August 12, 2022

Acts 1: 7 (NIV)

He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

The finite cannot fully know the infinite.*

Let’s face it. We want answers but we don’t always get them. In this verse, we have Jesus’ response to the apostles who wanted him to do some fortune-telling: “It is not for you to know . . .” he said. Previously, he had told them that no one knows the day or hour of his return (Mark 13: 32); and John says that now we are children of God but what we will be has not been made known (I John 3: 2). And way back in the Old Testament, we were advised that the secret things belong to God (Deuteronomy 29: 29). 

But there is good news. The verse in Deuteronomy (29: 29) goes on to say, “But the revealed things belong to us.” With all the mysteries and the things we don’t know or can’t understand, there are some things that we can know. To name a few: 

· The truth. (John 8: 32) 

· The Father. (John 14: 7) 

· God works for the good of those who love him. (Romans 8: 28) 

· Your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (I Corinthians 15: 58) 

· The one who raised Jesus from the dead will raise us. (II Corinthians 4: 14) 

· God’s grace. (II Timothy 1: 8-10) 

· What love is. (I John 3: 16) 

· That we are children of God. (I John 5: 19) 

Search out God’s word for yourself and see what he has revealed. We may not know everything – we aren’t even supposed to – but the Christian life is not lived in darkness. In II Peter 1: 3, we read: “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” What else do we need to know?

What God has revealed he expects his children to study, meditate upon and obey.*