How to Deal with the Rock of Misunderstanding

“To be great is to be misunderstood” Emerson

Misunderstanding, It is a roadblock that most of us will never see coming. It is a powerful force that can be intentionally and unintentionally used against us in our quest to push our square rock uphill.

Misunderstanding can be a real momentum stopper, most times it forces us to stop and fix the misunderstanding before we can move forward. There are numerous examples of misunderstanding in the Bible.

• Consider Joseph in Genesis 39: He was thrown into jail because of a major misunderstanding.
• Consider David, He had to flee when Saul misunderstand his honorable intentions.

David’s example is probably the hardest for me. On those rare occasions when I do something for someone without any thought for what it could do for me and its thrown back in my face, I do not handle it well. Satan uses that the most to give us the attitude of, “I’ll never do that again, or, see if I open myself up to help like that again.”

• Consider Jesus. From birth to death here was a misunderstood Man, and a misunderstood God on earth. You can barely make it one chapter to the next without Jesus being misunderstood.

There are several types of several types of misunderstanding that we have to deal with as believers 1. Genuine Misunderstanding which generally means your actions or words are confusing.
2. Agenda driven Misunderstanding which means you and your actions were very clear but others want to use them to their advantage. This may or may not affect you.
3. Third party misunderstandings, generally are caused when someone else restates your position or intentions and others do not get your full meaning or intention.
4. Intentional Misunderstanding, when YOU try to confuse the situation to your advantage.
5. Family Misunderstandings, generally are exacerbated by emotions and the history of baggage

We see in the first chapter of John that Jesus was going to be misunderstood.

John 1 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.In the follow verses we will see Jesus encounter a variety of different circumstances of misunderstanding. When combined with the examples listed above, they will give us a good roadmap on how to identify and reduce the damage to momentum these issues cause. Unlike other roadblocks,

Misunderstanding can never be eliminated, only damage controlled.

Some thoughts to help to get you through misunderstanding!  Before you react in the flesh. Turn to the Holy Spirit to guide you asking these questions:

• When misunderstood ask WHO?
• If misunderstanding continues ask WHY?
• When misunderstanding is resolved ask WHAT did I learn?

You will encounter misunderstanding each day of your life. When we try to handle it ourselves with our flesh is when we fall into Satan's trap.  Stand strong in the Spirit and and do not quickly lash out when you feel the attack of misunderstanding.