We Weren’t Meant To Know It All
Romans 11 —
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
I have been residing for a fair amount of time now in the book of Romans. This book has been, in many ways, sort of an enigma to me — past and present.
There is so much in it that is almost “other worldly.” … Things, doctrines, truths, that push our finite, human capacities of comprehension to their limits and beyond.
Just read the first seven verses in chapter one. Immediately you’re inundated, overwhelmed, with spiritual realities which can only develop and take place outside the realm of mere human possibilities. And yet, Paul presents these realities to us knowing we cannot comprehend it all.
Prior to this, the Apostle Paul had been caught up into the third heaven and had a very unique one-on-one with God. (Paul talks about it in II Corinthians here.) His understanding and perception of things, seen and unseen, were expanded in ways he never, ever anticipated. And on top of that, he was told to keep silent about it.
Why? Partly because God had put restrictions on him.
But also …
Paul was to be tight-lipped because of our limited capacity to comprehend the essence of God while at the same time finding accurate verbiage to express it. We’re not wired with the capacity to comprehend God on His level.
But still, there is this constant pull, yearning, to know God more and more. As Paul said, “That I may know Him ….”
I would like to think that Paul also grappled with the dilemma of how to present an infinite God to finite people. Maybe he knew he couldn’t. Maybe he knew only God could bridge the gap between the two. Maybe he knew that ultimately it all comes down to whether a person intentionally wants to know God.
As the Psalmist said in Psalm 63:1 — “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.”
There is only one avenue by which people can get to know God on a more personally intense level.
What is it?
YOU HAVE TO WANT IT FOR YOURSELF.
The passion that drove Paul was his desire to ignite a flame so intense within each one of his readers that they’d “thirst” and “long” to know God more.
How did he do that?
His writings, which constantly bring us into the realm of the sublime, are kind of like the proverbial carrot dangling out in front. The more you put an objective just out of reach, the more it’s desired and sought after. If there’s truly a hunger for that carrot the personal effort will be put forth to attain it.
The journey to knowing God is a personal journey. Nobody can get you to the desired end intended for you. Someone can help you along the way, but until you sense your need and allow a hunger and thirst to well-up inside of you … you’ll never know the God that is longing to know you more deeply and personally than you ever imagined.
At some point we have to settle into the reality that God purposely hasn’t told us everything. That’s a good thing. We’re not wired to handle that kind of intake.
However …
If we can cast off our endless inquisitiveness into the things God has very clearly NOT made clear, and rest in the things He HAS very clearly made clear … I have a sneaky suspicion we’d come to know God like He wants us to know Him.
The more we do that, the more our growth and walk with God will actually expand beyond our present God-perspectives. It will no longer be just about knowing God intellectually by gathering more information. It will actually become about knowing God spiritually by emptying ourselves of … self.
Please take this to heart:
We don’t need to repeat the same mistake our parents made in the Garden. We were never intended to “be as gods.”
Let’s, instead, trust God to lead us along the journey toward Christ-likeness. And please, let’s stop looking for more than what is right in front of us in His Word.
God is our Abba Father. He’s not going to give us the keys to the car when we haven’t even gotten past learning how to ride a bicycle. Our problem is we always think we’re ready when we’re not.
But in time … when we’re ready … He’ll give us the keys to the knowledge we need … at just the right time … and not before.
“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29