John 3:9-10
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?  Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

Nicodemus was supposed to be someone in the know.  He was one who taught others, and so he was expected to have a certain knowledge and wisdom about the things of God.  But Jesus has come along and counfounded all the Pharisees.  They don’t know what to make of Him.  His teachings aren’t quite the same.  Miracles are being done.  So Nicodemus comes to ask some questions and try to figure out what is going on.  Because when it gets right down to it, he just doesn’t understand.

We can’t know the things of God in the same way we know earthly things.  Earthly things we can touch and feel and see and smell.  Their tangible qualities help us to understand them.  We can measure and analyze and gain a better grasp on those things.  But with spiritual things, we have to have faith.  It’s not always going to be as obvious, but more subtle.  We can’t use our senses, but we have to believe.  We have to know that what God says is true.  We have to know He does what He says He will do.  We have to trust He does things we can’t understand.

Sometimes that is hard to do.  There is a whole spiritual realm that we can’t quite grasp, but we can know just as surely as we know earthly things that these spiritual things are so.  A lot of it is just about letting go of what we think we know, and to do that, all we have to do is follow Nicodemus’ lead.  What did he do when he didn’t understand?  He went to talk to Jesus, ask some questions, and he wasn’t willing to leave without a satisfactory answer that he could hold on to.

Jesus goes on to explain to Nicodemus those amazing truths that we can hold on to in our own lives.  We can be born again.  We can become part of God’s family.  We can have everlasting life.  We can partake of this spiritual world just beyond our fingertips.  And we can know God in a way we could have never expected to know Him.  As always, Jesus is the way.  So whenever we find ourselves a little unsure of what it’s all about, all we have to do is ask Jesus to help us undestand.