When God Doesn’t Give You Answers (Proverbs 25:2)
Listen Here:
Proverbs 25:2
It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
This verse always catches me off guard. When I think of the glory of God, I don’t usually think about what He hides – I think about what He reveals! But Proverbs 25:2 tells us it’s actually glorious for God to conceal things. Why?
Well, it makes total sense for God to be glorified by what He conceals from us. After all, if we knew everything God knew, that would either make God not God or it would make us also God, and that’s not the case.
It reminds me of a question I’ve seen posed before: ‘What glory indeed could belong to a God, whose name, and ways, and works were open to the view, and within the comprehension of worms of the earth?’
Practically speaking, I think this is so helpful regarding our lives. Because let’s be real – we don’t like not knowing things. We want clarity. We want certainty. And when we don’t get it, we more or less freak out.
I mean, how many times have you been anxious or frustrated because you felt like you needed to have clarity on something God hadn’t given you?
I think we’ve all been there. But it is to God’s glory to conceal things. There are things He doesn’t show us and doesn’t give us clarity on, whether for a short time or for all time, and it’s all still for our good and His glory. And we can trust Him with that. We don’t need to search out what God has concealed, because if He’s concealed it, there’s purpose to it, and we need to trust in His character, even if we don’t understand the circumstance.
God says in Isaiah 55:
‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.’
It is the glory of God to conceal things…but the glory of kings is to search things out.
The second half of this verse is interesting: ‘the glory of kings is to search things out.’ While there’s some mystery to it, one thing is clear – though God might conceal some things from us, He still invites us to seek Him. He doesn’t hide everything. He reveals Himself through His Word, His creation, and ultimately, through Jesus. And it’s a glorious thing to chase after that and after Him.
Because of that, it is a beautiful thing – a glorious thing – to be able to and choose to seek out the things of God.
So, what do we do with this?
We trust what God conceals, yet we chase after Him to see what He reveals.
But that’s easier said than done, isn’t it?
Ask yourself today:
Have I complained to God recently about what He has concealed from me?
Am I able to give Him glory for what I don’t know or understand?
Brothers and sisters, let’s pray through this verse today, praising God for what He has concealed, and yet still pursuing Him in hopes He would reveal and make known more of His glory to us.
