Insight

Steve has a habit when he is talking to the boys, trying to tell them "no" to something that they want to do. He wants the boys to make the decision on their own -- he wants them to understand the "no." It is frustrating for them, because usually all that they can see is what they want to do - not the bigger picture.

I was listening to a sermon by Andy Stanley yesterday. It was one of a series of three sermons designed to convince his congregation to read the Bible. He uses part of Psalm 119 as one of his texts. These are the words of King David:

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. (verses 97-100)

Stanely defines the word "insight" as the ability to connect unrelated thougths into a relationship that others cannot see. He compares it to one of the dot-to-dot puzzles. Someone with insight can see the picture that the dots form.

I have always thought that David was pretty arrogant to say the things that he does in the Psalms like this one, but when you read it more closely, he isn't really taking credit for his gift of insight. He credits it to God and to the time he spends reading and thinking about God's word.

He says something else that Stanley pointed out as important. David claims that his understanding comes from obedience. David is obedient. He doesn't wait to understand God's command before he agrees to do it. He is "blindly" obedient; he trusts and acts, and then he understands. To quote Stanley, "on the other side of obedience is clarity."

It's always backwards. Why don't I come to expect that?