Basic HTML Version
Then We Shall Know, December 13
O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Romans 11:33
.
It is Satan’s settled purpose to cut off all communications between God and His
people, that he may practice his deceptive wiles with no voice to warn them of their
danger. If he can lead men to distrust the messenger, or to attach no sacredness to
the message, he knows that they will feel under no obligation to heed the word of
God to them. And when light is set aside as darkness, Satan has things his own way.
Our God is a jealous God; He is not to be trifled with. He who does all things
according to the counsel of His own will has been pleased to place men under
various circumstances, and to enjoin upon them duties and observances peculiar
to the times in which they live and the conditions under which they are placed. If
they would prize the light given them, their faculties would be greatly enlarged and
ennobled, and broader views of truth would be opened before them. The mystery of
eternal things, and especially the wonderful grace of God as manifested in the plan
of redemption, would be unfolded to their minds; for spiritual things are spiritually
discerned....
Jesus is waiting with longing desire to open before His people the glory that
will attend His second advent, and to carry them forward to a contemplation of the
landscape of bliss. There are wonders to be revealed. A long lifetime of prayer and
research will leave much unexplored and unexplained. But what we know not now
will be revealed hereafter. The work of instruction begun here will be carried on
to all eternity. The Lamb, as He leads the hosts of the redeemed to the fountain of
living waters, will impart rich stores of knowledge; He will unravel mysteries in the
works and providence of God that have never before been understood.
We can never by searching find out God. He does not lay open His plans to
prying, inquisitive minds. We must not attempt to lift with presumptuous hand the
curtain behind which He veils His majesty. The apostle exclaims, “How unsearch-
able are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” It is a proof of His mercy
that there is the hiding of His power, that He is enshrouded in the awful clouds of
mystery and obscurity; for to lift the curtain that conceals the Divine Presence is
death. No mortal mind can penetrate the secrecy in which the Mighty One dwells
and works. We can comprehend no more of His dealings with us and the motives
that actuate Him than He sees fit to reveal. He orders everything in righteousness,
and we are not to be dissatisfied and distrustful, but to bow in reverent submission.
He will reveal to us as much of His purposes as it is for our good to know; and
beyond that we must trust the hand that is omnipotent, the heart that is full of love
(
The Review and Herald, April 7, 1885
).
[362]
368