It’s Not What You Think

“Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

It’s Not What You Think

Mighty – If you understood nagad (“tell” – see yesterday), then you are prepared for batsar.  But it probably isn’t “mighty”.

God promises to answer us with revelation of things we could not know.  These things are great things.  And they are batsar.  They are inscrutable.  They are inaccessible.  They are things that are impossible without Him.  The reason that this word is sometimes translated “mighty” is its connection to what cannot be overcome.

Here is a paradigm shift.  If you can explain the directions you get from God in terms of human causality, then you probably didn’t hear Him.  God doesn’t share His glory with men.  If what you are doing can be accounted for simply because of human agency and connections, then it is unlikely to be the work of God.  When God reveals His answers, they are shockingly original.  They upset the human apple cart.  They don’t make commonsense.  God isn’t going to give you answers that you could have thought up all by yourself.  He is going to give you a peek at the impossible (from your viewpoint).

Take a quick tour of the history of men with God.  Do you notice that God is always doing something we could never have imagined?  From Abraham to Jesus, the pattern is the same.  God turns our best-laid plans into mush.  We discover that what He is doing is way beyond what we thought.

Now what are you going to do?  Are you pursuing “impossible” dreams or are you living within the boundaries of the humanly possible?  Do you conduct your business on the basis of the impossible?  Is God sitting at your discovery table?  Or are you just doing planning within the range of possibilities?  Are you open to God’s crazy interruptions?  Or are you trying to keep a lid on things?

How much effort is spent trying to make sure you can’t be surprised?  No wonder life doesn’t seem like an adventure.  We aren’t listening to the God outside the box.