The Secret Things

Deuteronomy 29:29 (NIV) The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

We are just such control freaks. We want to do it ourselves. We want to know all the answers - at least all the answers to the questions we ask. We want control and we need to KNOW to be in control. I'm pretty sure I can say "we" because I know way too many people who think they NEED to know the answers. Well, some answers are just unknowable.

In a previous post, I looked at Ephesians 3:18 where the phrase "strength to comprehend" is used. I wondered if we are prevented from some things until we are strong enough to comprehend. I wonder if there are some things that we are never strong enough to comprehend.

This passage in Deuteronomy certainly leads me to believe that some things are just secrets for God alone. Maybe we just can't be made strong enough to comprehend them. Maybe we just don't have a right to know. Maybe we can't do anything about it so why should we know. Think of the serenity prayer. Someone came up with a prayer to ask for help to accept the things we cannot change - we wouldn't want to change a thing if we didn't know about it! (click here for the full prayer).

So according to scripture- for you see, God always tells us what we need to know in scripture - there are some things that are secret for God alone. The secret things belong to the Lord our God..... If God wants us to know something He will reveal it to us. ..but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow....

I think that God uses His Word, the Bible, to tell me all the things I need to know for having a personal relationship with Him. I think this is personal. I think a passage means something to me if it supposed to according to God's plan for ME. I think the plan is a personal plan that God has for me. I think I understand the Bible and glimpses of God around me only as part of His plan for me. That is why I don't get some passages even after much "study". Those things are secret to God until or if He decides that it is time to reveal them to me. That is why some passages mean something to me and nothing to the person next to me, or, even more interestingly, something different to the person next to me.

I learn three things from this passage. 1) God has secrets. 2) God will reveal things to me, which in turn I am supposed to pass along to my children (and others). 3) God reveals things to me so that I (and my family) will follow.

Now, do I have the patience to accept that God has secrets? I am not suggesting that I stop studying His word, or that I stop meditating and watching for revelation. I am suggesting that it is okay when I don't know the answer. I know that things will be revealed to me (and others) so I need to be in community with others for mutual reflection of those revelations. I also must use the knowledge to follow and help others follow.

Amazing what can come from one passage of scripture, huh?

Thank you, Holy Spirit, who works in and around me, for revealing what I am supposed to know so that I will follow accordingly. Help me to follow. Help me to communicate your revelations to others. Help me to accept those things that are a puzzle until time to be revealed, if ever. Amen.

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