“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29
As we go through life, sooner or later the sober reality that we do not know everything quickly dawns on us. We discover that God is the only custodian of all knowledge. As His children, we learn that except in a few cases, He reveals to us only what we need to know about each step of our journey. In this process, it may at times appear that He unfairly withholds important Information from us.
We see an example of this in the life of Jacob. When we reflect on his experience at this point in the story, we realize that God’s ways are beyond human comprehension and neither are His thoughts like ours.
In Gen 37: 31-35, his sons bring Jacob a false report about their brother Joseph whom they have actually sold into slavery to some Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt!
So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. Then they sent the tunic of many colours, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?” And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.
God remains quiet about this and lets Jacob stay in the dark about Joseph’s situation for over 20 years!
Unknown to Jacob, during this whole time, God was working out His plan to bring to pass the dreams that He had given the young Joseph so many years before as a teenager of seventeen years. When the timing was right, God finally let Jacob in on the secret. We read in Gen. 46:1-4,
So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” And he said, “Here I am.” So He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.”
I’m not sure what went on in Jacob’s mind when God finally told him that Joseph was alive (the Bible doesn’t tell us)! I know that for me I’d have asked Him the question, God how could You be so silent with information that I was so desperate to have all these years??!
With time we get to understand that not only is God Sovereign, He also does all things well. When He’s in charge, even when we do not understand, the outcome is always for our good and for the glory of His name as we see in Jacob’s and Joseph’s situations.
In case you’re currently passing through some ‘dark alley’ in your life, be at peace and trust Him to bring you safely to the other side. He will make it all work out for your good in the end as you choose to trust Him.
Prayer
Father, we choose to trust You for help through any dark patches we may be going through. We know that all things work together for the good of those who love You. Many times it’s not easy for us to see how this is so, but we rest in Your love and will be at peace, knowing that You do all things well.
