Inaccessible secrets ∙

Inaccessible secrets ∙

Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come. – Jeremiah 33:3

Isaiah 55:8-9 

 8 My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the LORD. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Alan Turing is most famous for cracking the Enigma Code used by Germany during World War II. He was one of a small team of code-breakers secretly working at Bletchley Park. As a result, the allies were able to decipher secret German messages.

Before the days of Alan Turing, a computer was not a machine. A computer was a person who computed, that is did mathematical computations. He became the father of modern computing. His work is the basis for pretty much all computing devices that followed. Turing said, “A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human.”

Turing thought thoughts that had not been conceived before. He was able to formulate them so that others could follow in his footsteps. In a sense, he had “access” to previously inaccessible information through the power of his intellect.

When we consider our own meager and paltry abilities and resources, it is easy to simply shut down and feel hopeless despair. It is easy to ask the question, “Who am I?” When we do so, we are in good company for these words were uttered by Moses (Exodus 3:11), David (1 Samuel 18:18), and Job (Job 9:14).

The Father’s greatness outweighs our meager circumstances. Consider Moses when he first climbed Mount Sinai. What did he bring with him? His clothing, sandals, a shepherd’s staff, and burning curiosity. That was all. That was the sum of all that Moses had. Humanly speaking, his assets were indeed meager and paltry. The Father saw something entirely different! He did not see Moses’ limited human resources. The Father saw Moses’ resources + God’s resources.

Exodus 4:2 Then the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.

Moses had nothing more than a stick, the branch of a tree. How could he possibly carry out the mission that the Father was sending him on? How can he fight the Egyptians armed with swords, spears, and chariots (the most powerful weapons of his day) with a stick?

For the Father, it was not a problem! Somehow, merely saying a few words, the Father infused the stick with the almighty power of God. It was no longer a mere shepherd’s staff. It was now the rod of God (Exodus 4:2-17)!

Exodus 4:20 Moses . . . headed back to the land of Egypt. In his hand, he carried the rod of God.

REFLECT & PRAY

Things that are impossible through men alone are effortless and unchallenging for the Father.

Father, who am I? By myself very little, but with You, I can be all that You desire for me to be.

INSIGHT

The Father dares the prophet Jeremiah to discover things that are unexpected, inaccessible, and hidden. He dares us to do the same thing!

Jeremiah 33:3 Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious things which you still do not know about.

The Hebrew word translated as mysterious, mighty, unsearchable, or inaccessible is batsar. This word was commonly used for walled fortresses. They were considered almost invincible being well fortified and protected. Consider ancient Babylon at the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon’s outer wall was 56 miles long, 75 feet thick, 300 feet high, and wide enough for a 4-horse chariot. It was for all practical purposes, impregnable.

Metaphorically speaking, the word batsar came to mean mighty, incomprehensible, inaccessible, unknowable, or hidden. Something that could not easily be known or grasped.

The Father dared Jeremiah to seek to grasp the unknown. In our day, we might say, “to dream the impossible dream.” Such dreamers in our day might be considered a bit weird, nerdy, or even insane. Unless of course their names were Edison, Bell, Einstein, Disney, Gates, or Jonas Salk. They defied the limitations of what was and dared to imagine and dream. They conceived, discovered, and invented things that did not previously exist. They were born to be creative geniuses, inventors, &entrepreneurs.

The Father has ideas and plans that are beyond our wildest imaginations. It is too easy for us to limit ourselves to what we are capable of alone. The Father wants us to dare to dream, to risk, to get outside of our restricted safe zone.

The Father is never limited by our immediate circle. Where two or more gather, the Lord Jesus Christ joins in. Where we are or how much we possess are insignificant when compared to the Father’s unlimited resources, power, and vision. He is awesome and magnificent. He has no limitations. He has no boundaries in space or time. He merely has to speak and it comes to pass. 

The Father is always working and invites us to enter into His ongoing work. The opportunities and possibilities are without end. Our only responsibility is to call upon Him and follow Him wherever He may lead us to go.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.

The Father has an eternal plan. As we participate in His plan, He opens doors and He closes doors. He is not playing games with us, teasing us, or provoking us. But He does require that we participate via two-way communication. Regrettably, most of His children are only familiar with one-way communication.

We know so little! Yet the Father has invited us to search and know His inscrutable and incomprehensible mind.

It seems almost inconceivable, but it is nonetheless absolutely correct that the Father has secrets which He wishes to whisper in your ear. Take the dare and call upon Him, and He will answer you and show you great and unimaginable things that you have never thought were possible or could ever be.

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.

Although we may never fully comprehend His plans, we can have confidence in what He is doing and why.

All human knowledge, intelligence, and understanding is an infinitely small subset of the infinite knowledge, intelligence, and understanding of the omniscient God.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 10/24