There are things we understand about God and things we don’t. This daily devotional looks at what we are expected to seek and why.
Nuggets
- God does keep secrets from us.
- We need to accept that we will not understand everything that God does.
- God saves His revelations for His children.
- God instructs us to seek Him, not understanding.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Finding Our Center series
We put a lot of stock into understanding things. We value knowledge and praise those who possess it.
There are things, though, that we will never be able to understand. How are we to seek God if we there is no way to understand?
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
How God Is Mysterious
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29: 29 ESV)
God does keep secrets from us.
Satan used a very good argument to get Adam and Eve to sin. He contended that God knew things that they didn’t.
Well, Satan was correct. “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Gen. 2: 16-17 ESV).
Satan made Adam and Eve to believe that that was not acceptable. God shouldn’t be allowed to keep secrets from us in the gospel according to Satan.
Pierson contended there were five types of secrets that God has.
- Secrets of His nature
- Secrets of His Will
- Secrets of His truth
- Secrets of our nature
- Secrets regarding language
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When we feel we must know everything that God knows — that He shouldn’t keep secrets from us — we are not acknowledging His sovereignty. We are elevating ourselves to a place we were never meant to be.
Incomprehensible Things
“Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? The Lord is the everlasting God; he created all the world. He never grows tired or weary. No one understands his thoughts” (Isa. 40: 28 GNT)
We need to accept that we will not understand everything that God does.
We are just going to focus in on the last part of the verse: “… No one understands his thoughts” (Isa. 40: 28 GNT)
Some struggle with what Pierson tells us we have to learn: that our “… mind has not the capacity of that of God.” Instead, some think we should be equals with God.
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Not. Going. To. Happen.
God withholds the things from us that we don’t need to know or can’t know. Science isn’t going to figure everything out. No, we don’t need to know everything. We need to trust Him.
Other things are only secrets until God reveals them. He reveals to us as we either need to know them or as we grow to be able to comprehend them.
Pierson’s description of the secrets of language is interesting. The speaker has to make sure the hearer understands the words used. (That is why I define so many terms.)
God has to describe things we have never seen. He has to use familiar words to describe unfamiliar concepts. Easy? Sometimes. Hard? Have you read Revelation lately?
God doesn’t keep everything from us. We said before that we are told point blank where we go wrong (sin), and we are told point blank how to fix it (faith). He makes His laws and commandments known.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
In Whom Does God Confide?
“The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them” (Ps. 25: 14 NIV)
God saves His revelations for His children.
What? You think God is going to talk you into believing in Him?
Oh. You think God is just going to reveal to you the definitive answer as to creation or evolution?
Not. Going. To. Happen.
You think God is going to turn into Chatty Cathy and tell you everything even though you will never submit to Him regardless of His answers?
God reveals things to His children — only to His children — and only some things. “The LORD confides in those who fear him …” (Ps. 25: 14 NIV).
Glossary
Remember, fear of the Lord is the Old Testament term that is equated with the New Testament term godliness. Godliness is reverence in thought, feeling, and conduct that is promoted by walking in His Spirit and obeying God’s laws and commandments and produces a moral likeness of God.
(Remember, that is our overall theme for the year.)
Look at it this way. Swan wrote, “We always best understand those who are like-minded with us.”
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God wants all to be saved. He is going to save the explanations for those who are. He will give the explanations to those who have communication with Him and those who have His character.
Parker had an interesting take on God’s secret. He intimated that this was more a private conversation with God.
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I see this kind of like the wine and gab sessions my neighbor and I used to have. We would get together, sit on the couch, and solve the problems of our world. I would tell her things that I wouldn’t tell anyone else. (Hmmm. I sure miss her and them!)
Isn’t it great that we can have the same conversations with our loving Heavenly Father? He can be our confidant.
The Scriptures are a big reveal to us. However they are only — really — an introduction to God. He reveals even more of Himself to His children through the Holy Spirit.
These revelations come from God Himself. Unfortunately, we don’t always accept them. We try to reconcile them with worldview ways of thinking. We can’t justify things with human reasoning.
We have to approach God with humility. Humility is a character trait that diminishes pride and places dependence on God while holding a modest view of our importance with respect to others. We can’t lead with arrogance.
Littleton warned us about being curious regarding things mankind will never be able to understand in this life. It is dangerous to try to force understanding through out way of thinking, and there are more important things that we can understand that we need to work on.
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Hitchcock went a step further in warning us about demanding proof. He wrote, “And yet when we come to ask for an a priori demonstration, when we would make it certain to ourselves that there is a personal God, in the same sense and to the same degree that we are certain of some mathematical propositions, our logic is not triumphant. We have only to require some sensible assurance, or some incontestable demonstration of the Divine existence, and our faith inevitably dies. God will take His leave of us.”
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God wants total faith— even when we don’t understand. Faith is the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Why Should We Seek Him if We Won’t Understand?
“You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart” (Jer. 29: 13 CSB)
God instructs us to seek Him, not understanding.
So, we are supposed to seek God for answers even if we may not understand them and even though He may or may not tell us?
Wait a second. That verse doesn’t say anything about seeking for answers. It says seek God.
It means seek a relationship with Him. It means seek to imitate His character.
All the other answers we seek are inconsequential. Everything else is second tier to getting our spiritual condition right.
Look what Beecher said about seeking God. He wrote, “To search after God is really to educate oneself. To know God requires that we should be educated in the Divine qualities. The knowledge of God is not something outside of us, and far removed from us. It is revealed in us, and by some quality that is within us.”
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We have to seek God with our heart. Everything needs to be at the heart-level.
What we are going for is obedience. We want to do what God wants us to do.
As a reward, God gives us knowledge. Brameld stated that there are parts of the gospel that some can understand while others can’t. He wrote, “These are the most solemn and most important teachings of Scripture, which tell us of the intimate relations which exist between man and his God: such as, the doctrines of the corruption of our nature; of the degrading and shameful conduct of sin; of our need of salvation and purification; of our own inability to purify and save ourselves; of the priceless blessings involved in the atonement of Jesus, and in the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
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We can only discern these passages through the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Making the Connections
I love what Roberts said. He wrote, “… A mystery is not a revelation. It is the very opposite of a revelation. We freely admit that there are mysteries confronting us in the Old and New Testaments. Truths are intimated, suggested, pointed at, dimly outlined, like a mountain castle scarce seen through the mists of evening which fill the valley; but, inasmuch as they are not clear, to that extent they cannot be said to be revealed. These things are beyond us. They are Divine mysteries, which it is reverent for us to place with the secret things which belong unto the Lord God.”
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Hitchcock reminded us that the Plan of Salvation is not based on our knowledge. It is based on our hope. Hope is a future expectation, called a living hope, based on the confidence that our names will be found in the book of life.
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We are not going to figure it all out, folks. Accept that.
Why doesn’t God reveal everything to everyone? Fermer reminded us that “grace is spiritual, and can only be received by the spiritually minded.”
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That is why God only reveals these understandings to His children. If we are not His children, we are not like-minded with God.
How Do We Apply This?
We are never in this life going to understand everything. I am not really sure we are going to totally understand everything in the next.
Don’t chuck everything because you won’t. Parker advised us to “never make God’s secrets a plea for neglecting His bounties.” Don’t toss out the spiritual because of the physical.
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Yeah, a lot of this will be self-education. We have to personally seek God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Even though we may not understand everything, that doesn’t give us license to disobey what we do understand. We need to follow God’s laws and commandments.
Is science a means through which God reveals things to us? Yes, definitely.
Is science 100% correct in its findings? I personally don’t think so. Plus, there are mysteries in science. We can’t discount God because of the mysteries and champion science, which has its own mysteries.
The problem comes when we begin thinking that we can only believe things that have been proven by science. That is man-made thinking, not reliance on God.
So, we are worried about not knowing everything? Don’t be. We should put our faith and trust in God.
Father God. We want to seek You. We want to be like You. Help us to master our worldly curiosity – and arrogance – when we think we need to understand. May we focus solely on You. Amen.
What do you think?
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