Hearing His Voice #87

Go now, Daniel, for what I have said is kept secret and sealed until the time of the end.

Daniel 12:9

God had given Daniel a sweeping vision of the world’s unfolding drama, and Daniel didn’t understand it. But he was told that the words were to be kept secret, only to be unsealed at the end. Given the purpose of communication—to transmit information in an understandable way—the revelation seems odd. A secret told but still secret? A message sent more than 2,500 years ago to be unveiled at some future point? What’s the purpose of a message delivered but not understood? Regardless of God’s reasoning, we know this: He sometimes speaks cryptically and lets the true meaning come to the surface over time.

God not only did this in Scripture, He does it in our personal conversations with Him. Paul writes of mysteries now revealed, implying that God’s nature is to deliver a truth without the full explanation and then wait a painfully long time for the true meaning to be known. And sometimes it isn’t known until after the fact, when hindsight makes all things clear. He gives us enough to hang on to and look forward to, but not enough to eliminate the need for faith or an ongoing conversation with Him. Like an artist who explains the true meaning of his semi-abstract work after all speculation has been offered, He shows us the picture and then gives us the details much later.

Remember that the next time you’re holding on to a promise from God or a calling yet to be fulfilled. The essence of the picture He gave you was true; the path to its realization was probably never stated. Our tendency to accurately see the destination but to falsely assume the path will frustrate us. With God, the shortest distance between two points is rarely a straight line. It’s a winding road that He reveals along the way until, in the end, we finally understand.

Lord, Your secrets are still mysteries to me even after You tell them. Show me enough to keep me going. Help me keep the destination in view, regardless of how the path turns. Give me the faith to get there.