Why do people feel God needs to tell them everything?
Question:
Growing up in a Christian household my father was a preacher and my mother a Sunday school teacher, so they wasted no time at all getting me baptized. As such, I tend to have more Bible knowledge than my peers. Occasionally I would get asked questions that I myself don't have the answers to and some are not found in the Bible because, well, obviously God did not leave us that kind of information. But I just wanted to ask: why do people feel that God needs to tell them everything? I brought that up to my father and he simply said tell them Deuteronomy 29:29. I also know Isaiah 55:8-9.
Answer:
An excellent question to ponder!
As I get older, I'm finding that I'm forgetting small things. I would like to think that my brain is reaching capacity but I suspect that isn't the case. God, however, tells us that He knows all things that can be known. "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" (Romans 11:33). God knows everything that I've forgotten. "But I know your sitting down and your going out and your coming in and your raging against Me" (Isaiah 37:28). Then how could God tell me everything when I am unable to retain it or sort through it to make sense of it all? "Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite" (Psalms 147:5).
Have you noticed that teenagers will typically question an authority figure's judgment? They won't accept his conclusion until they are told the facts behind his conclusion and how he reached his conclusion from those facts. They want to make their own conclusions (hopeful favorable to what they want). In truth, they don't trust the authority figure. When it comes to men, that question is often a good thing. But there are moments when there just isn't enough time to explain everything. At some point, we have to just trust the motives of the one in authority and hope he really does know what is best. However, we can't transfer our distrust of frail humans over to the Almighty God. God invites us to learn from Him and question things. " "Present your case," the LORD says. "Bring forward your strong arguments," The King of Jacob says. Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together" (Isaiah 41:21-23). At some point, however, we must eventually reach the conclusion that God is who He says He is and we'll just have to trust Him. "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth" (Psalms 46:10).
Have you ever tried to negotiate a contract or haggled to buy a car? Do you tell the person you are negotiating with everything you know? Of course not! If the other person knew exactly what I was willing to pay, I would not get a good deal. God works to bring about the salvation of people, but He didn't completely reveal His plans. "Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, 'Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him'" (I Corinthians 2:6-9). If the rulers of the Jews, the rulers of the Romans, and even Satan had understood God's plan, they would not have crucified Jesus because they would have realized that his death led to their destruction. Thus, God stayed quiet about critical facts or hinted at them in obscure ways in order to carry out His plan. "He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority'" (Acts 1:7).
I hope this helps.
Response:
Thank you, Mr. Hamilton, that helped a lot. Thanks.
