Developing Respect for the Secret Things of God
Have you ever had difficulty being patient waiting for a secret to be revealed? Human beings often struggle when others know a secret or have knowledge that they do not. Take Delilah for instance in Judges 16. She couldn't stand the fact that Samson was keeping the source of his great strength a secret from her. She badgered him continually and, after he grew tired of lying to her, revealed the truth. She got what she wanted because of her persistent pestering. Samson, on the other hand, ruined his life in many respects by failing to keep his secret.

I suspect there are some women (and men) living today who behave like Delilah. When they desire to learn something, they will do whatever it takes to gain the knowledge. This type of tenacity is not inherently bad, but it is, of course, when it leads one to commit sin. Part of maturing, I believe, is learning to be content with partial knowledge in certain aspects of life. There are some things we simply are not meant to know.

On this general theme, I find Deuteronomy 29:29 to be fascinating. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

Even without this verse, only a fool would ever conclude that God has revealed all knowledge to us. God keeps many secrets from us. He reveals what we need to know, but not necessarily everything we'd like to know.

Recently I kept a secret from my wife pertaining to a special getaway I had planned for us and some Christian friends. She knew something was going on, and she wanted to know more about it. But, I only told her what she needed to know. Thankfully, she is mature enough to handle it when I have secrets of this sort. She trusts me and doesn't harass me about sharing the secret (she also knows how stubborn I am and that I wouldn't tell her anyway!).

I kept the secret from my wife because I wanted the getaway to be a wonderful surprise. I wasn't withholding knowledge from her to be mean; I simply thought it was best to keep the details of the plan a secret. Although the parallels that can be drawn are minimal, I suspect the reason why God keeps secrets is much the same. He realizes that it is simply better that we don't know certain things. It is also no doubt true that He withholds some things from us because we couldn't handle it if we had the knowledge! Personally, I am thankful that human knowledge is finite. There are many things about life that I don't understand, but that's okay. I don't know why God took six days to create the world and the things therein. I don't know why Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt instead of pepper. I don't know why Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. I don't know who the penman of the book of Hebrews was. I don't know when Jesus will return again. On and on I could go.

The things we do know are so small in comparison with the things we don't know. But, there's nothing wrong with that. The Scriptures teach that God has given us "all things that pertain to life and godliness" (II Pet. 1:3). In other words, He's provided us with everything we need to know. The real question is not: "What is He keeping secret from us?" but "Do we trust Him that He has revealed everything that is necessary for life?" If we do trust Him, then secret knowledge quickly becomes irrelevant since it is outside the scope of what we need to know to live a faithful life to God.

Friends, let us respect the fact that God knows what is best for us--even when that means He keeps secrets from us.