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But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:6
Even if we’re pretty open folks, we all have secrets. There is a secret life inside our skulls that no one really knows. Every report of what we think and feel is, in the end, the testimony of just one witness. Not even a “he said, she said” sort of problem – in those circumstances those folks know who’s telling the truth and who’s lying. But remember, we’re image bearers. We have the stamp of God’s eternal being in us. And no one is better at keeping secrets than Him.
He has secrets and we have secrets. Christ is alluding here to Deuteronomy 29:29 – where our Father explicitly tells us this. His secret will is His to know. What does this secret will refer to? It’s contrasted to His revealed/declared will – all the moral things we’re told to do and the immoral things we’re told not to do. That’s His “revealed will,” usually called the Law in our bibles. His secret will is what actually happens in this world – not even a little birdie falls out of a tree apart from His design and appointment and decision.
Lots of folks don’t like that teaching. “That’s determinism!” or “that’s Calvinism” or “that removes human responsibility” and stuff like that are the typical responses. Don’t listen to those voices. None of us is greater than God, with a perspective big enough to weigh His will and ours. You’d have to be greater than the universe to do that. News flash – you aren’t. But the point is merely this – He has a secret will and we have a secret life – and He’s telling us here He wants those to meet. Yes, He wants those to talk to one another. That’s utterly incredible.
He’s kept it a secret whether He will heal you, or someone you love. Or whether you’ll get that job, or find that special someone. He really has. He isn’t telling anyone His plan. But then Jesus tells us – go in secret to the God who is in secret Himself. Right there, in that crucible of His will and your will – He will fully hear you! That’s just amazing. He’s telling us – in some way that baffles our small minds – that His secret will is to act on our secret requests – the things we wish would happen! Does He always do what we ask? Of course not. He’s good and wise, and 99% of what we want isn’t. But then He does things we ask anyway, again and again.
So what will you do with the impenetrable eternal will of the Almighty? Throw up your hands or shake your fist at heaven? No!! Give all that up! Go and find a place where no one sees you – a place you never even tell others about, and ask. He’s waiting in secret for you. Claim this promise to full effect today, in Jesus’ name, amen!