Jeremiah 9:24 - “…let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me…” Christians (many Christian leaders included) have gotten themselves into a place where they know and understand so little about God. They might be able to explain the 19 newest theories on end time prophecy but they have an immature and dwarfed relational understanding of God Himself - they’ve spent far too little time in fellowship with Him, in His Word, and application by faith of all that’s there. Head knowledge has left them proud and the lack of time spent daily with their savior has kept them from being built into the men and women He intends (1 Cor.8:1). And this is what is so striking - because of the resulting spiritual pride they think they are where they need to be and thus assume not understanding God is normal because He is too great to be understood; since they don’t understand God they believe He is not understandable. This is a huge lie so many buy into; God intends to be understood by us. The fruit of believing that lie is that they then believe spirituality must not be understandable and therefore search for mystical experiences believing something must be unfathomable to be spiritual. That results in spiritual actions and activities being orchestrated and performed in ways that are odd and bizarre with those doing and those watching both thinking it’s all very spiritual since none of them understand what’s going on an that, again, is how they define spirituality. Its this group of people that always says, “you can’t put God in a box,” to which I always reply, “you can’t take Him out of the box He put Himself in.” Please read 1 Cor.14:33 & 40. If I were to say, “you need to grow closer to God by using your mind more,” many Christians would view that as inferior spirituality, yet He desires for me to grow closer to Him in my understanding (Phil.1:9), fixing my thinking on Him (Heb.3:1), loving Him with all my mind (Mk.12:30) and even though He is unfathomable to the natural human mind He has given me the very mind and thinking of Christ (1 Cor.2:16) precisely so that I would be able to understand Him (again Jer.9:24). I should not lean on my own understanding (Pr.3:5-6) but I would be a fool not to lean on the sound mind (2 Tim.1:7), the mind of Christ, and the very wisdom of God Himself (James 1:5) - His understanding which He has given me. God didn’t create me for relationship with Him intending all along for me to never understand Him; I won’t understand everything about Him till I go to be with Him (1 Cor.13:12) but I can live every day now in a mature relational understanding of Him (Heb.5:14). So, the lie: I don’t understand God so God is not understandable so spirituality must be mystical and outlandish, not understandable. The truth: God is understandable to every son and daughter of His and He desires us to know and understand Him so spirituality itself is also understandable not peculiar and weird. The antidote to the spiritual void left by believing that lie is to “eat truth,” as Russ Akins would say - allowing Him to transform my insufficient mind by the power of His Word (Rom.12:1-2). That starts with daily spending time (quantity and quality) with Him, in His Word.
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