Reasons and Revelations

Tuesday night. It only means one thing in our household: Family Devotional. 

We usually start with a short opening prayer and then we read the Proverbs for the day. Since its the 25th of July, we read Proverbs 25. No matter the different and varying Bible translations of everyone in our house, we read the Proverbs out loud while taking turns. 

My mother always reads first and she always reads two verses when its her turn. Why? She reads one for my father's turn. My mom can still read well despite her old age and dimming eyesight. But for my father, its already a blurry one. My mom reads and my father explains and expounds the verse. That's how they always do their devotional. It's always endearing to witness because its how they minister with the Power of One. 

Tonight, as we take turns sharing what specific verse hit home and our personal message of the day, it was clear that God's emphasis for us from today's proverbs would be trusting God beyond our need to find the Reason and move past it for Revelation. It was in this passage that we received that:

Proverbs 25: 2-3

"It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them. No one can comprehend the height of heaven, the depth of the earth, or all that goes on in the king’s mind!"

Its easier to obey God when you understand His will and know every reason. But that's not faith. 

Faith is believing beyond any reason and as the verse 3 says, beyond what you could comprehend for who can know the thoughts of the Lord? No one. 

"We stay stuck in the REASON that we miss the REVELATION." - Steven Furtick

As I go through my 3rd week of healing of my stitches after my bout of appendicitis and appendectomy, I asked God why.

So I got stuck. And until today, I realized now that the Reason never mattered. I almost missed the Revelation. 

We have those moments. 

Our health gets broken. 

We fall to sin again. 

We get hurt. 

We get rejected. 

Someone who used to be in your life for years is not there anymore. 

Someone you love is sick or just passed away.

You got your heart broken.

You were offended or disappointed. 

You might be in debt and poverty. 

You get persecuted and more of other things that piques you to ask God why and a reason. 

Why? Because you might have been serving God and yet "it"(like the ones I wrote above) happened. I don't really know what that is that you are going through or just went through, but all of us will have those moments.

When I was a very naive and newbie pastor, I used to say almost all the memory verses I could remember to comfort someone when an "it" happens. I try to comfort with a Reason.

But now that I have my own moment to ask, I learned that what I should have done was comfort with a Revelation.

That there are moments especially when you are in pain and hurting, no reason will ever comfort you. No answer to your why. Maybe someday or a few years from now. But not now. 

All you need is the Revelation that God will never leave you nor forsake you. You might not understand it now but know that your Heavenly Father knows well what is Happening.

He is Righteous. He was never wrong or mistaken when you experienced what you just went through (or going through right now).

He is Faithful. He won't let go of your hand and leave or abandon you.

He is Good. No matter how bad it looks, if God allowed it to happen in your life- be assured that it is for your own good. 

No matter the pain. No matter the hurt. No matter the disappointment. If the enemy might meant it for evil, God USED it for good.

Real and Raw Faith is trusting God despite not understanding and knowing the reason. 

Most of the time we go through the struggle not for the struggle but to know and to personally experience who God is in the middle of the struggle.

It was like how the three young men who stood up against Nebuchadnezzar and idolatry finally experienced the revelation that God would never leave them in the fiery furnace. Maybe they knew it. They might have believed it. But it was in the moment of testing, in the furnace where it was finally proven.  

And if God reveals it to us? Take it as a privilege. Don't be offended. You will miss the blessing. 

In verse 2 of the Proverbs 25 says that it is a privilege to conceal and reveal. If God conceals it, its His privilege. We will not take it as an insult if God doesn't tell us or keep the reason. Because there are reasons in God that we will never fathom as the depth of the earth or the height of the skies. Some reasons might even keep us from trusting God. 

But If He reveals and you discover it, take it as an opportunity and privilege. The Creator of Heaven and Earth, King of Kings just told you something. It will never be up to us... It will always be up to Him. 

Blessings!