For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding. (2 Nephi 31:3)
This verse has helped me a lot in life. So often it helped me in my studies as I worked to understand things. It helped me whenever I’d run into things I couldn’t understand, helping me trust that either there would be a way to understand it if I learned more, or it was something worthless trying to cover that up with a pretense of obscurity. It has helped me value teachers for their ability to make difficult subjects clear, beautiful, and harmonious.
It also shows me just how involved revelation is in learning. Every insight, every realization, every epiphany is a gift from God and brings us closer to Him.
I think the scripture also teaches what a brilliant linguist God is. If He speaks to all of us according to our understanding, He must know all our languages. Not only does God condescend to speak, but to adapt His message to our level of understanding, meaning He knows the level we’re at. (I suspect He sometimes pitches His messages at a slightly higher level to motivate us to stretch a little bit so we can also grow spiritually.) He understands us perfectly, and how He must yearn for us to understand Him. And yet, here we are, with our limited mortal perspective hopefully widened a little with our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. How much we must trust Him!
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