REVELATION

What little I know about God, I know because 

God has chosen to reveal Himself to me.

Seriously, what little I know isn't because I’m smarter than anyone else . . . it’s not because I've studied harder or worked more than others. No. The fact that I know anything at all about God is because of the grace of God revealed by God. I could never discover anything about God if God hadn't taken the initiative to reveal Himself to me. Now, as far as revelation goes, there are two main types:

   GENERAL    

General revelation is that which God has revealed about Himself to everyone . . all people at all times. God reveals Himself generally through nature (check out Psalm 19:1) and through the human experience (Genesis 1:26-27).

   SPECIAL    

Special revelation is that which God has revealed about Himself through Scripture (II Timothy 3:16-17) and, of course, Jesus (John 1:1-14)

Think about this. Think about how little you and I would know about God if it were not for God’s special revelation of Himself . . . if it were not for the Bible and Jesus.

Now, I’ve been thinking recently and wondering if God limits how much He reveals to us. I’m thinking He does. He almost has to because of the size of my puny little brain and His immensity. It would almost be like lecturing about nuclear physics to an ant. (Romans 11:33-36) We couldn’t understand it or handle it. There are certain things about God that remain “unrevealed”.

Deuteronomy 29:29 reads: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.”

I’m guessing that the God of love reveals that which we need to know . . . in order to be saved (John 3:16) . . . in order to be holy (Mark 12:28-34) . . . in order to fulfill His purposes for our lives (Mark 14: 32-42).

So, where does that leave me? What should I do now, knowing that our God is a God of revelation? Three things, I need to do.

 1.  Keep myself in a place where God can speak to me. Prayer . . meditation . . communion with nature . . conversations with people . . . Bible discovery . .
study . . worship. Apparently, God speaks to those who practice spiritual disciplines, (at least, that’s what the Bible says!)

 2.  Shut up and listen. Listening is an art that needs development in most of us. So learn to pay attention. If we take seriously the notion that all of nature and history are aspects of divine revelation . . . that the heavens and earth reveal something of God . . . that tradition and reason and experience help us interpret Scripture . . . that the Holy Scriptures point us to Jesus, God’s awesome revelation of Himself, then we must conclude that God is speaking, revealing something of Himself all the time . . . 24/7. God speaks softly. But He has something to say to us today . . . something to reveal to you of importance.

Are you paying attention? Is your antenna up? Are you listening? Are you fully in the moment? Or is your brain filled with so much static that your ears and your heart can’t hear the voice of God?

 3.  One more thing. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Look always to Him, God’s perfect revelation of Himself. Jesus said: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

Study Him for the rest of your life. Jesus is the primary way God reveals what He is like to us.

Listen for Jesus’ voice . . . watch for Jesus sightings . . . in Scripture, in the quiet whispers of the Spirit . . . listen for Him in the voices and look for Him in faces of the poor (Matthew 25:31-46). Because when you do, revelation happens, (sounds like a good idea for a bumper sticker to me!)

We all need to do a better job at paying attention, don’t you think?