I am drawn to this verse – especially when called upon to explain issues of human ignorance about God and his ways. We have only a corner of the property of eternal truth, but that corner is ours. No one can take it away from us – not even God who gave it. He does not take back his gifts, when they include no human commandment. He may take back those that are discarded or neglected, and pass them on to others who are not slovenly in the treatment of his largess.
God does not lose his work. His work can’t be lost by others. His nature refuses abdication.
However, irrevocable claim on the promises of God is linked to our obedience. They work well in righteous context. We then activate Christian authority to claim those promises as our own possession. They can become our personal property. We pitch our tents on proper grounds and follow directions. We follow because there is not only blessing in following, but truth will be expanded in the believer. Enlargement takes place. Borders are extended. Horizons become clearer. We also know there is no one else to whom we may turn. When Mark Twain was challenged about the silences and omissions of God, the sometimes firm skeptic responded that he was not so much troubled with what was withheld of the knowledge of God as that which is known but not followed. Early or late, he apparently wrestled with that idea.
To observe, as Moses stated the concept here, is to be obedient. That is both difficult and easy. Difficult because we are human and find sensory mechanisms yearning for gratification. Those mechanisms press for independence, self-recognition, and fulfillment. The Lord expects response to right and wrong, to life and death, to light and dark, to truth and falsehood. Because the ideal may not seem appealing enough to attract us, even our obedience is dependent upon God to provide adequate motivation. What we can’t do on our own, we can surely pray about. It does take some humility to admit personal inabilities, ignorance and sin – even in private prayer.
The principle that God holds back is found throughout Scripture. Solomon wrote: It is the glory of God to conceal things. He completed the verse: but the glory of kings is to search things out. (Proverbs 25:2) One’s prayer ought to be: Give to me, Lord, the wisdom to seek the available knowledge of God, and the will to follow the instructions of his Word to me. We need to know that God, recognizing our limitations, deals with us in at least two ways – through common grace which makes life livable on earth, and redemptive grace which is to make a new creature in preparation for immortality in the forever-presence of the Creator. As long as earthly persons draw breath, they live with the blessing of common grace. To that is added, for persons of biblical faith, redemptive grace. This combination takes some understanding to see life with its paradoxes. The Christian must not be so heavenly minded he is of little earthly good, but also that he is not so earthly minded that he misses heavenly love, righteousness, and forgiveness to redemption. It is well to take God’s mysteries without interminable debate, and grasp what is given with faith to life meaning. Common grace honors life in our mortal years, divine grace to life immortal – both graces intimate gifts from God. This context is, in the Revelation and Gospel of Christ, more to be declared than defended. God is not warm to defending himself, as parents do not feel defensive to their children when they know they are functioning well. His preference is to offer solutions to find life fulfillment. Perfection does not retreat. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020