Sunday Read: The Paralysis of Needing to Understand

Job demanded an explanation. After losing everything - children, wealth, health - he wanted God to explain why. His friends offered explanations (you sinned, God is punishing you), but Job knew better. He insisted on his innocence and demanded God justify the suffering. When God finally spoke, he didn't offer explanations. Instead, he asked questions: "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?" (Job 38:4). God's answer to Job's "why" was basically: "You couldn't understand even if I explained it."

We're addicted to understanding. We need to know why things happen, how they work, what they mean. Uncertainty drives us crazy. We'd rather have a wrong explanation than no explanation. This is why conspiracy theories flourish - they offer simple answers to complex realities, satisfying our craving for understanding even when the understanding is false.

This addiction shows up spiritually as needing to understand God's ways before we'll trust them. We want to know why he allowed the tragedy, what purpose the suffering serves, how it fits into his plan. We treat trust like it requires comprehension as a prerequisite. "If you'll just explain it, God, then I can trust you." But that's not trust - that's understanding. Trust is believing God is good when you can't understand his ways.

Proverbs 3:5-6 addresses this: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Notice the contrast - trust versus understanding. Leaning on your own understanding is the opposite of trusting God. You can't do both simultaneously. Either you trust because you understand, or you trust despite not understanding.

This is hard because understanding gives us the illusion of control. If we can figure out why things happened, we can prevent them from happening again. If we can understand God's patterns, we can predict his actions. If we can decode his ways, we can manage our relationship with him. But God isn't a system to master - he's a person to trust. And persons, even infinitely wise ones, don't always explain themselves.

Paul wrote: "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Romans 11:33). Unsearchable. Inscrutable. Beyond your ability to fully understand. This isn't a bug in the system - it's a feature. If you could fully understand God, he wouldn't be God. The fact that his ways surpass your understanding is evidence of his deity, not a problem to solve.

So what do you do when you don't understand? You trust anyway. You acknowledge that God sees what you can't, knows what you don't, and is working purposes you can't comprehend. You surrender the need to understand and accept the invitation to trust. You stop demanding explanations and start depending on God's character.

This doesn't mean you can't ask questions. Job asked plenty. The psalms are filled with honest questions directed at God. But there's a difference between asking questions while trusting and demanding answers before you'll trust. One is relationship; the other is negotiation.