Thanking God for Revealing the Hidden Things

I recently read this beautiful prayer of Daniel from Daniel 2:19-23, and it made me “think a thought I’d never thunk before”:

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever

to whom belong wisdom and might.

He changes times and seasons;

he removes kings and sets up kings;

he gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to those who have understanding;

he reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what is in the darkness,

and the light dwells with him.

To you, O God of my fathers,

I give thanks and praise,

for you have given me wisdom and might,

and have now made known to me what we asked of you,

for you have made known to us the king's matter.”

That thought was: it’s a good and holy thing (which I need to practice) to thank and praise God after He teaches me something new (i.e illuminates the timeless truth of His Word) in Bible study and at church.  It’s the result of His grace.

After all, Daniel’s not the only one to praise God for opening the eyes of his heart.  Jesus, rejoicing in the Holy Spirit, took time to thank the Father for revealing to us “little children” the things that are hidden (Luke 10:21-24).  He told the disciples: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Paul says it this way (in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16): “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God… The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned…. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”

Wow!  We can know and understand the truth of God’s Word because God has given us the Spirit, who searches out the wisdom of God, and reveals it to the mind of Christ who is able to discern it… which was also given to us, as His body!

Yet unbelieving minds have been blinded to truth by the god of this world, Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4).  That’s why Paul also instructs Timothy to “not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

So that’s what hit me: Don’t take the Bible for granted.  Don’t take access to and study of the Bible for granted.  Don’t take faithful and anointed expository teachers for granted.  And surely don’t take His grace for granted, which allows us, the redeemed in Christ, to see things into which even angels long to look (1 Peter 1:12).

May the “eyes of our hearts be enlightened” (Ephesians 1:18), and may we thank God for teaching even us, the “uneducated and common” (Acts 4:13) and the “weak and foolish” (1 Corinthians 1:27).

Finding the Light in the Dark

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, 

and the light about me be night,” 

even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day, 

for darkness is as light with you. 

Psalm 139:11-12

I love documentaries. Especially those about the ocean depths.  Experts say we know more about space than we do the depths of the oceans and our planet core.

I was watching one show where they sent exploration crafts to the bottom of a sea, expecting that they would find utter nothingness.  It was assumed that in the absence of light and the life-giving process of photosynthesis, nothing could survive.  However, when they arrived at the bottom… there was not only life… it was teeming.

There was abundance.  And it was discovered that chemosynthesis (using energy derived from reactions involving inorganic chemicals) also brought about life.  Hence, maybe the creation story wasn’t so crazy after all—there could still be life before the fourth day.

And all this got me thinking about the darkness we fear in our own journeys.  Not a day goes by that I don’t encounter a friend (new or old) facing prolonged singleness, isolation, or loneliness; sadness, hurting, or grief; change, separation, or uncertainty.

One of the greatest comforts I have found, and that I try my best to share, is that there is life in the unexpected places too. It may look different, even scary (have you seen the creatures they pull from there?), and the sources which sustain you may be surprising (not the sunshine above, but what’s bubbling up around)…

But we can find His light in our dark. We have a God who still loves and leads us on the unknown paths and the rough roads—when we feel blinded, afraid, surrounded by the fog.

He declares: “I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know; in paths that they have not known, I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.” (Isaiah 42:16). 

Just as in the depths, where we might expect nothingness, God delights to reveal His glory—His handiwork, His artistry, His imagination—and it is often an unexpected sight.  Yet the deep (as Psalm 42:7 says) calls out to deep: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” (quote: Abraham Kuyper) 

It’s a little like Elijah—where the presence of God was not out in the earthquake, or the wind storm, or the fire.  Instead, the voice of God came to him in the darkness of the cave—that still, small voice amidst the solitude (1 Kings 19).  Or perhaps like where Elijah expected to find provision—at his feet, at the river, which soon dried up.  Rather, it came from the sky—where the ravens dropped it (1 Kings 17:6-7). We don’t always know where to look—only that God does indeed provide all that is necessary for life.

Nevertheless, it is true there is no life apart from the Son.  But here’s the amazing thing I’ve found—He is with us in the valley of the shadows too.  There is no place we can go or find ourselves, where His presence is not there with us.  The darkness is not dark to Him. The night is as bright as day. Deep cries out—He is here! Do not be afraid, for the dark is as light to Him.  Jesus is our light—and He is life. 

If you are feeling profoundly alone, sad, or uncertain today—know that I am praying for you. And that there is life in the dark. Even at the bottom, you can find abundance.