Today's readings are Proverbs 25.1-22 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Prov.+25.1-22 ), John 19.23-42 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+19.23-42 ) and Proverbs 26.1-28 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Prov.+26.1-28 ).
Proverbs 25.2 (ESV) "It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out." Original researchers are amazing. Isn't it fascinating that someone can take a look inside a cell just to see what's in there? Isn't it amazing that someone would think of decoding DNA to find out where genetic predispositions might be found? How about the people who decided to classify minerals by the way they broke when you whacked them with a hammer? This verse has been used to justify original research, government funded research, the government's role in education, all sorts of things. And it is wonderful to see what human inquiry gives us. If it weren't for inquiring people we would not have the benefit of a good deal of technology that is decidedly good for us. A simple example - corrective eyewear. How many of us have glasses or contacts? Lots and lots of us. Isn't it nice to be able to see things clearly at a distance by putting on glasses? Or to see things close to you clearly by putting on glasses? Who would have thought of this? Someone who searched things out.
Yet there's something much more important in this proverb. While we are all certainly pleased by searching things out, that is not what the author is getting at. His main point is that God, the one who is infinitely greater than the kings, is the one who conceals things. And what God conceals, the kings can't search out. He has concealed some things that the natural mind will never search out. How is this played out in the Scripture? Look at all the times God chooses the weaker over the stronger, the younger over the older, the insignificant over the significant. See how God promises an inheritance and innumerable offspring to an elderly nomad who is childless. See how God sends a Messiah who comes and lays down his life, dying instead of doing what kings normally do. "It is the glory of God to conceal things." "What must we do to be saved?" Really, nothing. You've already "done" it, if it can be termed as doing anything at all, because you wouldn't ask if you hadn't already repented and believed. How can I grow in godliness? Well, that's like a tree asking how it can grow. It doesn't do anything. It just follows its nature. God has concealed all the riches of salvation in a way that we will never search out. Without the living Word of God acting in our lives we will never ever figure out that losing is winning, dying to self is taking up the life Christ has for us, that we find our life by losing it, and that we in fact can do nothing that accomplishes any merit in the eyes of God.
The rulers of this world may strive, the scientists may study, the economists may make their theories, the engineers may try their hand at unravelling the mysteries of how creation works. But they will not find that which God has concealed except as it is revealed to them in Christ. "It is the glory of God to conceal things" and he has revealed to us all that we need for life and godliness in these last days through Jesus, the living Word. May we see this revelation clearly.
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