THE SECRET THINGS AND THE REVEALED

Deut. 29:29

Morning Meditation 6/30/16

Verse 29 says, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

What an awesome verse this is. How many times have we tried to know something about God and found that in thinking the thoughts became so overwhelming that we had to stop or else lose our mind completely. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God. . .” There are some things we will never know in this world. Because they are things that belong only to God. Faith lives with the unexplained and rejoices in the revealed.

I am glad the verse says, “But those things which are revealed belong unto us . . .” Even here we must be careful. I like what Tozer said, “I have leafed through a book entitled ‘Earth’s Earliest Ages.’ I will not say that I have actually read it because I quickly concluded that the author seems to believe that he knows more about the antediluvian period than Moses did.” Then he adds a comment that should warn all of us: “When I discover a man who claims to know more than Moses on a subject in which Moses is a specialist, I shy away from his book.” While the things revealed are ours, we must still handle them delicately because a misinterpretation of “the revealed” becomes a lie. I like what Tozer said: “For a man to understand revealed truth requires an act of God equal to the original act which inspired the text.” (The Divine Conquest p.79 A.W. Tozer).. This statement was made when he was commenting on the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah no doubt wanted to know the “secret things” and God said to him in Isaiah 55:7-9: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Note the distance between God’s thoughts and man’s. “For as the heavens (plural) are higher than the earth, so are . . . my thoughts than your thoughts.” There is no way to measure the distance between heaven and earth. Astronomers who study the heavens talk in terms of universes that dwarf ours being located billions of light years away. God says these distances that overwhelm your finite minds in some way illustrate the degree of difference between my thoughts and your thoughts.

Paul is caught up in this overwhelming difference when he wrote: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Rom. 11:33-36). The secret things belong unto the LORD our God.

There is a forbidding about this statement. The “secret things belong” to the LORD our God. They are his. He possess them. He is infinite in knowledge. His understanding is without limits. God guards these secrets by our limitations a creatures. We are the created, he the Creator. Man glories in his wisdom but “the foolishness of God is wiser than men. . .” (1 Cor. 1:25). God is saying don’t waste your time in things that don’t belong to you. Spend your time examining things that I have given you.

He says, “But those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” What does he say is ours? He says, “those things which are revealed.” God’s Word is God’s revelation. He has given us the Bible.

God said, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). The very first verse is the Bible is an awesome revelation. Men who reject God and try to bypass him have other explanations. They say it all started with a bang. They talk about evolution. Millions of dollars are spent in writing text books to be taught in our public schools to avoid God and his revelation. But the Creator has spoken. It stands as an eternal fact. For those of us who believe we cherish this revelation. It has been given to us. It belongs to us. We can study it and be blessed by it. It is not off limits to us. But there are some things about creation that are secret. God has not revealed them. These are the things that belong to him. When we try to pry into these areas we must go there by human wisdom. And remember the Holy Spirit tells us “. . . the world by wisdom knew not God. . .”

How do we know God? We know God by revelation. It is no secret. He tells us in John 1:1-18. Verse 18 says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” The word “declared” means “revealed.” Not only do we know things about God by revelation we know God Himself by revelation. John 14:8-9: “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” Paul says that God was in Christ and Christ was the express image of God. This is revealed. This belongs to us. We can expand our thinking by meditating on God’s revelation day and night.

How long will the things revealed by beneficial? God says, “but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever.” These things are not only going to be good in our life time Moses say but they are also given for our children. And they are not revealed for us and our children but they are “for ever.” Not only does this word mean “everlasting” but it also means “perpetually.” This means the truth of the revelation is eternal truth. There will never come a time when these truths will not be true and worn out and of no use. The Psalmist said in Psa. 119:89 “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.”

What practical use do we gain by the things that are revealed? Moses says, “That we may do all the words of this law.” God reveals for faith to believe and practice. James 1:22 says “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” God has given his revelation for man to practice. God’s revelation is his declared will.. This is the reason the Psalmist says in Psalm 1:2 of the blessed man, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Jesus said, “. . . the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). There are things we cannot know. They are hidden in the mind of infinite God. There are things we can know. They are the things revealed in His Word. Let us make this Book the daily food that feeds us in our pilgrimage and we migrate toward the “City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10).

God bless you.

Bro. White