Skill & Understanding – (1)

Listening, recently, to the Welcome Wagon‘s excellent version of the old hymn “I am not skilled to understand” I was struck again by how good the words of this hymn from 1873 are! Like so many old hymns, they are simple but profound at the same time; and like many old hymns, the words are as relevant and powerful now as they ever have been.

I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at his right hand
Stands one who is my Saviour

The hymn starts with a confession – that we’re not clever enough, not skilled enough to know everything – to know what God has planned, to know why those plans involve us. The most important thing we do need to know is that we have a Saviour in heaven, at God’s right hand. We don’t need to understand why God loves us, but we do need to know that Jesus can be our Saviour!

I take him at his word and deed
Christ died to save me this I read
And in my heart I find need
Of him to be my Saviour

Do you know your own heart, your own secret struggles and thoughts? Do you know what you want in life? Do you know what you need? Does what you’re going after satisfy you? Is it ever enough, or does it seem transient and temporary? In our heart of hearts, I think we know that we need something more.

Can you take someone at their word anymore? Does it need to be backed up by action? Jesus said to his Father – “your word is truth.” The Bible is God’s word and it is true! We can be sure of that because of its internal consistency & completion of prophecies and external historical record & evidence.

The Bible describes Jesus as the Word and he called himself the Truth. He fulfilled many many prophecies from the Old Testament of the Bible. Jesus is the Word, the explanation of life, the creator of the world, and the Son of God. And yet we can read in the bible that He died to save you and me. How can we understand that? How can we accept that?

That he would leave his place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so did I
Until I knew my Saviour

Jesus had ultimate power and also perfect humility! We can’t understand that totally because we can only see the corruption of power in men and the strife that that has caused in history.

But why else do people find it strange? Read Matthew 13:13-17.

There was a survey of religious belief recently in the US that split people into 3 groups: (i) The percentage of people who describe themselves as ‘atheist‘ has risen from 1% to 5% in just 5 years; (ii) Over the same time there’s been a 13% drop in people who say they are ‘religious’. Maybe there’s an incorrect preconception of God as judgmental, something like as a strict headmaster. Of Christianity as a set of rules that limit freedom; (iii) In some age-groups like young adults 30% of people described themselves as “Spiritual but not religious”. While I don’t like the term ‘religious’ at all, many people have a vague belief in God, but as a benevolent being who wants us to be nice and happy in whatever way might work for us, but certainly makes no demands on us. While this in completely in keeping with the individualist, consumerist and prosperous culture that we live in, it is not at all in keeping with what we read in God’s word. And neither of these views are in keeping with what we can read and know of ‘the’ Word – the Lord Jesus Christ.

Which group are you in – and why?

Jesus knew that people’s hearts are dulled, weighed down by their own concerns and desires.
Are you willing to consider who Jesus actually was, and is?
Are you willing to open your eyes, your mind and your heart?
Are you willing to come to God, not to see what He can do for you, but to see Him as he really is, and to see what He wants you to do?
God can heal you tonight. Jesus came down from heaven to reach you and to rescue you and me from our sins. He came, and although He was rejected by those He created, He died on the cross for you and for me. God can turn our perspective around, and He can turn our priorities round. What is your reaction to the truth about who Jesus is?

As the hymn says: we don’t have to understand why Jesus loves us, just accept that He does – take him at His word & take Him as the Word. If we thank Him for his deeds we can truly know Him as our saviour.

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
(Romans 10:9 ESV)

We’ll go on tomorrow to look at the last verse of that lovely old hymn and how it relates to the next important step of discipleship after salvation: Baptism.