“With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous” (Psalm 18:25-26 ESV).

I read this in Psalm 18 in my One Year Bible reading this morning and it got my mind working.

An axiom woven into the fabric of human reality is that the more we understand and obey God, the more God and God’s ways reveal themselves as lucid and right. The more twisted and perverse we become, the more strange and impenetrable God and God’s ways become.

This theme shows up frequently in Jesus’ teaching. For instance: “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away” (Luke 8:18 ESV).

Jesus repeated this truth on more than one occasion. On the surface it strikes us as unfair. Why would God be so callous with those who have little to begin with? Jesus point is that it matters how we listen to God’s voice. Our response determines how much our understanding will deepen. To those who have, who pay attention to what they have and determine to live by it, more is given. The more we know, the more we know. To those who do not have, who listen to God’s word carelessly and disregard it, even the little they think they know will be lost to them.

Jesus said this same thing in many different ways. Consider these two “if—then” statements:
• “If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority” (John 7:17 ESV).
• “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31-32 ESV).

This is particularly important when we face those moments when God seems absent, his words confusing, and obedience threatening. If we trust God in the darkness when we don’t understand, and choose to do what God wants when obedience feels like a kind of dying, we gain a hard won glimpse into God’s heart.

Just as the fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom, confidence in God is the beginning of understanding. As St. Augustine said, “I believe in order to understand.”

So it is not incidental that David goes on in Psalm 18 to say this: “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God” (Psalm 18:30-31 ESV)?

Amen.