What I know, do not know, and only God knows

Taken from 2 Timothy 1:13-14, the Verse of the Day for September 4, 2017 offers words of encouragement. This message is reinforced when we add verse 12:

Here is the passage in the New King James Version:

2 Timothy 1:12-14

¹² For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

¹³ Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

This passage also brings to mind a previous blog entry “These three things I Know”:

• Some things I know
• Some things I don’t know
• Some things only God knows

Some things I know. . .

One thing I know for sure is that that God loves me.  I know that I love God and that’s really all that matters.  Not only do I know that God loves me and that I love God, but these lyrics express what I really know:

I know that I know that I know that I know.

I know that I know You still love me.

I know that I know that I know that I know.

I know that I know You still love me.

 

No matter how many times I go astray

And leave your side and choose to disobey.

When I’m overwhelmed and can’t even pray,

No matter what I do or do not say.

 

I know that I know that I know that I know.

I know that I know You still love me.

I know that I know that I know that I know.

I know that I know You still love me.

 

No one else knows my heart: You are the one

To call me home when I have no place to run.

When I look all around at all that I’ve done,

Despite all my failures, You still call me Son.

 

I know that I know that I know that I know.

I know that I know You still love me.

 

I know that I know that I know that I know.

I know that I know You still love me.

Romans 8:28, my favorite verse in the Bible, offers this reminder that because God is good, “We know that all things work together for the good, to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose.” So no matter how bad any situation may appear to be, I know that it will work together for the good.

Some things I don’t know. . .

I recall the lyrics to one of my all-time favorite Gospel songs “I don’t know about tomorrow.” Without question, I don’t know the answers to countless questions that defy the human mind. Quite honestly, I don’t know the answers to the questions that God asked Job. Some things are not mine to know: if God does not reveal them in the Word or by personal revelation, then I just don’t know

Romans 11:33-34 reiterate this:

³³ O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

³⁴ For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

Some things only God knows . . .

When asked about his return to the earth, Jesus Christ responded in Matthew 24:36 (NLT):

“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows,

Although we are assured that the Lord Jesus Christ will return, no one is privy of the exact day and hour, but “of the times and seasons we have no need”;  as I Thessalonians 5:1-3 remind us, the Lord’s return will happen suddenly, at the precise time that no one knows, only God.

When confronted with staggering vision of the dry bones, the prophet is asked this question in Ezekiel 37:3:

“Son of Man, can these bones live?” He responds, “O Lord God, You know!” As the New Living Testament puts it, “O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “You alone know the answer to that.”

Thinking about matters that only God knows also brings this poem to mind:

“Lord, You Know!”

Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities:

For we know not what we should pray for

 as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes

intercession for us with groanings

which cannot be uttered.

Romans 8:16

 

Many times we journey and don’t know which way to go.

When the right words won’t come, and we can’t even pray.

Sometimes the only thing to say is “Lord, you know!”

 

We set our sights above but our thoughts fall below.

Though we walk by faith, we stumble along the way.

Many times we journey and don’t know which way to go.

 

We triumph in Christ and rise to defeat each foe.

Even though we wage spiritual warfare night and day,

Sometimes the only thing to say is “Lord, you know!”

 

God puts us in a place for us to prove what we know;

He tests us to see whether we rebel or obey.

Many times we journey and don’t know which way to go.

 

God leads the way and only asks that we follow.

We start in strength but often seem to go astray.

Sometimes the only thing to say is “Lord, you know!”

 

We long to serve the Lord, the one who loves us so,

But doubts and fears arise and somehow still dismay.

Many times we journey and don’t know which way to go.

Sometimes the only thing to say is “Lord, you know!”

Despite what we may think that we know and what we may think that we don’t know, we are comforted and assured with the words of I John 3:20:

For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

In closing, we note the lyrics to the hymn “I Know Whom I Have Believed” stating matters the hymn writer does not know:

I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.m

The chorus of the familiar hymn resounds with this assurance found in 2 Timothy 1:12, the verse preceding the Verse of the Day:

But “I know Whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.”

The last verse brings to mind something that neither I nor anyone else knows:

I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noon-day fair,
Nor if I’ll walk the vale with Him,
Or “meet Him in the air.”

We conclude with “I Know Whom I Have Believed” which actually responds to what I know as well as what I do not know:

 

Tags: 1 John 3:20, 2 Timothy 1:12, 2 Timothy 1:13-14, Ezekiel 37:3, I Know Whom I Have Believed, Matthew 24:36, Romans 11:33-34, Romans 8:16, Romans 8:28