A God Who Deceives

Secret Things

God does not reveal Himself to merely the literate but to those who know how to read. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this Law” (Deut 29:29). Not everything you want to know about God is found in Scripture but everything He wants you to know about Him is. Have you ever wanted to know why you were created the way you were to do the things you crave to do? Have you tried to imagine what Heaven is like or how bad Hell really is? Have you asked every Christian you know about the mysteriousness of God’s eternal love? Well, they are hidden for a reason. The things revealed belong to us that we might walk in accordance with His commands. The secret things do not teach us that and so they remain hidden. Do not ask to see what is hidden lest you take your eyes off what is revealed.

 

A God Who Hides

“Truly you are a God who hides Himself, O God and savior of Israel” (Isa 45:15). You can read the Bible every day of your life for as many moments of your life you can spare and still not get the point. That was the story of the Pharisees. “You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell in you… You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life” (Jhn 5:38,39). As much as they looked at the word of God they could not hear the voice of God though it was written in plain language. Jesus told them, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Mt 22:29). How do you find a God who hides Himself? Job said, “My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5). You will never find God on your own. He must find you. “You did not choose Me but I chose you” (Jhn 15:16).

A God who Deceives

“So now the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours” (1Kin 22:23). God purposely enticed Ahab into believing the lie of his prophets that He might bring about the end of this evil king. God deceived Ahab. Moses came to Pharaoh and told him the people would only be leaving Egypt to worship the Lord for a few days before returning. God did not intend to return the people to Egypt. God and Moses deceived the Pharaoh. Samuel went to anoint David as king and was concerned about Saul’s reaction to his rebellion. God told Samuel to tell Saul that he was going to offer sacrifices to the Lord. God and Samuel deceived Saul. “For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness” (2Ths 2:11-12). God deceives unbelievers. Most of us have a hard time accepting these facts I just shared. No one wants to believe that God would deceive men. But what is deception? It is giving a false perception of truth. If I make up a word like Floop and told you it meant truth but then told another Floop meant deception, would that then be deceptive? I made up the word, therefore I can define it as I wish, right? God is truth. Only He can truly deceive because only He defines truth.

Learning to Read

God does not reveal Himself to the literate but to those who know how to read. What do I mean by this? After sharing the Parable of the Sower, the disciples asked Jesus why He shared parables. He said, “Though hearing, they do not hear or understand… For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears… Otherwise they might… hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them” (Mt 13:13-15). Jesus told parables to the people so that they would not understand what they heard. Only those who “humbly accept the word planted in you; which can save you”(Jas 1:21) will ever bear the fruit of understanding that comes through years of devotion to His word and not to the devotionals of others. Jesus said, “Whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed” (Mk 4:22) while Paul tells us that the Spirit will reveal to us what “no ear has heard” (1Cor 2:9-10). He reveals Himself to those who read His word to find Him and not to find the secrets of success, financial fulfillment or marital bliss. “These are the Scriptures that testify about Me” (Jhn 5:40), Jesus said. Most of us will never understand the word because we are reading them and not choosing to live them. His word is our life. Only those who have accepted this sort of life will ever know how to read its worth between the lines of scribble.