Knowledge and Understanding
Knowledge and Understanding
"Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God." Proverbs 2:3-5 We should seek knowledge and understanding. Crying after knowledge means seeking it fervently and wholeheartedly. We need knowledge of the Word of God, Church history, biographies of the apostles and prophets-- especially those who wrote the gospels and other New Testament books, etc. When the Holy Spirit led me to examine the contents of the book titled The Da Vinci Code, I found that this book was based on a distorted version of the church history. It said that King Constantine deliberately manipulated and tampered with the original gospels. But the Church history disproved this erroneous view of the author of this book.
We should lift up our voice for understanding the Holy Scriptures. We should understand the Word of God at any cost. If you do not understand any particular passage of the Bible which is very important from the doctrinal point of view, you should refer to the other Bible versions, the concordance, and the Bible in your own language. You should also approach the elders for understanding. We should pay a price for understanding the Word of God.
We should seek knowledge and understanding as silver and search for the same as for hidden treasures. These days, we despise knowledge and understanding in regard to spiritual matters, whereas the children of the world seek knowledge and understanding in regard to science and technlogy. We do not consider the same as silver and as hidden treasures. We do seek material prosperity as silver and as hidden treasures, whereas we throw to wind knowledge and understanding pertaining to God's Kingdom. We do not search the Scriptures for knowledge and understanding. Paul and Silas preached the word of God in Berea. The people in Berea who had heard the Word of God became more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:10-11). These people did not accept the message preached by Paul and Silas, but "searched the Scriptures daily" to ensure that the message of Paul and Silas confomed to the Scriptures. Those days, the people had no written Bibles with them. They would have read the same in the synogogues only. But they searched the Scriptures to understand them. They sought knowledge and understanding as silver. They considered knowledge and understanding as hidden treasures. Today, if a popular evangelist gives a message, we accept it without searching the Scriptures, though we have in our hands the written Bibles. We would become more noble than any Christian in this world if we search the Scriptures daily for knowledge and understanding. If we seek knowledge and understanding by searching the Scriptures, the Lord will give us the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places (Isaiah 45:3).
If we seek knowledge and understanding, we will truly understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Unless we seek it, we will not understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
The fear of the Lord comes only when we seek knowledge and understanding. We will know the truth only after seeking knowledge and understanding of the Word. We do not understand the fear of the Lord because we do not know the truth regarding His judgment-character. We do not see Him as our Judge. We despise His justice and judgment. We covet only His mercy and grace. The people of God do not find the knowledge of God because they do not seek knowledge and understanding. The knowledge of God comes only after we know the truth. You will never get the knowledge of God if you believe in the lies being propagated by false teachers like Dan Brown, etc. The truth is the key to the knowledge of God.
"And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, [and] strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD [is] his treasure." (Isa.33:6)