It’s About What You Know
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “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.” Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV
We all would like to know more than we do. We would like to have questions answered about the enigmas in life. We would like to have more answers to the question, “Why?”
This verse toward the end of Deuteronomy is an interesting one. Perhaps because the Children of Israel had witnessed firsthand things that no other people were able to witness with their own eyes. They saw the miracles of provisions, as well as the judgments of the Lord against the stubborn and rebellious. But there can always be an unsettled sense of anxiety over what we don’t know more than what we do know.
We must remember that there are some things we just don’t know and won’t know, this side of heaven. There are “secret things” that belong to the Lord. There may be things that we don’t need to know or if we did know we would not understand. It is true that the Lord’s “ways are higher than ours and His thoughts are higher than ours.” The Lord declared through the prophet, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” (Isaiah 55:8 NLT)
We need to be a peace with just not knowing everything or having the answer to all of our questions. Our faith is not in our minds it is a function of our hearts and our spirit. Seeing many be believing, but believing is also seeing.
However, there is much that we do know. It is not what you don’t know that creates the biggest issues for your in life, it is what you do know that causes the greatest challenges. Someone once said, “it’s what your learn after you know it all that is the most important.”
With knowledge comes responsibility. Moses told God’s people that what they do know, what has been revealed is “that we may do all the words of this law.” Knowledge is to put into action. Jesus told His disciples, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13:17 NIV) The blessing comes through the application of knowledge.
James writes in his epistle about faith that is demonstrated by works. We are saved by faith, but our faith is evidenced by how live, by what we do.
The Lord is able to reveal to us what we need to know, when we need to know it. We need to be comfortable with being on a “need-to-know” basis with the Lord. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.” (1 Corinthians 13:9,10 NIV)
Prayer for today…. Lord help us to remember that You reveal much to us about Yourself and our lives. While we wrestle with what we don’t understand, help us to be faithful and to respond properly with what we do understand and what you have entrusted to us as Your children.