It Doesn’t Have to Make Sense Yet
It Doesn’t Have to Make Sense Yet
By Steve Backlund
I love wisdom, good planning, getting counsel, and thinking things through. God is never foolish or irrational, but I have discovered something about walking with Him: His wisdom frequently goes beyond what makes sense to our natural minds.
Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” It doesn't say we shouldn't have understanding. It says we shouldn't lean on it. If everything God says has to pass the test of our current understanding before we believe it, then our understanding has become the thing we are trusting.
Throughout Scripture, God asked people to believe and do things they could not fully understand at the time. If everything must first make sense to our natural mind, we are going to miss some important opportunities. (I know I have struggled more with this than my wife, Wendy.)
Does This Make Sense to You?
One of my favorite examples is Gideon in Judges 6. Israel was being oppressed by the Midianites, and Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress because he was afraid. An angel appeared and said, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Judges 6:12).
What if, after releasing this word, the angel had asked Gideon, “Does this word make sense to you?” Gideon probably would have said, “Absolutely not! That word is ridiculous!" Nothing in his present circumstances supported what the angel was saying. He didn't feel like a mighty man of valor. His history didn't suggest he was one, and he certainly didn't see himself that way. In fact, Gideon responded by describing his family as one of the weakest in his tribe and himself as the least significant person in his family (Judges 6:15).
God called him a mighty man of valor. Gideon called himself the least. God's word to Gideon contradicted his feelings, his history, and his circumstances, but it agreed with his destiny. His life is an example that it does not need to make sense yet.
In prophetic ministry, we sometimes ask the person receiving our word, “Does that make sense to you?” That can certainly be a helpful question at times as feedback helps us grow (and we certainly want humility and accountability in prophetic ministry). It cannot, however, be our final test.
Imagine the angel concluding, “Well, Gideon, if it doesn't make sense to you, I must have missed God.”
One of the lies I like to laugh at is: “If something I hear from God doesn't immediately make sense to me, it can't be from Him.” Ha ha!
Some of the most significant things God says to us won't make sense until our experience begins to catch up with what He has revealed. If we only believe things that agree with our present experience, we will keep reproducing our present experience. If we only prophesy things that make sense to natural thinking, we are probably not prophesying high enough.
Prophecy frequently reveals something beyond what is currently obvious. It calls out the mighty warrior hiding in the winepress. It sees the Peter inside Simon. It sees nations inside Abraham before he even has a son.
Greater Risk Requires a Greater Word
I teach in my book, Fully Convinced:The Art of Decision Making that the greater the risk we are being asked to take, the greater word or God-story we need.
Peter didn't randomly decide walking on water seemed like a good idea. He said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” Jesus answered, “Come” (Matthew 14:28–29). Peter had a word for his risk.
Faith-filled risk is not taking bigger chances; it is having greater confidence in what God has said. Faith isn't doing ridiculous things and hoping God will rescue us. Biblical faith responds to what God has said.
This doesn't mean we throw wisdom out the window and assume every unusual idea is from God. We test what we believe we are hearing and value Scripture, wisdom, counsel, and character. Yet we also refuse to reject something simply because it doesn't initially make sense to us. God's wisdom frequently exceeds our present understanding.
God Is Consistent, but He Is Not Predictable
God's character is completely trustworthy. He is good, faithful, and true. His methods, however, are wonderfully unpredictable.
I love Gamaliel's wisdom in Acts 5. The religious leaders could not make sense of what was happening through the apostles and wanted to stop it. Gamaliel warned them, “If it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God” (Acts 5:39). Gamaliel had enough wisdom to leave room for God to do something he did not understand. That's a powerful kind of humility. Our need to understand everything can actually cause us to resist what God is doing.
We often want God to give us a predictable formula, but He gives us Himself. This is why relationship with the Holy Spirit is so important. Yesterday's strategy may not be today's strategy. What worked in one season may not be what God is emphasizing in the next.
Fully Convinced Before It Makes Sense
Romans 4 says Abraham became “fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform” (Romans 4:21).
Abraham's circumstances weren't convincing. His age wasn't convincing. Sarah's age wasn't convincing. His past experience wasn't convincing. God's promise became more convincing than all of them.
That is one of the great adventures of faith. We are learning to become more convinced by what God says then by what our circumstances seem to be saying.
Gideon eventually became the man God described before Gideon could see it himself. The word that initially sounded ridiculous became his testimony. There will be times when God's promises, direction, or perspective don't agree with our feelings, history, circumstances, or with wisdom as we know it. Yes, we value wisdom, test what we hear, and remain humble and teachable, but we simply refuse to make natural understanding a prerequisite for believing God.
What doesn't make sense today may become the testimony that makes perfect sense tomorrow. Until then, we don't lean on our understanding; we lean on Him.
Declarations
I trust the Lord more than I trust my present understanding.
I am becoming more convinced by what God says than by what my circumstances say.
I refuse to limit my future to what my feelings, past experiences, or present circumstances predict.
I have courage to take faith-filled risks when God speaks, knowing He is faithful to His word.
I leave room for God to work in ways that exceed my present understanding.
