The Secret of the Lord
Summer 2021
I remember as a teenager sincerely wanting to know what the Lord wanted me to be when I grew up. I was an idealistic young person with hopes and dreams, but my parents had wisely instilled in me the truth that I needed to know the Lord’s leading for my life. I remember my mother saying a hundred times, “You are better off being a ditch digger in the Lord’s will than being a millionaire outside of His will.” As usual, Mom was right! Praying for the Lord’s guidance in life is important in youth, and it is equally important for adults. A verse of Scripture that serves as a great help is Psalm 25:14, “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.” The Lord has promised to guide those who fear Him.
To fear the Lord simply means to factor the Lord into every part of your life. Every decision must be made in the context of the Lord’s will. The Lord sees and knows everything you do and think, so His opinion must be taken into consideration. For a Christian, the fear of the Lord is not a fear of punishment. You love the Lord, so you want to please Him. The fear of the Lord is a healthy fear of doing anything that would hinder or hurt your daily relationship with Him. As you walk in the fear of the Lord, He will guide you.
The question that so many young people ask is, “What is the Lord’s will, and how can I know it?” The truth is that the Lord is not trying to keep secrets from His people. He has communicated His will—His secrets—for you through the Scriptures. As you follow His will today, He will show you His will for tomorrow. I vividly remember a sermon I heard when I was fifteen years old. The preacher read from Ephesians 5:15-17, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” He emphasized that as a person does the Lord’s will today, the Lord will reveal His will for tomorrow. I remember the searching question he put to all of us, “If you are not following the Lord in obedience today, why and how can you expect the Lord to reveal to you what He wants you to do ten or fifteen years from now?” That question came to my heart as an obvious truth. I already knew that the Bible was full of commands and instructions that I was not consistently following, and it made sense to me that if I were not obedient in the little things, I had no reason to expect the Lord to reveal what I wanted to know in the big things.
That pastor was preaching the same truth that is found in Psalm 25:14. Being obedient in the little things today is precisely what it means to walk in the fear of the Lord. (If you want to study some examples of those “little things,” I would encourage you to study I Thessalonians 5:12-22). The Lord has promised to reveal His will to those who fear Him. If you seek Him, He has promised that you will find Him. That includes seeking and finding His will. One thing you can be sure of is that the Lord is not trying to play some heavenly game of “hide and seek” with His will. He does not have a will for your life that He does not want you to know. In fact, it is the opposite. He has made His daily will for you plain in the Scriptures. As you live in obedience to the Scriptures day by day, the Lord will guide you by His Spirit into what He wants you to do tomorrow. From that perspective, finding the Lord’s will is not a secret at all. It is simply the Christian’s daily walk of obedience.
Rev. Derrick Bowman | Associate Minister, Grace FPC, Winston-Salem, NC