“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.”
—Proverbs 25:2
This is not an isolated phrase; the idea runs all through the Bible, as in Deuteronomy 29:29; “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever …” The purpose of mystery is not to tantalize us and make us feel that we cannot comprehend; it is a generous purpose, and meant to assure us that slowly and surely as we can bear it, the full revelation of God will be made clear.
It is the glory of God to conceal his teaching in obedience. It is only by way of obedience that we understand the teaching of God. Bring it straight down to the commonplace things: Have I done the duty that lies nearest? If not, I shall never fathom the mysteries of God, however much I may try. When once I obey there, I receive a revelation of the meaning of God’s teaching for me. How many of us have obeyed the bit of God’s truth we do know?
Experience is a gateway to understanding, not an end in itself. We can be bound by the limits of the very experience that was meant to lead us into the secrets of God. The faith of many really spiritual Christians is eclipsed today, and the reason it is eclipsed is that they tried to remain true and consistent to the narrow confines of their experience instead of getting out into the light of God. God wants to get us into the place where he holds absolutely, and experiences never bother us. Oh, the relief of it! The burden gone, the effort gone, no conscious experience left, because Jesus Christ is All and in All.
God has hidden the glory of his teaching in the experience of temptation. “Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations,” says the apostle James. “To him that over-cometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna.” The feast is just beyond the fight; when you have been through the fight, there is the wondrous joy and triumph of the feast. We learn to thank God for the trial of our faith because it works patience. The thing that is precious in the sight of God is faith that has been tried. Tried faith is spendable; it is so much wealth stored up in heaven, and the more we go through the trial of our faith, the wealthier we become in the heavenly regions.
If we go on obeying God, we shall find that “light is sown for the righteous.” We are so impatient. We bring God to the bar of our judgment and say hard things about him—“Why does God bring thunderclouds and disasters when we want green pastures and still waters?” Bit by bit we find, behind the clouds, the Father’s feet; behind the lightning, an abiding day that has no night; behind the thunder a still small voice that comforts with a comfort that is unspeakable.
It is the glory of God to conceal his treasures in embarrassments; that is, in things that involve us in difficulty. “I will give thee treasures of darkness.” We would never have suspected that treasures were hidden there, and in order to get them we have to go through things that involve us in perplexity. There is nothing more wearying to the eye than perpetual sunshine, and the same is true spiritually. The valley of the shadow gives us time to reflect, and we learn to praise God for the valley because in it our soul was restored in its communion with God. God gives us a new revelation of his kindness in the valley of the shadow. What are the days and the experiences that have furthered us most? The days of green pastures, of absolute ease? No, they have their values; but the days that have furthered us most in character are the days of stress and cloud, the days when we could not see our way but had to stand still and wait; and as we waited, the comforting and sustaining and restoring of God came in a way we never imagined possible before.
God disciplines us by disappointment. Life may have been going on like a torrent, then suddenly down comes a barrier of disappointment, until slowly we learn that the disappointment was his appointment. God hides his treasures in darkness, and many a radiant star that was not seen before comes out. In some lives you can see the treasure, there is a sweetness and beauty about them. You wonder where the winsome power of God came from. It came from the dark places where God revealed his sovereign will in unexpected issues. “Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.”
“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.” God will not have us come with an impatient curiosity. Moral or intellectual or spiritual insanity must result if we push down barriers which God has placed before our spiritual progress until it is fit for the revelation. This is a day of intolerant inquisitiveness. Men will not wait for the slow, steady, majestic way of the Son of God; they try to enter in by this door and that door. “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome, to open the book and the seven seals thereof” (Rev. 5:5). The barriers are placed by a holy God, and he has told us clearly—“Not that way.” God grant we may accept his clouds and mysteries, and be led into his inner secrets by obedient trust.
The above, by the late evangelist, pastor, and educator Chambers, was adapted from The Place of Help, Christian Literature Crusade (Fort Washington, Pa.).
