MasterTruth

The Deep Dark Secrets

Perhaps you have a complicated job, hobby or interest focus area that is hard to explain to those who ask about it. Because the listener has no experience or frame of reference to understand your explanation, you may have learned to just not talk about it. You summarize that the other person is so much in the dark about your topic, it wears you out explaining it.

Could God feel that way? After all, He knows everything, and we know nothing. We are in the dark about a lot of things. We don’t even know what we don’t know. Not knowing what’s in the dark is unacceptable to one of our neighbors. He goes out into his back yard every morning between 4 and 5 and walks the whole yard with a flashlight. He says he does it because he has no idea what kind of creatures are lurking out there in the dark, and he wants to know.

Darkness, physical and metaphorical, holds all kinds of mysteries. But what’s dark to us is not to our omniscient God.  He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. (Daniel 2:22)

Let that be a comfort. For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness. (2 Sam. 22:29) That’s a beautiful verse, but exactly how does He enlighten my darkness? He uses His word. (Psa. 119:105, Heb. 4:12)

While God’s omniscience and power through His word is a comfort in illuminating the darkness, sometimes we are the ones with the darkness. We have our own secrets we would like to hide from others and from God. But of course, that’s not possible. From the day God breathed the spirit of life into our lungs, He has known everything about us. We keep no secrets from God. The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly. (Prov. 20:27) That spirit He breathed in you is the light He uses to search everything about you. It’s like an implanted chip that uploads everything to God.

To those trying to live for Him, that’s an awesome thought. But to the wicked, that’s a horrible thought. But it’s true. We hide nothing from God. For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. (Job 34:21-22) Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Heb. 4:13)

Even if you’re a mystery to yourself, God knows. A grasp of that will change your life in many ways. You might as well go along with Him on the inward candle search and pray with David, Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psa. 139:23-24)

Tell me what you think.

Jody

When God Shows His Hand

In the poker game of life, God always has the perfect hand, and He doesn’t have a poker face. If you want to know something, just watch Him and follow His eyes. The problem is, He would (and does) reveal His hand, or His secrets, but some of us won’t believe Him and therefore dismiss Him and go on about our own way.

For example, what if God said that deep outer space is made of cream cheese, and you have to bike peddle through it. Sounds absurd. And that is what some people would conclude and would not only quit listening to God, they would become antigod, trusting in their own reasoning instead. Others would believe because He’s God, and they know He’s always right, so they search out the matter.

God simply reveals His secrets to those who have an open enough mind and heart to believe what might seem crazy. And a lot of things of God seem crazy. Why? 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. (Isa. 55:8-9)

Trust is the issue. Will you believe what God says? Small children easily believe their parents. If Dad says deep space is made of cream cheese, then that settles it. God wants us to have that kind of faith in what He says. (Luke 18:16-17)

Some argue against blind faith. I’m against it too, if it has no basis. But if God said something, take the faith position that you will believe it first, then you will search it out further in the Scripture. Be curious. Curiosity is a secret of learning secrets.

When you study the Bible on any particular topic (secrets for example), it’s a good idea to start with the passage with the most to say about it. I went into my eSword online Bible (you could do the same with The Blue Letter Bible phone app) and did a search for secret. It shows me there are 65 verses with that word. As I scroll down through the references, I notice that one chapter, Daniel 2, uses the word six times. That’s more than any other chapter in the Bible. I conclude that Daniel 2 must be the most thorough guidance in the Bible on secrets. In Bible-study terms, this is called the passage of  “full mention.” (Other examples: 1 Cor. 13 is the go-to passage, or most complete mention, of love or charity. Hebrews 11 is the full mention of faith, etc.) You simply start with the full-mention passage when you study something and look for cross references from there.

In this Daniel 2 passage, pagan King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. He didn’t know what it meant and summoned a group of people who specialize in figuring things out—magicians, astrologers and sorcerers. He wanted to know the interpretation of his dream. Only to make matters worse, he didn’t even remember the actual dream itself to explain it to them. Of course no one could come up with the actual dream and its interpretation. Shall we call this the ultimate secret?

But there was Daniel. He and his three buddies prayed that God would reveal this big secret. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven (2:19) He worshiped God according to truth. Listen in: He changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. (2:21-22)

He then promptly went to Nebuchadnezzar and told him what his dream was and what it meant. Nebuchadnezzar thought he was the greatest. Daniel deflected the praise. Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.” (Dan. 2:27-30)

On your own, you can read through the four verses above and draw all kinds of conclusions. As you do, one question to ask while studying full-mention passages is, do these verses remind me of any other verses in the Bible? Two jumped out at me regarding God sharing secrets with those who ask. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5) It’s not God’s plan to keep everything a secret. He likes to enlighten curious, God-seeking and God-believing people. Here’s a prayer: Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (Psalm 119:18)

Another thing regarding secrets we see in our Daniel 2 passage is that God doesn’t enlighten unbelievers. Why? Because God is on a different frequency than the unbeliever. King Nebuchadnezzar knew nothing of the God Daniel served and worshipped. The king was a natural man with no access to the supernatural God. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they (the things of God) are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14) You need an implant to even begin to grasp God’s secrets: the Holy Spirit living inside you—an outcome of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.

The final point I’ll make about the Daniel 2 passage is that King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream had to do with end-time prophesies. Does anyone else find it interesting that God entrusted this key prophesy to a pagan who would never get it on his own? I mean, he didn’t even have the wherewithal to remember what the dream was, let alone what it meant. He was clueless, just like any other unbeliever with a piece of God’s Word in hand. Fortunately, there was Daniel, a vessel for God to work through.

Let’s be like Daniel. Love God, study His Word, ask for wisdom and share it with others.

Tell me what you think.

Jody