Journal Prov 25 (all references are from the ESV unless noted otherwise; changes in punctuation are mine)
Scripture: “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” Prov 25:2
Observation: I wonder why God conceals things? Is it to cause me to work harder? What kind of disciple does Jesus want me to be?
Analysis: Here is a corollary to the above scripture: “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.” (Deut 29:29)
I remember as a young Christian I wanted to know everything, dabbling here and there, whatever the scripture of the day or biblical concept was, I dove into it—but only enough to know a little, to keep me up and maybe one step further than the crowd I hung with.
The result? I was a master of the Christian buzz words; insert a word here and a phrase there, I was looked upon with a sort of respect.
However, as I grew older, I began to understand that this was a veneer, a cover, and my “depth” was really shallowness in comparison.
I was always a reader, but now I had to develop more purpose: I didn’t want what I have learned to go to waste by not having an application and yet, I did not want to fall into what I thought for me was a trap of public works. My journey began to integrate what I am learning to be Intentional Christianity.
So what? Lots of words, what does it mean? One of the things that the above scripture reference speaks to me about is discipleship is lifelong; take my time, don’t be in a hurry to learn, take the long view to search the Trinitarian God out and be diligent in doing so.
Does God hide himself? No. Does God hide (conceal) certain things? Scripture says yes—but that He wants them searched out. That “searching” can take years and decades and those “concealed” things may never be revealed in my lifetime.
But what about the revealed things? Bluntly, there are RICHES to be found in the revealed things of God, things that can be unraveled and dug deeper to find more riches underneath. Take the Gospel for an example: If I stopped at John 3:16 as the end all/be all of the definition of the Gospel, I would miss all of the mercy of God in the Gospel, why the Cross was always Plan A and Eden was never Plan A. I would miss that the Gospel extends into and will be the basis of the New Heaven and New Earth. I would miss that making me into the image of the Son (Ro 8:29) is part of the Gospel, etc.
To be clear, I am not saying that “revealed” things are easy to find and understand, anymore that I am saying that a 1st Grader, just exposed to arithmetic can understand algebra. It takes a line upon line, precept upon precept approach (Is 28:10) to learn, to be weaned from milk into meat.
We stand on the shoulders of faithful men who have gone before us. We stand (all of us) on the faithful teaching of the Word of God. Doctrines, precepts, and the like are Jewels to uncover and find and pack our hearts with so that we can become faithful Disciples.
Prayer: Lord, I sure hope I am writing with clarity. Today’s devotional time with my wife shows again how short on clarity I am. Help me, Spirit.
Amen.
Ricky Two Shoes