In-dependence
Sometimes you read something and you realize that even
though what you read is an obvious truth, it now resonates with your soul as if
you never heard it before. I sort of love and hate that, in one way it makes me
feel the thrill of discovery and illumination, in another way I feel a little
flush of shame as if I’ve missed something. In reality, all I’ve done is
uncovered a mystery.
When you and I think of a mystery, we think of things like
Agatha Christie novels, Sherlock and why anyone thinks reptiles make good pets.
Maybe I only think that last one. We think of a mystery as something to figure
out, something to discover, and something that cannot
The
definition of mystery in the Bible is different. While we think of a mystery as
knowledge kept from us, in the scripture it is truth waiting to be revealed.
While we think it a thing to investigate that we might understand or know,
God’s mysteries can only be uncovered by Him, revealed when and how He
determines. This eases my mind because,
“There are known knowns.
These are things we know that we know.There are known unknowns.That is to
say, there are things that we know we don't know.But there are also unknown
unknowns.There are things we don't know we don't know.” Donald Rumsfeld
When the knowing rests on my ability to know, I can’t help but be anxious. It feels like a failure, that just on the tip of my tongue thought that won’t gel so I can get it out into the light. This can be a good tension though, like the beginning of a hunger pain that reminds you it’s time to eat, time to stop what you’re doing and be nourished. I want to know, I know there is something to know, and now, in its time, God makes it known.
We’re getting ready to begin a study in the book of Acts,
and as I’ve read it through and begun to journal, what I see over and over is
the moving of the Spirit in ways the disciples probably didn’t expect. From
being the bold preachers to being agents of healing, to befuddling religious
leaders to welcoming Gentiles, all their knowns were now showing themselves to
be unknowns. They knew they were to do kingdom work in a kingdom way, but the
known of how that would happen and even what the result would be was a total
unknown. But God knew. Day by day, year by year, encounter by encounter, the
mystery unfolded before them.
This is a crazy way to live, if you live a life of the
knowing being on your shoulders. You will sag, you will slow, you will stop. It’s
too hard to carry the weight of knowns and unknowns.
That’s why the mystery isn’t ours to solve, but ours to walk
in. When it’s God that orchestrates the confluence of the tributaries, we move
in His flow, in His strength, by His power. We see this so clearly in the way
Jesus walked here as a man:
“He constantly turned to His Father in everything, refusing
to hold His own glory, walking as the most dependent man who ever lived. And
now the Spirit of the most dependent man who ever lived has made His home in
us.” Emily P. Freeman, Simply Tuesday
Independence is the American way, striking out, conquering
new frontiers. It’s the prideful way, the “I’ll do it myself way”, and it’s the
“gee, I’m totally worn out from the struggle” way. In dependence is the way of Jesus,
who didn’t need to be dependent at all, but chose it. Why would we do any differently?
“To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory.” Col 1:27-28
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