It’s the response our cell phone often asks for when it gives us some new information, or adds a feature, or installs an update. The purpose is to save us time and effort by showing HOW it works. Then comes the pop-up box that asks, “GOT IT?” When we touch “GOT IT!” we are saying
1) Yes, we understand the new information,
2) Yes, we are receptive to it,
3) Yes, we have processed it in our minds
4) Yes, we are ready to apply it.
Sometimes that’s saying a lot!
I started thinking about this in relation to our spiritual lives. Isn’t it the lesson of Revelation 1:3, that comes from Jesus Himself:
Revelation 1:3 3Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
Picture the 3 step process:
1- Read, i.e., LEARN. Acquire your own knowledge.
2- Hear, i.e., LISTEN when someone reads Scripture aloud.
3- Keep. Observe. Apply. Do!
All is useless, unless we take all three points and then DO it.
That is why we need to recognize these simple, daily lessons as we meet them. It is like the counsel from Divine Wisdom.
Proverbs 19:20 20Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days.
In other words, hear and receive until you can say, “GOT IT!”
If we have our eyes and ears open, we will find important lessons in every venue of life. It is even critical, as God said about His people through His prophet Hosea. They clearly did NOT “Get it!”
Hosea 4:6 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
They were REJECTING the good instruction He was providing! The priests were to be the teachers, and weren’t doing their job.
What should be our attitude? How intensely should we be LOOKING for this heavenly instruction, these everyday lessons?
Proverbs 2:3–5 3Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, 4If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.
Notice the IF/THEN—the results of seeking this knowledge of God:
Discernment. Understanding. Fear of the Lord. And finally, the knowledge of God.
How many times did Jesus say “take heed,” “take heed what you hear,” “take heed, watch and pray.” It is all through the Gospels. Realize what He is saying:
Matthew 6:1 1“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
If it is all for show, to be seen of men, we have all the reward coming to us.
Can we say, “GOT IT!”? Did we get the warning?
Again Jesus said,
Matthew 16:6 6Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
The disciples hearing Jesus did NOT get it.
Matthew 16:7 7And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”
Jesus, being able to read their thoughts, replied:
Matthew 16:8 8But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?
Matthew 16:12 12Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Finally they GOT IT!
When we say to God, I’ve got it, that means we’re going to go ahead and DO it.
Now one step further. Are we going to help someone else? The first qualification is to apply it to MYSELF. I think of that bit of rhyme again and again,
I must myself be true
if I the truth would teach.
My own soul must overflow
if I another soul would reach.
What was the plan of Ezra the scribe in the time of the post Captivity?
Ezra 7:10 10…Ezra … prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.
It was the same route we all must follow. His first step was to “GET IT” himself, then he could go on to teach others.
This is what the priests in Malachi’s day were NOT doing. Hear God’s solemn warning to these unfaithful priests.
Malachi 2:1–2 1“And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. 2If you will not hear, And if you will not take it to heart, To give glory to My name,” Says the Lord of hosts, “I will send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, Because you do not take it to heart.
Again and again God presented his law and his ways to the Israelites, but they didn’t GET it.
Do you remember how God called His new young prophet Isaiah? First came a magnificent little vision. Isaiah tells about it himself.
Isaiah 6:1–3 1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2Above [the throne] stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
The seraphim are sometimes thought to be angels. But they were not angels. They were symbolic characters used to represent the divine or heavenly in visions or dreams.
3And one [seraphim] cried [proclaimed, published, or called] to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”
What a rapturous setting! What an inspiring scene.
Then the Lord put the question to Isaiah in this vision:
Isaiah 6:8 8Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Isaiah “Got It!” And he let it be known. He was both willing and eager to be God’s appointed prophet. He was “IN.”
But the Lord had more to say.
Isaiah 6:9–10 9And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10“Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.”
Look at the picture of the people he would be addressing: Heart DULL. Ears HEAVY. Eyes SHUT. Cutting off the reception “LEST”—to make sure they didn’t “GET IT!”
Lest they should “understand with their heart” and “hear with their ears” and “see with their eyes.”
Isaiah could have said, I don’t understand, Lord. WHY do you even NEED me? Why are you calling me?
Isaiah’s mission was off to a dismal start! But there would be some jewels for God’s cause even there. Isaiah’s mission was not without purpose!
By way of contrast, what did Jesus say to his disciples about their eyes and ears?
Matthew 13:16–17 16But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Why? Because they were directly seeing and hearing the Messiah, the long promised One! The future King Himself. Truly, what a privilege was THEIRS!
Now another lesson from the cellphone. When my cellphone asks me, “Got It?” suppose I say YES when I have not got it, what then?
Paul pictured this very situation in Romans, regarding a people who turned away from God.
Romans 1:21 21because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
I recall one time when, not intentionally, I quickly said I had gotten it, when I hadn’t. And when I went back to rerun the lesson, I couldn’t find it—mainly because I hadn’t paid attention and didn’t know what to ask for!
Another spiritual parallel here? Suppose I let a life lesson go by, as if to say, “God, I already know enough about that, I don’t need to hear it again,” might I not be losing out on a valuable opportunity? Also, am I not showing disrespect for God’s wisdom in giving me the lesson He knows I need? Maybe I think I have it learned, and He KNOWS I don’t have it learned. Where does this put me? Not where I want to be!
We might better pray with Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 10:23–24 23O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. 24O Lord, correct me, but with justice; Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.
God hasn’t promised to keep repeating every lesson we refuse to learn. If our stubbornness or our pride gets in the way, He may just let us have our way—until we turn and humbly SEEK His way. If he finds us too hard and recalcitrant, and stops giving the lesson altogether, think where THAT puts us!
No, we don’t want to refuse ANY lesson. Every one is for our good, our ETERNAL good!
Even if it comes from a total stranger. Even if it comes from a child. Or from the most unlikely source—like Covid-19! If we can see a lesson in it—and we usually can if we look—go for it! GET IT!
Paul reflected on his own personal lesson in being content. What did he say?
Philippians 4:11 11Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:
He says “I have learned”—he needed the lesson, perhaps more than once!
Recall Peter’s foot-washing lesson at the Last Supper? It was surely a surprise. The translation is good in the Revised English Bible.
John 13:5–9 (REB) 5Then [Jesus] poured water into a basin, and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel. 6When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, ‘You, Lord, washing MY feet?’
Peter objected. Why should Jesus be washing HIS feet?
7Jesus replied, ‘You do not understand now what I am doing, but one day you will.’ 8Peter said, ‘I will never let you wash my feet.’ ‘If I do not wash you,’ Jesus replied, ‘you have no part with me.’ 9‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter, ‘not my feet only; wash my hands and head as well!’
What a change! Peter “GOT IT!” His reply shows it clearly:
“Then Lord, wash not my feet only but my hands and my head as well!”
Let’s not miss any of these daily lessons that come our way. Look for them! Seek them out! Realize that today I will be tested where I am weak, and that is God’s way of making me stronger!
Then when the lesson comes, we will be ready to say, “GOT IT!”