Today we come in our readings to Deuteronomy 29:1-30:10. In chapter 29, we read this interesting verse: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law” (verse 29). What are God’s “secret things?” The secret things of God include His mysterious nature, character, holiness, and His complete “otherness” (i.e., His transcendence) from His creation. God is wholly other than (He is distinct from) all of His created works; He exists apart from everything else. His “secret things” should always inspire our awe, our reverence, our wonder, and our worship for Him alone. What kind of god would it be that elicits no awe, no reverence, no wonder, or no worship in its followers? It would be no god at all, for that being would be no greater than ourselves. We must recognize that NOTHING else compares with God – there is none like Him – and that’s the way it should be with One Who has created this great universe in which we live. For that reason, we MUST honor and love Him for Who and What He is. But the “things revealed belong to us …” (verse 29). God has unveiled to us vast amounts of incredible knowledge, and apart from His revelation of them, we would still be in the dark. Imagine a parent who revealed absolutely nothing to his or her children – a parent who would say, “I’m not teaching you anything - find out everything on your own!” And what God has revealed – that is for us. It is His gift to mankind, and because of His unfailing love for us, He revealed these things to us that we might know Him “and follow all the words of this law” (29:29). We also see here in this section that God renewed His covenant with the Israelites, but He does so with a stern warning: “When all these blessings and curses … come upon you” (cf., Deuteronomy 30:1). He is telling them that their future disobedience is going to lead to “their dispersal among the nations” (verse 1). Tomorrow, we will see that the Israelites stand before God with a serious decision to make.
In today’s readings, we also come to Proverbs 10:1-10 where we see that many of these Proverbs specifically attributed to Solomon continue in a couplet format that contrasts one idea with its opposite: “A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother” (verse 1). This format is especially catchy to our ears, and therefore the content is generally practical and easy to remember. Here in this section, Solomon addresses “ill-gotten gain” (verse 2); “lazy hands and diligent hands” (verse 4); working the harvest versus sleeping in (verse 5); the relationship of violence to “the mouths of the wicked” (verses 6 and 11); how people are remembered (verse 7); the path of integrity (verse 9); and foolish “chattering” (verse 10). Here we see how God has revealed His secrets to us – these topics all become quite evident to us the more we give our attention and experience to them.
In Luke 18:31-19:10, we see Jesus restoring the sight of a blind man - perhaps Bartimaeus (cf., Mark 10:46-52). The man knew he was blind, he knew that he could not bring about his own healing, but he definitely wanted to see. Apart from Jesus Christ, this is man’s selfsame spiritual condition. The man knew that Jesus could/would heal his blindness, so he trusted Him. Such a beautiful parallel to our own condition of spiritual blindness, but like this man, we must first recognize and admit our condition before anything can be done about it. Only Jesus can correct this problem. The story of the blind man is followed by the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector. Jesus told him to “come down,” emphasizing his need for humility in coming to Christ and subsequently in getting his whole life and house in proper order. Because of the tax collector’s faith, Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham …” (verse 9). We are encouraged to read that Jesus draws our attention to a Jewish man in Israel responding to God’s revelation of truth in Christ when so many Jews were rejecting Him. “The things revealed belong to us …”
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