought to appear wise before men and their sense of understanding was more to impress others and serve their own desires rather than to obey God. They wanted a reason to boast before men and receive praise before people. They created all kinds of teachings expanding on the biblical writings and used their explanations as one reason to have authority as teachers and leaders of the people. They “knew better” than the common people of Judea and therefore were highly esteemed by them. However, their teachings were evil, causing people to turn their attention away from God’s wisdom and instead towards themselves. The Pharisees desire for praise and power not only misguided them from understanding God’s words, but it also put them in direct opposition to His words. Deaf by their own efforts, they would not be able to hear clearly from God unless they forsook their evil desires and humbled themselves. (The only Pharisee in Scripture who may have humbled himself and listened to Yeshua is Nicodemus [John 3:1-21; 7:50-51; 19:38-40]). When the Pharisees asked Yeshua to show them a sign, it was with the same evil desire and pride they had never repented from. Consequentially, they could not understand Him.

The disciples of Yeshua, at the time of Matthew chapter 16, were fairly ignorant to many things, but they were being discipled by Yeshua and slowly increasing in knowledge. Yeshua criticized them a few times for their misunderstandings, but for their benefit. For instance, when Yeshua said “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” He was referring to their teachings, not actual leavening (yeast) (Matthew 16:5, 11-12). The disciples attempted earnestly to understand what Yeshua was saying, but their understanding was misguided by their own distractions (Matthew 16:5). Yeshua had to explain to them why their understanding was wrong and then repeated His original words, guiding them to the right conclusion (Matthew 16:8-12). They misunderstood God’s words because they lacked careful understanding, though their intentions were sincere. The disciples did not have evil intentions, but even good intentions without careful understanding can lead someone to the wrong conclusions. Consequentially, the disciples could not understand Yeshua clearly as they needed to.

To avoid the error of the Pharisees, we must give up our own desires and be willing to let God set His desires as our own. When we desire things not from Him (the things of God are righteous, pure, selfless), we cannot expect to understand His words the way He wants us to. If we desire to understand God, we must desire to live and think as He does.

To avoid the misunderstanding like that of the disciples, we need to eliminate distractions and be intentionally careful to understand God’s words. God’s words cannot be understand passively and we must give God our focused attention, otherwise He may speak to us in a way we cannot ignore (and this is often very uncomfortable for us as it sometimes involved affliction. For example, think of Pharaoh and the plagues that destroyed Egypt or king Nebuchadnezzar becoming like an animal because of his pride). God will speak to you, but without careful attention, we not only misunderstand the message but we also bring upon ourselves unnecessary difficulties.

"...seek what God desires... [and] ignore distractions that interfere with hearing from Him."

The two best ways to carefully understand God’s words are to seek what God desires instead of what you desire and eliminate or ignore distractions that interfere with hearing from Him. What are some desires you have to let go of that are interfering with understanding God’s words? What distractions are in your life that cause you to misunderstand God’s words to you? Take the time to reflect on what you can do to minimize or even eliminate the things that cause misunderstanding. Ask God for help in both understanding His words and removing the things that are hindering you from carefully understanding Him.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org