Hi all,
It was the first time Barb made the statement we’ve since repeated several times. We were driving and reviewing hardships in life we’ve gone through over the years, not all of which were self-inflicted. She said:
“When I get to heaven I’m going to have a whole (whooooolllllle) lot of questions for the Lord.”
We’ve even talked about whether everything will be explained all at once, or will we instantly know by divine download, or will He over time explain things to us as we remember things and questions arise?
When our handicapped son, Chris, was about 20 he said the Lord told him, “He will walk through the mountains with me.” From my vantage point as Chris’ father, I assume some of the things talked about during that walk will be why Chris was born with the umbilical cord around his neck cutting off oxygen so that he was mentally about 4 years of age and needed a wheelchair all his adult life, and why He chose not to heal him – if things remain as they are now.
I pray the Lord will answer those questions for him in a nice, long, walk that answers my son’s questions he is sure to have once he is whole and in heaven. Barb and I may need one of those walks on the matter too, lol.
Deuteronomy 29: 29 says this:
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
The Hebrew word ‘sathar’ is translated ‘secret’, ‘conceal’, ‘absent (knowledge)’, ‘hide’ or ‘to be undetected’.
That God has secrets kept from us runs against human nature. From the creation when we were told to ‘be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth’, man has been exploring the unknown, trying to discover new things. It is frustrating enough when someone we know says they have a secret, but in this case the someone is God: “No. That’s MY secret. You walk by faith.”
The fact Dt 29: 29 says there ARE secret things He keeps from us and then also tells us what is revealed to us is for the purpose of walking with God in obedience, should be our guide. Not every answer will be known this side of heaven. Not every problem can be solved. There are some things we just won’t know this side of heaven. Rest in that. Cease from your efforts to beg, plead, cry, to God to get Him to tell you why. Rest. Trust. One day it will be known, but not this day.
What IS revealed IS for us, and it is revealed that we may walk in obedience with Him. That is our focus, on the revealed things not on that which is hidden. Can you imagine what would happen if all of Christianity laid aside efforts to know what is secret in order to focus on the revealed, which is maturing in Christ. What that would be like? It sure would shut down a lot of Christian web sites, lol. Live in today. Plan, yes, we need to plan. But live in today.
Here is a secret: No man knows the day nor hour, but my Father only. Matthew 24: 36
Most of us accept that Jesus’ return is a secret the Father is keeping from us because the return of the Lord is ‘out there’ in the future. But when it comes to our lives in the here and now, tragedies, illnesses, crisis’ – we want to know ‘why’. That’s normal. That’s natural. But He keeps things from us for reasons hidden within His heart.
When I was 5 and asked where babies came from, I got a different answer to that question when I was 12. I suspect not knowing things on this side protects us like 5 year olds until we are able to see the whole picture of those things on the other side in greater maturity.
Unexpected death
In Luke 12: 17-20 Jesus tells the story of the man who had earthly riches but was poor towards God. The man said to himself that he needed to build bigger barns, and he took great comfort in the savings he was laying up for himself. But God said in v20; “You fool. This night your life will be demanded of you…” But the timing of his demise was a secret God alone knew until it came upon the man. That was God’s secret.
Abraham, Sarah, Hagar
In Genesis 15: 1-6 the Lord meets with Abraham and ‘brings him forth abroad’ to count the stars, stating that is how many his offspring will be. And God is emphatic, Abraham will have a son of his own body.
What the Lord kept secret at that time, was that Sarah would be the mother. He didn’t tell Abraham that bit of information in Genesis 15, choosing to keep it to Himself. The result was chapter 16, where Sarah is reasoning out that she is barren, God said Abraham would be the father, so obviously Abraham needed to make a baby with Hagar. It wasn’t until the next chapter, 17, that the Lord revealed Sarah would be the mother.
Why didn’t He tell Abraham back in chapter 15 that not only would Abraham be the dad, but Sarah would be the mom? Couldn’t the world have avoided a lot of conflict if Hagar had not gotten pregnant by Abraham? It was a secret to be revealed in His time. That’s the nature of the holder of a secret, they can reveal it as they determine.
This first of the series I’m just pointing out some of the secrets the Father keeps from us; next week, what is our part to play knowing there are secrets we aren’t to yet know? Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
