He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
Luke 24:44-53 NIV
We know that the disciples kept missing God’s spiritual intentions because of their imprisonment to the belief that Jesus was going to lead a revolution. But here, Jesus, on the day of His ascension, made His intentions clear.
Jesus systematically and methodically walked the disciples through what the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets had to say, and this is all demonstrated in His loving sacrifice and His resurrected triumph.
The most intriguing part of this text is not Jesus’ desire for us to clearly understand who He is and who we are. This is to be expected. But what is most intriguing is when Jesus opens the understanding of the disciples so that they might comprehend the scriptures. This highlights how much Jesus wanted the disciples to know Him. He opened their minds at a deeper level so that they could come to understand Him not just in their minds but also in their souls.
This is the very thing that we need to pray for. We may already be saturating our lives in prayer and immersing ourselves in the scriptures and worship. However, what may be missing in our lives is a posture that helps us to understand everything that God is doing. We don’t want to house God’s revelation in ourselves but be unable to comprehend it.
One way to posture ourselves to comprehend the power that God has given us is to contemplate our journey. We can look at our journey and think how hard our lives have been, but when we look and see how the Lord is orchestrating our journey to perform a divine work in each one of our lives, we can see how the dry seasons have been a part of God’s revelation in our lives.
When we have access to God’s power but lack comprehension, we miss opportunities and blessings and mismanage relationships. No matter what we pray for, it is necessary that we ask God for understanding. Our understanding may be the key to our ability to offer faithful stewardship of that which we are asking God for.
