29 “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
Secret Things
God is knowable, but we will never know everything God knows. There are secret things, things which God in His infinite wisdom has chosen not to reveal to us. Things in the future we can not foresee, yet totally under His control. I am not sure why God chooses to reveal some things and not others, although it is obvious that our finite minds could not comprehend or retain that which is known by our all-knowing Creator. He has not only put the billions of stars in the sky, but He has also named them. He not only knows the seven billion people currently living on planet earth, as well as every human that ever has trod the soil of this planet throughout history, but He also knows the number of their hairs. Speak a careless word; He knows it. Have an evil thought; He knows it. Pretty sobering to think of how many words I will speak and thoughts I will have today that I won’t even remember tomorrow. But our minds can only retain so much.
Curiosity
Why is it that despite our limited understanding we want to know God’s “secrets”? For instance, why do we have a such a fascination with the end times? Once when His disciples asked Him about His return and the end of the age, Jesus responded, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36). Secret things. So secret that neither the angels of heaven or Jesus, Himself had privy to. And it was His return they were talking about! How many have foolishly claimed to know what the Father did not reveal even to Jesus? How much effort have men put into developing theories and putting them on fancy timelines and charts trying to convince others they know the unknowable? They may impress other men but God is not impressed. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but…”
Revealed Things
While so many are pursuing the unknowable, God is patiently waiting for us to avail ourselves of what “belongs to us”; the things that are revealed. While God retains the rights to His secrets, He offers to us more than we can ever fathom. In His Word, He has chosen to reveal Himself to us. He has revealed His nature to us. He has revealed His attributes to us. He has revealed His dislikes and His passions. He tells us not only about Himself but His plans for us as well. How we were created. Why we were created. How sin entered the world and His plan of redemption. Hence Moses could write to his fellow Israelites, what God has chosen to reveal to us is a valuable possession. A possession that belongs to us and our children forever. But the possession is just the beginning.
What God has chosen to reveal to us has been done with the purpose of prompting obedience to His will out of loving and grateful hearts, “that we may do all the words of this law.”
Indifference?
I realize that we are living under the New Covenant today, but I also believe that many truths are relevant under both the Old and New Covenant. God has always delighted in intimacy with His children, and God has always expected obedience from them. God has made the effort to reveal Himself to mankind with the intention of having both. Although God has chosen not to reveal everything to us, He has revealed enough to accomplish His purposes for us. The question now becomes, what are we doing with the things that He has revealed that belong to us? Do we take the Bible for granted? Do we long for God as a deer longs for water? Would we be willing to sell everything to obtain the kingdom of heaven? Is our love for God so great that by comparison we “hate” all earthly relationships?
Invaluable
What God has revealed to us is that valuable. At least Jesus claimed so much. 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:44-46). 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).
On the night He was betrayed, Jesus made this profound statement, 3 “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). The kingdom of heaven has been offered to us. Eternal life, the ability to know God and Jesus, His exact representation, is available to us. Made available because an all-knowing God has chosen to reveal specific Truths to us. Truths that will belong to us forever. May we not worry about the secret things that belong to God, rather may we revel in the fact that he has already revealed so much to us. Instead of trying to grasp what God has not revealed, we should saturate ourselves with what He has revealed through His grace. May we have the wisdom to make our knowledge of God our highest priority. Such is God’s desire for us. And that is no secret.