Deuteronomy 29:29

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

Many things in the universe are unknown. Those who study the universe around us would be the first to admit that the more they learn, the more they realize that they do not know. Even those who confine their study to the things of only this planet will admit the same. In fact, no matter how refined the field of study, the same comment would be made. Those who dedicate their lives to studying California Fruit Flies would agree. A visit to the Hubbell Space Telescope area on the NASA web site is astounding. The images are breathtaking, and the dimensions are unfathomable. For there can be found images of stars, or groups of stars, that are millions of miles in diameter. Incredible!

Deuteronomy 29:29 reminds us of this. There are secret things. And those things belong to God. Any effort we may put into discerning those things would be for naught. For if God holds a thing as secret, it is simply beyond us to even attempt to dislodge it. The only way we could possibly get at those secret things is for God to reveal them to us. Scripture reminds us in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that, "... Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." There are secret things that God in His infinite wisdom has reserved to Himself. We will have all of eternity to discover and enjoy them!

There are things, though, that He has revealed. In the context of the verse above, Moses is reminding the Israelites of their relationship with the LORD God. He wants them to see that they have been given a great thing, the revelation of God. It came to them in the form of the law. In prayer, King David asks, "... what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name ..." Exodus 20 records the giving of the 10 commandments. The Israelites first heard them as God Himself spoke from the top of Mount Sinai. Later, Moses went up to the top of the mount, and received these laws in written form. They were a special people indeed.

With revelation comes responsibility. And that is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 29. For they were to "... do all the words of this law." Having heard the law, they were now responsible to be obedient. Mark Twain is quoted as saying, "Its not the things in the Bible that I don't understand that bother me, it's the things I do understand." We all understand enough of God's revelation to know that He is great and mighty, and we are guilty sinners before Him. We know that were He to appear in our office or home at any given moment we would fall on our face as dead before Him. Yet we all act against that which we know. We presume to know better than He what is important and worth our attention. All the while He says, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." No, we prefer our own ways.

One of the things that He has revealed is His great love for us. How did He reveal it? In the giving of His Son. Jesus Himself said, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Later in the same passage he says, "He that believes is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already." He wants us to know that He does love us. The fact that God has revealed His love does not take away our responsibility before Him, though. He loves us, but hates sin, and must judge it. He judged our sin in pouring out His wrath against it upon His Son. All that is left for us is to admit that we need His salvation, and to turn from our ways to Him. After having given to us so extravagantly, how could we turn away?

With revelation comes responsibility. For those who know Christ as Savior, our lives should be characterized by following Him. For those who don't, consider what He has done, and take it for yourself.

HJK