God designed things so that much of life is quite mysterious. He created us with an inherent need to rely him for everything. It is not that we are stupid, but there is simply so much that we do not know, need to know, or even have the capacity to know.
The quest to know more than God is willing to share with us led to our downfall. As the old saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. The serpent preyed upon this desire to go beyond what God designed us to know when he tempted Eve to taste the forbidden fruit in order to “be like God,” knowing good and evil for themselves without having to rely on God to show them. Sadly, our Lord never intended for them or us to have that knowledge because he knew it would destroy us. It is humbling to admit we are so dependent by design.
Rather than giving us knowledge of everything, God gave us a capacity, desire, and need to live by faith.
As the old hymn says,
Many Things About Tomorrow,
I Don’t Seem To Understand;
But I Know Who Holds Tomorrow,
And I Know Who Holds My Hand.
Everyone lives by faith in something, even if it is faith that there is nothing worth believing. Faith is based on believing what is unprovable using scientific methodology. The great mysteries of life must be accepted by faith.
- Is there a God?
- What is the purpose of life?
- What happens after death?
- What do I do next?
Thankfully, faith does not have to be blind. In fact, it should not be. Faith should be based on something rock solid. God has given us his written Word, called the Bible. He has also given us the Holy Spirit.
But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 1 Corinthians 2:10 (NLT)
The Spirit of God reveals things to us. He speaks to our hearts and opens our minds to understand the scriptures. This is the kind of knowledge that God permits and encourages.
Revelation from the scriptures and from the Spirit are gifts from God and minister life to us, just the opposite of what happened in the garden when the wrong kind of knowledge was pursued.
But sometimes God withholds what we might consider to be necessary key information, leaving us feeling alone, confused, and very unsure of ourselves and what to do next. This happened to King Saul near the end of his life. Because of disobedience, his access to hearing God speak to him through the prophets and by other means had been cut off. He came to a huge crisis and did not know where to turn. In his desperation, he resorted to consulting a medium or necromancer, one who brings up the dead for consultation. This was strictly forbidden, but he was so desperate that he was willing to try anything. He asked the witch of Endor to bring Samuel the prophet back from the dead. The result was not pretty. Samuel did indeed come back only to prophesy his impending death in battle.
When we get confused, afraid, and desperate to know what to do next, we should never resort to forbidden or occult forms of knowledge, as did Saul, Adam, and Eve. Such a time is a glorious opportunity for us to demonstrate our faith that God will reveal to us whatever we need to know.
If the Lord is not showing us anything, it is because we do not need to know.
Instead, God wants us to simply trust in him.
The Bible gives us a great example. Large crowds were following Jesus. His popularity was soaring, but knowing the fickleness of people, Jesus deliberately taught them some things that were difficult to comprehend and offensive to those who did not yet grasp his true identity as the Messianic King. When Jesus told the crowd that he is the bread of life and they must “eat” him to have life, the crowd was offended, not understanding the meaning.
Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” 61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.” 66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” 68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:60-69 (NLT)
When life is confusing and it seems that God has let us down, that is the time fall back on what we do know.
God is good and trustworthy, and we can trust in him even when nothing else makes sense. We do not have to know everything. We just need to rely on the one who does.
To the uninitiated, living by faith without concrete proof of what is happening or going to happen, can be disconcerting. But when we learn to operate using this kind of faith, it produces a deep sense of joy and peace. God is more trustworthy than what we can see with our eyes or understand with our minds.
For we live by believing and not by seeing. 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NLT)
When we put our faith in him, he gives us a peace that passes understanding.
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
So, when we are confused and unsure what to do next, it is time to find shelter in the “secret place” of God’s presence until he chooses to reveal what is the next thing we need to know. Until then we can choose to be content in knowing him.
