Not Understanding Is The Symptom Of Not Believing

Are you amazed and incredulous? Don’t you believe it? Then go ahead and be blind. You are stupid, but not from wine! You stagger, but not from liquor! For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries. [Isaiah 29.9-10] 

If we only consider what the overriding and repeated sin was that all Israel engaged in throughout the Old Testament, we will accurately conclude that it was idolatry. And, although Isaiah's words here seem harsh and belittling, they are actually consistent with God's attitude and actions found elsewhere in the Bible toward idolatry.

Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. [Psalm 115.4-8]

The idols of the nations are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and mouths but cannot breathe. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. [Psalm 135.15-18]

Isaiah 29.9-10 labels this condition as "blind" and "stupid." But, Isaiah 29.9-10 is not the first address of the condition of idol worshipers. Look at an earlier description from Isaiah's writings:

And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’ Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing.” [Isaiah 6.9-10] 

How many times have we heard someone say (or said it ourselves), "I just don't understand" regarding the topics of idolatry or faith?

May I be so bold here to interject that understanding is not the problem, it is the symptom! 

Not understanding is the symptom of not believing. 

And, by "believing" I mean "believing in God alone." Not understanding, the inability to "see" or "hear" or "speak," is the curse attached by God to those who make, embrace and trust in idols.

Unironically, Jesus, Who declared Himself as the only way to God the Father (John 14.6), quoted Isaiah's explanation of "not understanding" as the reason people are not healed:

For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’ [Matthew 13.15]

The reason these people are hardened and cannot understand is because they have chosen not to believe in God (Jesus Christ) ALONE by surrounding themselves with idols. They believe in their man-made idols that offer "reasonable" solutions - for that which Jesus demands "no thought" should be given (Matthew 6.31-33).

Question: How can "no thought" be given to debt, insurance, medicine and technology when they constitute a major ongoing financial burden upon our lives?

Answer: It's not possible. 

Holding on to (believing in) the man-made idols of debt, insurance, medicine and technology render us incapable of understanding. Again, the root problem is not one of understanding, but of believing. And, that problem of believing is more specifically the problem of not believing in God (Jesus) alone.

At this point, many are saying, "I just don't understand..." But what is really being said is, "I just don't (won't) believe in God alone."

As long as we insist on embracing our idols, we place ourselves under the outpouring of a spirit of deep sleep as described in Isaiah 29.9-10: we make ourselves blind - we make ourselves stupid. This blindness and stupidity affects prophets and visionaries also - religious leaders.

There is only one solution that is found in the First and Second Commandments and confirmed by Jesus:

“You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. [Exodus 20.3-6]

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. [John 14.6] 

Father, I know people don't understand this... But I also know that understanding is withheld from all who hold to idols. I know that our belief in You alongside anything else renders our belief in You null and void because You are Jealous and will not tolerate polytheism. May we respond to Your Word by stripping away (ridding ourselves) of everything we trust in alongside You and trust only You from this point forward. To say we don't need Your help in this is an understatement... So be it.