8.9.26 – Knowing and Understanding

I hope you had a great Sabbath yesterday. Mine was amazing! The Torah portion of Re'eh was so insightful into the heart of the God who chooses; why He chooses; what He chooses; and gives us the choice to choose... Now that is love! Love never forces... it always gives... I love love!

I love the 66 books of the Bible and all the writings that are associated with this beautiful book, and I love the Psalms within their setting and their beautifully applied emotions. Psalm 139 is a favorite of many; for me, it is no different. David says that God knows every intimate detail about me, and His thoughts towards me are more numerous than the sand... that is a lot of thoughts. But I ask myself: if God "knows" everything about me, then why do we also read,

"Thou knowest when I sit and when I rise. Thou understandest my thoughts from afar."
(Ps. 139:2)

Is not knowing and understanding pretty much the same thing? Ironically, I know it is no—it is yada (know) vs. bin (understand). Knowledge is just as you would guess. But bin—understanding—is a power of judgment and perceptive insight that is demonstrated in the use of knowledge (yada).

Why does David use both of God? Because God has insights into why we do what we do, what we do, and how that reveals who we are. He really understands (bin) us. God is more than an accountant! He is a sensitive therapist who reaches deep under the surface to discover what makes us work and how we feel about who we are and who we are becoming. He is more than rules and regulations! His Word is not just "do's and don'ts." His guidebook, the Torah, is essentially filled with stories of human emotions, decisions, consequences, traumas, and family issues that contribute to this reality we live in called "life." He knows we are dust. He knows our frame. He knows that much of who we are was not our choice, while at the same time giving us the option on how we handle those circumstances.

What an amazing balancing act He does in our lives. The intimate understanding (bin) He has towards us takes into account all of the factors that contribute to our personalities and choices. Contrary to the popular understanding (bin) of Jeremiah 29:11, God does not have just one plan for our lives; He has wonderful intentions for our lives that can be revised based on any number of occurrences, choices, emotions, or unconscious influences. His intentions are always for the good, including our good as it fits into His plans, but that does not mean there is a fixed route to the goal. In fact, direction rather than destination probably describes the process more accurately.

On the other hand, since God knows all the facts and all the insights, we might feel restrained. After all, there is a strong element in our thinking that suggests if we only knew all our prior conditions, we could accurately predict every outcome. So, in a way, God's knowing and understanding might make us feel that we really do not have much choice after all. We must live and play inside the box—His box. We really are not free to choose a life of our own. We are thrown into this world, and we have to make the best of it until, without any choice of our own, we are snatched away. Worse than this, if God knows it all, we do not have any excuses or hiding places.

It can get complicated if we make it that way! However, I think, personally speaking, let Him work with you, in you, and through who you are (Phil. 2:12–16), because only He knows (yada) who you really are, and He understands (bin) you from afar while intimately walking with you.

Happy first day of the week!

Shalom!
Alan

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