5-6-24<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are many things we know about God. Thank God (awkward phrase here!) that He has made Himself known in many ways. And because of Scripture and prophets and revelation there are also many things we understand, a different thing than knowing, about Him and His ways and His will for our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet. There are uncountable things we do not<\/em> know about God, and will never understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Never? Actually, yes. Even in Heaven we will not know everything about God and His ways. The angels do not: if they knew what He knows, if they could (for instance) see what God sees, and be where He is at all times, they would be as<\/em> God. And they are not. This is one reason, despite our inclinations and superstitions, we should not pray to angels or saints or departed loved ones. Thank God, again, we can approach the Father\u2019s throne directly, in Jesus\u2019s name, praying to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of Jesus, we have a similar situation \u2013 knowing a lot about Him, His ministry, His purposes as Savior. But have you ever wondered about the things we don\u2019t<\/em> know about Him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have a new friend who cites the documentary record of Jesus\u2019s life and ministry; and implies that since accounts were recorded after Jesus walked on earth, the Bible is unreliable. I would file these arguments under \u201cI\u201d for \u201cIrrelevant,\u201d because they deny that a sovereign God can work through inspiration; and they ignore the \u201charmony of the Gospels\u201d: factors of time and space were overcome, and a multitude of prophesies \u2013 for instance myriad details in Isaiah\u2019s Chapter 53, written 700 years before Christ was incarnate \u2013 were fulfilled in precise details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But do you wonder? We know little about His childhood, for instance. The Bible says virtually nothing of Jesus\u2019s life up to His thirty-third year. Arguably, His real \u201cstory\u201d began when He was baptized in the Holy Spirit by John. That is when we have the accounts of His ministry, preaching, miracles, teaching, signs and wonders; and of His persecution, betrayal, suffering, death, and resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why? God knows, to coin another phrase. We might have questions, and I believe God wants us to ask<\/em> questions\u2026 to speculate on His ways\u2026 to dig deeper into spiritual matters, for ourselves. For example, we are told that Jesus was writing in the dust when the adulterous woman was brought before Him, to trap Him if He might answer contrary to Levitical or Mosaic laws. What is the point of telling us that He was writing in the dust\u2026 and not sharing what <\/em>He was doodling? My guess \u2013 and I have to imagine the Mind of God to make this guess \u2013 is that the Lord might have been writing the numbers One to Ten. Why? It would have been a form of \u201cprior restraint,\u201d challenging those in the mob to consider which Commandments they<\/em> broke before condemning a woman for a Commandment she<\/em> broke\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another \u201cmissing\u201d set of events is What did Jesus do, really, in those 40 days between His rising from the dead and leaving the tomb, and physically Ascending to Heaven? Yes, we are told in the Book of Acts that He preached, and that many witnessed Him. But\u2026 we are not told what<\/em> He preached. Or what<\/em> miracles He performed. We have a few accounts of His miraculous appearing to the Disciples, His showing evidence of His wounds, some of His words\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But other than the \u201choly tease\u201d (if I may so call it) that \u201cthe books of the world could not hold\u201d all the accounts of those 40 days\u2026 we are not told much. (Soon afterward, historians like Josephus would; and church fathers like Eusebius would.) That book of the Bible, remember, is about the Acts of the Apostles<\/em>, not of Jesus at that point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we are left again with what I am quite happy to accept as God\u2019s invitation to speculate. I find great wisdom and comfort in the Gospel song \u201cGod Walks the Dark Hills.\u201d You see, the Risen Jesus surely taught and preached and healed. We know that crowds gathered. Many marveled. Many came to believe in Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I have a picture in my mind that, between His \u201cevents\u201d like preaching and healing \u2013 maybe when crowds dispersed, when folks around Jerusalem slept \u2013 Jesus walked the dark hills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe He sought out individuals, not crowds. Maybe He ministered to the lonely, not only the curious. Maybe, while some people looked for Him\u2026 He looked for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That would be very much like<\/em> the Jesus I know, because He still does that. Oh, we have to seek Him, to desire to meet Him, to want His presence. But, time after time, we will find that Jesus is already \u201cthere.\u201d He has been waiting for us; actually, He is on His way to find us. He walks the dark hills, the ways and the byways. He walks in fields and meadows, by night and by day, in rain and sunshine. Through our joys and in our own Gardens of Gethsemane. In hard times and harder times. He\u2019s seeking you out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He still walks the dark hills, because He loves you and me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what the high and majestic One says, the One who fills the eternal realm with glory, whose name is Holy: \u201cI dwell in high and holy places, but also with the bruised and lowly in spirit, those who are humble and quick to repent. I dwell with them to revive the spirit of the humble, to revive the heart of those who are broken over their sin.\u201d <\/em>\u2013 Isaiah 57:15<\/p>\n\n\n\n + + +<\/p>\n\n\n\n