"My times are in your hand..." (Psalm 31:15, ESV).
"My future is in your hands..." (ibid., NLT).
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever..." (Deut. 29:29, ESV).
"They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience" (1 Tim. 3:9, ESV).
"Knowledge is power."--Sir Francis Bacon (cf. Prov. 24:5).
Even though intelligence officers and personnel in the NSA have top-secret security clearances and access, they still must demonstrate a need to know in order to protect classified info. This is a hedge of protection to prevent people from knowing too much and having a higher likelihood of betraying it. They say everyone has a price and they don't want to put personnel into temptation and give them the opportunity; in other words, the purpose is to keep honest people honest. Even the president doesn't have a need to know certain intelligence and is spared the details on many matters of espionage. Just like "power tends to corrupt," and "absolute power corrupts absolutely," according to Lord Acton, so also too much info coupled with opportunity can likewise corrupt an individual, including those in power. There are some things people are just better off just not knowing and remaining ignorant of for the sake of sanity.
God only reveals His will to us on a daily basis as a rule and no one has the outline for his whole life given at the beginning of his career. We would not be able to accept dismal events and cannot bear the burden of more than one day at a time. Our future is sure in God's hands and He sees what's best for us. The principle to live one day at a time is a lifesaver and keeps us from having attitudinal disparities and mood swings--trying to live in the future or dwell on the past. We ought not to misinterpret the present either, but live in light of God's Word and eternity.
They say that ignorance is bliss! Sometimes it is because we cannot bear the truth or the knowledge yet. But there is a kind of willful ignorance that is sin. When we neglect to know what we did have the opportunity to know, we are culpable and will be judged accordingly; for instance, no one has an excuse for not believing in God--the evidence is everywhere (cf. Rom. 1:20). The person who got stopped by the police for speeding and claiming ignorance of the law finds out it's no excuse either. If you travel abroad you are still responsible to know traffic laws and customs.
How does this all relate to believers then? We are given the whole counsel of God in the Scriptures and also ample opportunity to know it and be exposed to the truth. Everyone who owns a Bible cannot claim ignorance because he never found time to read it! Staying away from church intentionally is wrong and doesn't excuse one from knowing the truth. The more you know or have the opportunity to know the more culpable and responsible you are. Children, who are innocent, are not judged by the same standards. Willful sin will be judged by God and the Christian who believes he can avoid the assembling together of believers and remain ignorant will find out the truth at the Bema of Christ and will have a rude awakening. It's better to sound the alarm now and give the body their wake-up call so they will not be intentionally or willfully ignorant--especially ignorant of God's will and Word.
God chooses to guide us one day at a time in order to foster faith in us and to give us the challenge to seek His will and presence in our lives. God doesn't want robots who simply follow a program and have no choices to make along the way. In other words, we are not meant to be automatons. If God has blessed some Christian with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, it's on a need-to-know basis and there is a rationale behind it in God's eyes. Knowledge is never the end per se, but the means to the end and must serve a purpose--not just to know all the answers or be a better specimen than the run-of-the-mill believer who is relatively ignorant. When we share and learn from our knowledge, God grants more light. But remember the Christian principle that enlightenment comes from light and God is light to us.
We can celebrate the fact that God holds the future and we don't know it and cannot control it, namely, because we couldn't handle it without being ill at ease. We shouldn't be curious concerning the future, because we are privileged to know the One who holds the future! God knows our limits and what is in our best interest and will make us in the image of Christ, by way of affliction. When Christ brings us to a trial, He will bring us through it. Just like the need to know, God grants no one a monopoly on the truth so that it shouldn't go to his head, because "knowledge puffs up," according to 1 Cor. 8:1 It is the immature believer who balks at learning the things of God in depth and shies away from doctrine; we are stewards of the mysteries of God and faithfulness counts!
In the final analysis, everyone deserves the knowledge of the gospel message and the word must get out--the good news is for everyone who is willing to hear it and called of God (cf. Acts 2:39)! No one has an excuse to be ignorant of the Great Commission as a believer or the knowledge of God as an infidel. Jesus came to bear witness of the truth, and everyone who is of the truth hears Him--no excuses! All believers should realize the value of knowing the scoop or the lowdown on what the Bible teaches, and bring every thought into the captivity of Christ while his mind is renewed in the image of Christ and he girds up the loins of his mind (cf. 1 Pet. 1:13) to fight the good fight, not from ignorance, but from enlightenment. Soli Deo Gloria!
"My future is in your hands..." (ibid., NLT).
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever..." (Deut. 29:29, ESV).
"They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience" (1 Tim. 3:9, ESV).
"Knowledge is power."--Sir Francis Bacon (cf. Prov. 24:5).
Even though intelligence officers and personnel in the NSA have top-secret security clearances and access, they still must demonstrate a need to know in order to protect classified info. This is a hedge of protection to prevent people from knowing too much and having a higher likelihood of betraying it. They say everyone has a price and they don't want to put personnel into temptation and give them the opportunity; in other words, the purpose is to keep honest people honest. Even the president doesn't have a need to know certain intelligence and is spared the details on many matters of espionage. Just like "power tends to corrupt," and "absolute power corrupts absolutely," according to Lord Acton, so also too much info coupled with opportunity can likewise corrupt an individual, including those in power. There are some things people are just better off just not knowing and remaining ignorant of for the sake of sanity.
God only reveals His will to us on a daily basis as a rule and no one has the outline for his whole life given at the beginning of his career. We would not be able to accept dismal events and cannot bear the burden of more than one day at a time. Our future is sure in God's hands and He sees what's best for us. The principle to live one day at a time is a lifesaver and keeps us from having attitudinal disparities and mood swings--trying to live in the future or dwell on the past. We ought not to misinterpret the present either, but live in light of God's Word and eternity.
They say that ignorance is bliss! Sometimes it is because we cannot bear the truth or the knowledge yet. But there is a kind of willful ignorance that is sin. When we neglect to know what we did have the opportunity to know, we are culpable and will be judged accordingly; for instance, no one has an excuse for not believing in God--the evidence is everywhere (cf. Rom. 1:20). The person who got stopped by the police for speeding and claiming ignorance of the law finds out it's no excuse either. If you travel abroad you are still responsible to know traffic laws and customs.
How does this all relate to believers then? We are given the whole counsel of God in the Scriptures and also ample opportunity to know it and be exposed to the truth. Everyone who owns a Bible cannot claim ignorance because he never found time to read it! Staying away from church intentionally is wrong and doesn't excuse one from knowing the truth. The more you know or have the opportunity to know the more culpable and responsible you are. Children, who are innocent, are not judged by the same standards. Willful sin will be judged by God and the Christian who believes he can avoid the assembling together of believers and remain ignorant will find out the truth at the Bema of Christ and will have a rude awakening. It's better to sound the alarm now and give the body their wake-up call so they will not be intentionally or willfully ignorant--especially ignorant of God's will and Word.
God chooses to guide us one day at a time in order to foster faith in us and to give us the challenge to seek His will and presence in our lives. God doesn't want robots who simply follow a program and have no choices to make along the way. In other words, we are not meant to be automatons. If God has blessed some Christian with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, it's on a need-to-know basis and there is a rationale behind it in God's eyes. Knowledge is never the end per se, but the means to the end and must serve a purpose--not just to know all the answers or be a better specimen than the run-of-the-mill believer who is relatively ignorant. When we share and learn from our knowledge, God grants more light. But remember the Christian principle that enlightenment comes from light and God is light to us.
We can celebrate the fact that God holds the future and we don't know it and cannot control it, namely, because we couldn't handle it without being ill at ease. We shouldn't be curious concerning the future, because we are privileged to know the One who holds the future! God knows our limits and what is in our best interest and will make us in the image of Christ, by way of affliction. When Christ brings us to a trial, He will bring us through it. Just like the need to know, God grants no one a monopoly on the truth so that it shouldn't go to his head, because "knowledge puffs up," according to 1 Cor. 8:1 It is the immature believer who balks at learning the things of God in depth and shies away from doctrine; we are stewards of the mysteries of God and faithfulness counts!
In the final analysis, everyone deserves the knowledge of the gospel message and the word must get out--the good news is for everyone who is willing to hear it and called of God (cf. Acts 2:39)! No one has an excuse to be ignorant of the Great Commission as a believer or the knowledge of God as an infidel. Jesus came to bear witness of the truth, and everyone who is of the truth hears Him--no excuses! All believers should realize the value of knowing the scoop or the lowdown on what the Bible teaches, and bring every thought into the captivity of Christ while his mind is renewed in the image of Christ and he girds up the loins of his mind (cf. 1 Pet. 1:13) to fight the good fight, not from ignorance, but from enlightenment. Soli Deo Gloria!
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