Love to hear from and know who is listening
There are a lot of things in life that I am comfortable not knowing. I am okay if I cant remember the capital of Vermont. I am perfectly fine if can't remember the address of our church. It doesn't bother me even a little if don't know the weather forecast for the week, because I can look theses things up on my smartphone. On the other hand, there are a lot of things I would really like to know that I can't look up on my cell phone. I would like to know if I am going to be able to save enough money to retire before I die, or if inflation will eat up all my savings. I would like to know if I will live a long and healthy life or if the Lord will rapture me out of this world, before my life ends. There are many things we simply can not know. While we might think it would be nice to know these things,... to know the future, I’m here to tell you that is really not the case. Even if we could know these things, we’re actually better off not knowing them!
Think about it for a moment. If you knew that day you would die how would you live your life? The sad truth is that if we knew the day of our death we would likely procrastinate doing what is right. We would live selfish, self centered lives. Scripture reveals that certain things God has kept back from His creation, purposing instead to reveal those things incrementally and conditionally to His obedient chosen offspring.
Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
When Job was trying to make sense of his devastating trial, he lamented, "And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You" (Job 10:13), and, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat!" (Job 23:3). He wanted to pry out a few secrets. So why does God keep secrets from us? Here is just a few reasons God keeps secrets from us. To shield us from disappointments, to keep us from danger, because we are not ready and to keep us from temptations. These are just a few reasons why God keeps secrets from us.
One of the greatest secrets God keeps from us is the date of his return. It was been on my mind a lot lately because of all the signs I see taking place in the world today, earthquakes, famines, plagues and war just to name a few. Jesus warned of troubling events as we near the end of the age, including persecution of believers (Mark 13:7-9). Then He added that nothing—not even persecution—should distract us from the one necessary thing: to preach the gospel to all nations. We must live as if today will be the day when Jesus returns. Living in the expectation that He could return today compels us to live every day for what really matters—for eternity!
I have learned to accept the fact that don't know everything, because I know the one who does know everything. God has perfect knowledge of all things. He does not have to learn anything and He has not forgotten anything. God does not have to reason things out, find out things by hearing them from someone else or learn them gradually. He knows everything that has happened and everything that will happen and someday when I am in heaven and I stand face to face with God I will say, “Oh,.. well that makes sense to me now!!!”
1 Corinthians 13:12 NKJV For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
