Revelation Not Explanation
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)
God seldom explains Himself. When questioned, He usually gives revelation, not explanation, revelation of Himself.
Genesis starts with the simple assumption of God’s existence. No attempt is made to explain how God came into being and that theme continues throughout the Bible.
At the burning bush, when Moses, asked God who He was, His answer was simply, “I AM, WHO I AM.”
When Habakkuk poured out anguished questions as to how a righteous God could allow evil to run rampant and bring a pagan, cruel nation down upon His chosen people in judgement, God gave him revelation not explanation.
“Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (Habakkuk 1:13 NIV)
When God responds, Habakkuk is stunned and awed. His outlook is changed and results in him penning this beautiful “Hymn of Faith. “
Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
(Habakkuk 3:17-18 NKJV)
When an anguished Job questioned why his life had descended into chaos, God gave him revelation not explanation.
For 37 chapters Job and his well-meaning but mutton-headed friends yammered on. Until chapter 38 put paid to any further chatter. Now it was God’s turn to speak. He did not give an explanation as to why Job was going through such trials, instead “He spoke out of the storm,” His mighty power on full display.
For three chapters God bombards Job with powerful questions:
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Who shut up the seas behinds its doors?
Have you entered the storehouses of snow or seen the storehouses of the hail?
Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?
“Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain and a path for the thunderstorm?
“Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
”Does the eagle soar at your command?”
The result? Job is stunned and rendered speechless, but once he recovers himself, his first words sum it all up, “I am unworthy” (40:4). Unworthy to question an almighty God who holds the world in the palm of His hand.
Questions will come:
“Why do good people suffer, and evil people prosper?” “Why isn’t God answering my prayer?” “How can God allow that to happen?”
What we need in times of doubt is not an explanation but, like Habakkuk and Job, a new view of God. Ask God to give you revelation – a revelation of Him. He will show you Himself, maybe even out of a burning bush. Once you glimpse His majesty, your questions will become unimportant.
