LEAVE SOME ROOM FOR LITERAL UNDERSTANDING
It is no secret that there are many scriptures for which symbolic understanding is not readily available to us because we don’t know how to listen to God’s voice. Just because we don’t understand, however, does not mean that there is no room for a literal understanding and that we should discount, reject or ignore those scriptures because they are too difficult for us to understand at a deeper level. We can’t do that because the same God who gave them to us has also given us assurances that understanding is possible – under certain conditions that we probably don’t understand either — but remain in that great category of instruction about God for which we are, and may remain, ignorant. We call that “Mystery.”

Moreover, if we are really serious about wanting to know God and about being transformed into His likeness, we will want to diligently study to gain that understanding — no matter what it might cost us. That is the essence of what it means to be a disciple (i.e. learner).