DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Our verse for today captures part of the interaction between Philip and an unnamed Ethiopian eunuch described as the manager of the treasures of Candace, queen of Ethiopia. After the eunuch’s trip to Jerusalem to ‘worship’, he was returning home and had a copy of the Prophet Isaiah’s scroll. Philip asked him a question which becomes the core for today’s discourse

Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30b)

There are those who pride themselves in the volume of information they have acquired through reading or interaction with data. Some others are masters at rote memorization of manuals, academic materials and even the scriptures. To such, the question of Philip to the eunuch is still valid “do you understand what you are reading”

The answer to this is important because information takes on value only at the point of understanding, and the reason for this is because understanding precedes application. This is why higher level education seeks to probe if you truly understand what you read: if you get why things are how they are, work the way they do, or why actions happen in a specific order.

The value of knowledge lies in its ability to profit, and this is dependent on gaining concrete understanding of what has been read. Where there is no understanding, all one possesses is information with no clear point of application, and that guarantees no returns. Remember, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:7)

#sly