“Those who trust in Him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with Him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with the elect.”
Wisdom 3:9
It’s easy to read scripture and want to interpret it to serve our own desires. I have done it many times myself. Instead of letting myself ask the question, what is God trying to tell me here? I will say this is what God must be telling me with this verse. When comparing these two approaches to scripture today’s promise becomes clear.
If we trust God, we can read the scripture and seek what God is trying to say to us through that particular verse or verses. Because of this, we will understand the truth of the scripture–we will understand things like the promises I have been writing about. How even in the face of really hard things we are loved, chosen, appointed, soaked in mercy, gifted wisdom, and so much more. That is understanding truth.
However, if we are approaching scripture knowing what we want to get out of it, in other words, trying to control what the scripture means, we will have twisted the truth to serve ourselves. Scripture can become a weapon against others and not in a good way….scripture about being chosen can be used to fuel sinful pride, scripture about God always working could be leveraged to not take action yourself, scripture about mercy becomes about how someone should forgive you. I could go on and on.
The beauty of this verse is it reminds you of all the things that help you trust Him so that you reach that understanding: abiding in His love, having His care, access to His grace and mercy. It’s all there, even when we are trying to read scripture through our own foggy lens. He is there wiping our lens clean.
He leans in and as He clears away our misguided thoughts, He says: let’s read that again. This time with a clear view of what I want you to see in these verses.
God promises us if we put our trust in Him. He will help us understand the truth of what He is trying to teach us, not only about Him, but also about ourselves. He has more to offer us than we could ever discover on our own. Lean into Him. Trust fall into Him. That the scripture He is placing on your heart right now is a truth He so desperately wants you to understand.
How do you approach scripture when you read it? Are you trusting or controlling when it comes to scripture? Are you trying to hear God’s truth, the world’s truth or your own truth?
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