Skip to main content

Great and...

             This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:2-3)

“Great and unsearchable things? Oh, cool. (People will envy me like they did Joseph or Daniel - but you didn’t hear that part. I didn’t say it.)” Perhaps the hardest part of this is the fact that what God tells us isn’t necessarily, or even likely, to be what we want to hear. My current complaint to God is that He isn’t giving me a copy of His detailed plans for the next six months. My parents were the same way. If they told me, I would fixate on one of the  future things. In college, as soon as I had my schedule for the next semester and the books were available, the current semester didn’t matter much. So, I can’t really blame God - but I pout.

What we (at least I) don’t understand or tend to consider is just how great and unsearchable some of what we claim to know is. God reveals Himself to us. He tells us His names. He tells us He loves us. He tells us how we can please Him. He sent His Son, who died, rose again, and sent the Spirit to live within us. He sent prophetic warnings about the future. He gave us gifts and told us how to use them. No, He didn’t give us an instruction manual, but the purpose of the gifts is to build up the Church and to love one another and Him. When it comes down to it, these are all great and unsearchable. God didn’t have to create us or share any of those things with us. But it’s all “old news.”

Here are some questions we may do well to ask ourselves:

1)  Why should He tell us more if we don't properly value what He has already told us?

2)    Would having the information we want really help us make it through today?

3)    Why do we want to know the great and unsearchable things?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, anger, fear, jealousy, and lust can crowd out everything else. This is like
Post a Comment
Read more

The Right Road

          Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)                  For years before GPSes existed, I told people I wanted something in my car that would tell me, “Turn left in half a mile…turn left in a quarter mile…turn left in 500 feet… turn left in 100 feet…turn left now …You missed the turn, Dummy!” The problem isn’t necessarily that I get lost so much as I’m afraid I’ll get lost. I don’t want to have to spend my whole trip stressing over the next turn. I have the same problem with my spiritual journey.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Not Sharing

            Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure . (I Timothy 5:22) Today’s is a hard one. The part about not being hasty in the laying on of hands isn’t so much the problem unless your love language is Touch. We aren’t pastors. We don’t tend to be involved in commissioning anyone. What we don’t tend to think of when we hear “laying on of hands” is that it involves relationship and approval. Our sending them away as our representatives may not seem real to us, but just think about what being seen with the wrong folks can do to a reputation. I’ve heard that Billy Graham would not be in a room alone with a woman. Others follow the same policy, or at least make sure the door is open so that anyone who wants to can see that nothing’s going on. But the hard part is not sharing in the sins of others. What does it mean? It’s comparatively easy to say that being pure means not having sex with someone who is not our spouse.
Post a Comment
Read more