The Secret of the Lord..

"The secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him; and He will shew them His covenant" (Ps 25:14).

Does God really have secrets? What an astounding idea to ponder! And what's better is that He will reveal His secrets to those who fear Him, while the casual believer will be kept in the proverbial dark. The "friends" are they who are made partakers of God's great mysteries, while the "servants" are without. Which would you rather be? A servant or a friend? To Jesus' disciples He said, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you" (Jn 15:14-15).

Does God have secrets?

The Hebrew word for "secret" means, "a thing that is hid", from a root that means, "to veil from sight, to conceal, to hide". Many people are surprised to discover that this is exactly what God has done! "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter" (Prov 25:2). God purposely conceals things for His glory's sake, and He will only show them openly to those who prove willing to search and seek after Him diligently: "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer 29:13). "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deut 29:29; Isa 48:6; Dan 2:28-29, 47; Amos 3:7; Rev 1:1; Gal 1:12; Eph 1:9; 3:3-5; 1 Cor 2:7; 4:1; etc).

His secret place?

For most people (even Christians), Zion is a secret too! When we say "Zion", most people assume we're talking about the mere natural hill in the Middle East; the secret place of the Lord (Spiritual Zion) is often a foreign concept. How sad! Many are ignorant of this great truth, yet the Bible reveals it to be a tangible reality: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Ps 91:1). This "secret place of thunder" is to be our perpetual abode (Ps 81:7). It's the "secret of Thy presence" (Ps 31:20). No man is to defile that realm (Ezek 7:22). Rather, it's to be our hiding place (Ps 27:5), our home, our "pavilion" (Ps 31:20). It shouldn't be a secret to us! To us, it should rather be said, "His secret is with the righteous" (Prov 3:32).

Why does He hide Himself?

"Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself..." (Isa 45:15; Job 23:8-10; 34:29; Ps 104:29; Isa 8:17; etc). But why? I believe it's simply because He wants to be whole-heartily sought after! This has been His desire from ages past (Eph 5:25-27)! The bride in Scripture says His head is of the "most fine gold" (Song 5:11), and similarly today, God has sought to be pursued with the same integrity and sincerity, as men search for gold, silver, and hidden treasure. Only when men draw nigh with a true heart, and call upon Him in truth, and search for Him with eagerness, and with a hearty desire to find him, will He be found, and dispose of His secrets: "seek, and ye shall find" (Lk 11:9). "I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears" (Ps 34:4)... "they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing" (Ps 34:10).

Initiated into His mysteries!

In whose ear does God whisper? Simply said, secrets and close friends go hand-in-hand. Wouldn't you like to be His confidant? How can we ever realize the secret of the Lord if we don't spend time with Him, minister to Him, and learn of Him? We cannot. God hides Himself so that He will be genuinely and sincerely sought after. Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, but to His disciples He revealed His mysteries: "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables" (Mk 4:11). Why? Because the disciples followed Him wherever He went. The multitudes came to get blessed, and then went on their merry way. The Greek word for "mystery" (Mk 4:11) is "musterion" and means, "that which is known by initiation". This is to be our testimony too, if we are the disciples of Christ. Paul says that we're to be "stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor 4:1). He had this revelation (Gal 1:12), and even prayed for his readers to receive such an initiation too: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" (Eph 1:17-18).

Do we want such a glorious testimony? "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him; and He will shew them His covenant" (Ps 25:14).

"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7).