“The angel of Adonai said to Manoach, ‘The woman should take care to do everything I said to her. She shouldn’t eat anything that comes from a grapevine, she shouldn’t drink wine or other intoxicating liquor, and she shouldn’t eat anything unclean. She should do everything I ordered her to do.'”-Judges 13:13-14
There’s something interesting about Manoach’s exchange with the mysterious visitor I want you to catch.
Notice how the man from heaven (really the Angel of the Lord) never really answered Manoach’s question directly.
He basically repeated what he told Manoach’s wife.
Because the only concern was that the mother obeyed the commands given to her NOW.
They didn’t need to know what was going to happen in the future or what the next steps would be.
This is something I’ve often experienced in my walk with the Lord.
I’ll only be told what to do in the moment and then everything else is kept in the dark.
I don’t know about you but personally I find this aggravating as all hell.
Because I have the kind of personality that wants to know everything from start to finish.
But this seems to be how the Lord often operates in the Scriptures.
God’s mission to Abraham is a perfect example.
God told him to leave his hometown without giving him any details about how things would turn out.
Abraham had no idea whether his journey would be smooth sailing or full of rocky ups and downs.
He was simply given his mission and told to go.
And isn’t it that way with us when the Lord calls us to do something?
We don’t know beforehand whether our mission will be a joyful experience or filled with a lot of pain.
And we may not even live to see the fruit of the work we did for the Lord.
Even Yeshua’s didn’t see the full fruit of his ministry until AFTER his death and resurrection.
I think this is God’s wisdom at work.
Because it forces us to rely on our faith in Him for every step of our lives.
I mean think about it.
If we knew everything that was gonna happen from start to finish, we wouldn’t need faith.
And sometimes if everything was revealed to us beforehand, we might decide not to go on the journey in the first place.
As Yeshua said…
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own.
let tomorrow worry about itself.”
Yes! Wonderfully said.
Great pun…whether intended or not…lol. Be blessed and SHALOM!
We also have to remember that God told Moses, in Deuteronomy 29:29, that the secret things of the Lord belong to him, but what he decides to reveal to us belongs to us and our future generations (I am paraphrasing).
I read something long ago that has never left my memory (which is sketchy, at best, at least I think so…I can’t remember).
A god that can be understood by the mind of man is not worthy of the worship of man.
I have found many people who read Ecclesiastes do not understand why the writer, Kohelet, said everything was useless and just chasing the wind. The reason why he said that was because his intention in doing all he did was to understand why it happens that way; in other words, Kohelet wanted to know the mind of God and why God does what he does.
That’s what is a useless endeavor, and chasing the wind- to understand God’s “why”.
More than that, if you ask me, people who constantly want to understand why God does something are not showing faith or trust in God.
That’s right- I said trying to know why God does something is not a faithful response to God’s works, but represents a desire to be like God because to be able to understand why someone does somethinng means we are on the same mental and emotional level that they are.
Anyone in Sales will tell you- when you can understand someone’s motivations and desires, you can close them.
We humans can never understand why God does what he does, unless he decides to tell us, which is why the secret things (i.e., things not explained to us) belong to God.
Even if he told us, we probably would never be able to understand, anyway.
Just accept that God knows what he is doing, and go along with it, thankful and trusting that whatever happens, blessing or tsouris, God allows it for the overall good of those who love him and are called in accordance to his laws.
Great thoughts. I’m reminded of this quote from Einstein “”I want to know god’s thoughts-the rest are details”.
But I have a question for you.
You said it is a useless endeavor to try and understand the mind of God and reasons behind why He does what He does.
But isn’t that the whole purpose of studying Scripture? To understand the mind of God? And the reasons behind why He does what He does?
Of course, the Scripture says “My thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways”.
But are we not to bridge the gap as much as possible through prayer, studying Scripture and being empowered by the Holy Spirit?
Is not the commandment to love the Lord Our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind also in a sense an attempt to know Him?