Easy Answers?

We all like easy answers. Yet the Bible tells us that “It is the glory of God to conceal things” (Proverbs 25:2). That may appear to be a cruel portrayal of God, who is lauded for stealthily hiding important matters from his creatures. But think for a moment about how loving parents routinely and strategically choose to refrain from simply handing over the answers to their children’s homework questions. Parents and teachers alike intuitively recognize that there is virtue and lasting benefit bound up in the process of learning, not just in possessing the right answers.

Of course God could have constructed a universe in which the answers to everything were easy to come by. But he didn’t. The world he made for us requires that we search for wisdom and understanding “as for hidden treasures” (Proverbs 2:4). As hard as that often is, the Bible extols the process as a godly and noble task.

God praises us for continuing to ask, seek, knock, study and labor to arrive at prudent and judicious answers and insights. Life will always require it. Godliness will perpetually demand it. So remember that yes, “It is the glory of God to conceal things” (Proverbs 25:2) but it is also “the glory of kings to search things out”