Can we understand the mystery of God and His mysterious ways? You mighty wonder why I start with the question that is so strong, but this morning my desire is to draw an answer that is very convincing based on the Word of God. Recently our church had a chain fasting prayer and we have been praying for quite a few who were diagnosed to have terminal illness, we did see amazing results in the life of few while one of the sisters passed away as a result of her terminal illness. I was left with questions unanswered and I knew more than me my people who prayed and very specially the family of the bereaved would hurt more in spite of the prayers and I didn’t want them wondering about God and lose out on their faith. I prayed and the Lord let me to two different passages and was convinced by the Spirit of God and I shared it in my church and I am sure whoever reads this will truly be ministered by the Spirit of God and that is my prayer as I share with you.
Let us first look into a scripture in the OT and then a little passage in the NT and then I want to draw your attention to two incidents in the NT where two desperate fathers were pleading mercy for their children who were on their death bed.
The first and the key scripture for our meditation is found in Deuteronomy 29:29
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”
The second scripture is found in Matthew 11:25-30
“At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. 27"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Having read these two passages I want you to just ponder over the first scripture in Deuteronomy 29:29, it tells us plainly that the secret things belong to God and that which is revealed is for us. Now how many of us do truly have a secret that is never revealed to anyone even the closest or the intimate partner of our lives? I am sure however transparent we are we do have that which is secret that is known only to us and to God and not anyone else, if such simple human beings like us could have unrevealed secrets then how much more the God who created everything should have and could have? Another important aspect that we have to consider is how much have we understood and put into practice on things that is revealed to us? Nothing at all – if such is the case why worry about the things that are not revealed.
Let me take you to the second scripture it says he has hidden everything from the wise and the learned for God knew that these so called intelligent fellows could try manipulating everything around them (like the Da vinci code…) and a make a mess, that is why he wants to reveal it to the little children unfortunately non of us have a heart like that of the little kid and therefore everything is hidden from us and the Lord tells us that it is for our good pleasure, I am sure God loves us and enjoys us when we are surprised over the ways he would deal us.
To explain His mysterious ways of dealing let me take you to the two incidents in the Bible, let us examine the first one in Luke 8 a very famous passage for the miracle of the woman with bleeding followed by the Jairus’ daughter getting back to life from death. The incident goes on like this - Jairus the synagogue ruler’s daughter age twelve was dying and therefore Jairus came to Jesus pleading him to come home so he could touch and she could live but while this conversation was going on a woman with 12 years bleeding touched the cloak of Jesus and she got healed, this led to a time delay in Jesus going to Jairus’ home and as a result servants came running to declare the daughter dead and not to disturb the master. When everything was over and nothing left Jesus looked at Jairus and said “Don’t be afraid, but believe.” (v.50) Jesus went home and brought the girl back to life. This is His specialty, He brings hope when you are hopeless, love when you are loveless, faith when you are faithless and most of all life when you are dead. When Jairus decided not to disturb, Jesus went extra mile to bring life. If He did for Jairus I am sure he will do it for you, you are no far away from the miracle just believe in His mysterious ways of dealing.
Let me now take you to the next passage, this we read in John 4 the last part, John 4 is popularly known for the Samaritan woman encounter but I feel more than anything the last part where Jesus dealt with the Royal official was truly amazing. Here is another desperate father who heard that Jesus was in town he knew his miracle was not far away, so he asked Jesus to come and heal his only before he could die. Jesus simply looked at the man and said, “Go, your son will live.” The man took Jesus at His word and went away. The good news is the son got well at the same hour when Jesus said he will live. The servants here came running to the meet the man not with the bad news but with the good news that his son is living. In the other incident servants came to say the girl was dead and Jesus decided he would go but here Jesus spoke the word and healing took place. Jesus never followed any patterns for miracles neither does he deal based on the faith levels it is purely His divine discretion and sovereign nature that is mysterious, we can never fathom His ways but if we believe He will deal us in style. Let me illustrate this with a story that someone forwarded it to me. The story goes like this…
An old man lived alone in a village. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned
his situation:
Dear Son,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my potato garden this year. I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren’t in prison.
Love,
Dad
Shortly, the old man received this telegram: "For Heaven’s sake, Dad, don’t dig up the garden!! That’s where I buried the GUNS!!"
At 4 a.m. the next morning, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any guns.
Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asked him what to do next.
His son’s reply was: "Go ahead and plant your potatoes, Dad…It’s the best I could do for you from here."
Conclusion: if this criminal son could think so much good for his dad how much more the good God do for His people who He created in His own likeness and image? Go on enjoy the things that are revealed to us and wait for pleasant surprises over the secrets things of God. What a mighty God we serve…! Amen and God bless you.
