Don’t Know, Don’t Understand - Martin Wiles

I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I look to the south, but he is concealed. Job 23:9 NLT

Complex sentences. Aptly named because one independent clause and at least one dependent clause compose them. Just as I was dependent on my parents until I reached legal status, a dependent clause is dependent on the independent clause. An independent clause has all the elements that allow it to stand alone: subject, verb, and complete thought. Dependent clauses are missing one or more of the necessary elements. 

“When I was a young child” is an example of a dependent clause. The subject and verb are present, but important information is missing. If someone made that statement to me, I would expect more information. What happened when you were a young child? Since I don’t know what happened, the clause is senseless and fails to communicate.

Job lacked information as well. He had faithfully served God but now experienced the loss of practically everything he had—and with no explanation. God seemed far away. Job’s questions received no answers. God gave him a dependent clause only but had not finished the statement. 

Many things in life don’t make sense. A child killed in an accident because a parent was driving drunk. Natural disasters that steal the lives and property of innocent people. People living homeless because no one will offer them a job. Cancer. Other incurable diseases. Family members not caring for their elderly loved ones. Terrorist activity. A spouse lost to depression or Alzheimer’s. 

Sin is the simple answer, but that doesn’t always provide comfort. Knowing sin is behind the cancer that killed their small child doesn’t take away the grief the parents face. Believing God is love and is sovereign is a better path to follow. 

Many things in life are unexplainable. Some take comfort in thinking God will answer all our questions when we get to heaven—but he may not. Peace and abundant living come from accepting that God is in control and knows what he’s doing, that He acts consistently out of love, and that his plan is always best. 

Don’t let the unexplainable things of life throw you for a loop. God has them under his control. He will give you the strength to endure and overcome, even when you don’t understand. 

Father, when life happens in ways I can’t explain or understand, help me to believe that you are in control and that your plan is best. 

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

God Understands - Martin Wiles

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.  You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. Psalm 139:1-2 NLT

Regardless of how many times I explained the concept, some still misunderstood and made mistakes.

Correctly punctuating compound sentences is one of the simplest yet most difficult concepts I teach in Language Arts. The rule is simple: when two independent clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction, a comma must precede the conjunction. For an independent clause to be claimed as such, it must have a subject, a verb, and a complete thought—not just a verb and a few prepositional phrases.

And it was the latter that confused many students. Many of them placed a comma when the sentence was actually a simple sentence with compound verbs. Others would mistake the word “then” for a coordinating conjunction and place a comma. I spilled a lot of red ink correcting papers on correctly punctuating compound sentences. Although I explained the concept in every imaginable way, the rule often didn’t sink in. Sadly, their failure to understand cost them many unnecessary mistakes.

I, too, failed to understand concepts in school, although my misunderstanding was more in math than in English. But it is more worrisome when others misunderstand us.

The psalmist was confident God understood him. After all, God had created him. He knew everything about him, even his innermost thoughts.

Failing to understand a concept and being misunderstood by others aren’t pleasant. Both can lead to frustration. I’ve taught students who practically gave up, and I’ve known people who struggled with depression because others just didn’t “get” them. 

Since God made us, he knows everything about us. He knows what things we struggle with—the hard subject, the unpleasant work atmosphere, the tough relationship, the co-dependent friend, the addiction. He doesn’t have to hear us voice our frustrations because he knows our thoughts. He understands us.

We will always encounter situations we don’t understand—and probably people who won’t understand us. Yet we can live with that if our Creator is by our side, guiding us along life’s journey. He’s the friend who will never leave, who will always comfort, and who will forever understand.

Take comfort in knowing God understands you when no one else does.

Father, thank you for creating me and understanding everything about me. 

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

A Biblical Perspective on Trials - Martin Wiles

Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. Isaiah 46:10 NLT

The stories of the trials flooded in, and I couldn’t help but wonder about God’s purpose for them.

A young man who struggled with epilepsy and other physical issues his entire life died in his sleep while having an epileptic episode. His mother found him the next morning after he didn’t show up for breakfast. Her life was changed forever.

Another young man died in his sleep after having an asthmatic attack. His happened to be drug-induced—a struggle he battled. His family struggled to understand what happened and how such a wonderful young man could be gone forever.

A young mother and wife served as a counselor at a youth rally. But something happened. Later, she called herself by another name, wanted a divorce, and exhibited all types of strange behavior. Her family was devastated.

As I listened to these and other stories, I usually heard another statement: “God has a purpose for everything.” A statement that can bring comfort and help them work through their time of grief and confusion. But also a statement that turns some away from God. Why would a good God allow such terrible things to happen, they think.

If everything God’s plans will come to pass as he decrees—if He does whatever He wishes—then how can we ever hope to understand? And what part, if any, do we play in his grand scheme of things?

Without a doubt, the Bible reveals God’s decrees—his purposes. The Bible also shows that God has a perfect and a permissive will. He decreed the world into existence and populated it with humans, animals, plants, and marine life. Within his decree for a perfect world where people would worship him lived the permissibility of evil. He didn’t create evil but rather the possibility of it. Lucifer—along with many angels who chose to follow him—sided with the evil and influenced humanity to follow their course.

God permits because he has given us free will. With it, we can choose to serve him or cast him aside. Even when things happen within his permissive will—the bad things we hear about daily—he can and will work good from them. He’s a good God, and all his purposes match his character.

Regardless of what circumstances you confront, believe God will bring good from it.

Father, I thank you for your matchless power that can take evil and bring good from it. I trust you to work out your purposes for my life.

I invite you to try my book Grits, Grace, and God in eBook or paperback. If you want a daily dose of God's grace, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Giving Up the Right to Understand - Martin Wiles

Take your son, your only son . . . and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains. Genesis 22:2 NLT

Pete was obeying God, so why was his life falling apart?

The events unfolded slowly at first, then more rapidly. Pete had answered God’s call to full-time ministry a number of years before. Now events with enough explosive power to derail all that were taking place—circumstances that weren’t his fault and were also beyond his control. Decisions had been made that would affect the rest of his life. He saw a resignation in his future. He saw other churches not wanting to call him as pastor. He didn’t understand why God allowed this. 

Depression stalked Pete for more than a year after the ground completely disappeared from beneath him. Not until he gave up his right to understand was he able to finally move forward into other areas God opened for him.

Peter was forced to do what Abraham had to do. God promised Abraham a son through whom millions of descendants would come. Now God asked him to sacrifice that same son. How in the world would the descendants come if the son was dead? But he didn’t question God. He had enough faith to believe God could resurrect his son.

God promises to love us unconditionally, use us in His service, gift us with talents and special abilities, and work all things together for our good, but he never promises we’ll understand all the ways he’ll work to accomplish that. Pete didn’t, Abraham didn’t, I haven’t, and millions of others haven’t either.

A crucial element of following and serving God is giving up the right to understand his ways. By faith, we must believe he works to form us more each day into His Son’s image. By faith, we must trust that what comes out on the other side will be spiritually healthier than what’s on this side. If we could always understand God, we’d be like God . . . but we’re not.

Following God is a journey of faith that includes rarely understanding what he’s doing or why. When we give up this right, it frees him to do things in and through us he would not otherwise accomplish.

Let God be God in your life whether you understand him or not.

Father, give me the faith to trust you regardless of how things appear. 

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Unlimited Understanding - Martin Wiles

The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. Isaiah 40:28 NLT

Why did…? How many are there…? What does ______ mean? The questions often come quicker than kernels of popcorn responding to heat.

Middle schoolers can have a bucketful of questions. Some more than others. The super inquisitive ones always have questions—multiple times during the class. I don’t have any trouble answering the questions related to what I teach them, English, but they expect me to know it all. Math. Science. History. 

Fortunately, I have resources teachers didn’t have when I was growing up. I call it god with a little g, but it’s really Google. If I want to know something, I Google it. When a student asks me something I don’t know, I do the same. 

Having information at my fingertips is wonderful—having lived on the previous side of the information age when I actually had to go to a library and find books on what I wanted to know. Or use an encyclopedia. 

But some things even Google doesn’t know. We have a Google home, and some questions I ask receive the response, “I’m sorry. I can’t help you with that.” The God with the big G doesn’t have that problem. As Isaiah proclaimed, no one can measure the depths of His understanding. 

If God is the creator of all things and people, it stands to reason He has enough wisdom and understanding to control what He has created. Not only can He control it, but He also can know the minute details of what He has created. Scientists, mathematicians, and archaeologists may study for thousands of years to figure out what God already knows. 

Believing God has such understanding makes it easy to believe He can give me the wisdom I need to face life and the daily circumstances that make it up. Consulting other sources—counselors, scholarly books, people—might not necessarily be wrong, but He is the ultimate source who’ll never steer me wrong. Others are finite; God is infinite.

Nor does God ever tire—or sleep. Lack of sleep affects my mental capacities. Insomnia doesn’t bother God. He doesn’t need sleep. Neither does He tire of me coming to Him with questions. Sometimes mine fire off as quickly as my Middle Schooler’s do. 

When you need wisdom and understanding, go straight to the Source where it’s found.

Tweetable: What resources do you get your knowledge from?

Prayer: Father, we thank You for Your willingness to share Your wisdom and understanding with us.

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God Understands - Martin Wiles

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.  You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. Psalm 139:1-2 NLT

Regardless of how many times I explained the concept, some continued to misunderstand and make mistakes.

Correctly punctuating compound sentences—or independent clauses—was one of the simplest yet most difficult concepts I taught in Language Arts. The rule was simple: when two independent clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction, a comma must precede the conjunction. In order for an independent clause to be claimed as such, it must have a subject, verb, and a complete thought—not just a verb and a few prepositional phrases.

And it was the latter that confused many students. Many of them would place a comma when the sentence was actually a simple sentence with compound verbs. Others would mistake the word “then” for a coordinating conjunction and place a comma. I spilled much red ink when correcting papers that related to correctly punctuating compound sentences. Although I explained the concept in every imaginable way, the rule often didn’t sink in. Their failure to understand cost them many unnecessary mistakes.

I, too, have failed to understand concepts when I was in school. My misunderstanding was more in math than English classes though. And more worrisome is being misunderstood by others. The psalmist was confident God understood him. After all, God had created him. He knew everything about him, even his innermost thoughts.

Failing to understand a concept and being misunderstood by others aren’t pleasant. Both can lead to frustration. I’ve taught students who practically gave up, and I’ve known people who struggled with depression because others just didn’t “get” them. 

Since God made me, He knows everything about me. He knows what things I struggle with—the hard subject, the unpleasant work atmosphere, the tough relationship, the co-dependent friend, the addiction. He doesn’t have to hear me voice my frustrations because He knows my thoughts. He understands me.

There will always be things I don’t understand, as well as some who don’t understand me. I can live with that as long as my Creator is by my side, guiding me along life’s journey. He’s the friend who will never leave, who will always comfort, and who will forever understand.

Take comfort in knowing God understands when no one else does.

Prayer: Father, thank You for creating us and for understanding everything about us. 

Looking for a wide selection of genres in inspirational books at discount prices? Click here to see selections.

Thanks to all our faithful followers who are "sharing" our posts--please keep it up! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Help us spread God's encouragement through his love lines.