Social media is a fascinating object lesson in how confident people can be, despite being completely wrong. Whether it's politics, grammar, health or current affairs, our news feeds are full of examples of people arrogantly asserting their ignorance and even wrongly correcting others.One of Job's companions is an ancient example of this. In Job 36 vs 4, a young person called Elihu announces, "Be assured that my words are not false. I am a man of perfect knowledge." Oh, the arrogance of youth! And, as Job's other three friends proved, the arrogance of old age can be just as bad! But hopefully as we grow older, we do realise that many people know more than we do, and we recognise that only God has perfect knowledge.
The Hebrew word rāz can mean either mysteries (things that are hard to understand) or secrets (things that are unknown to most people), yet God often chooses to reveal them to His people. And He doesn't only reveal things to special people who interpret dreams - like Daniel or Joseph. He wants to confide in trustworthy people who honour and respect Him, Psalm 25:14 says that, "The Lord confides His secrets to those who fear Him."
A woman called Hannah warns about this unteachable attitude in 1 Samuel 2: 3 - "Stop acting so proud and speaking so arrogantly," she sings, "Because God is a God of Knowledge - El Deah, and He will judge your actions."
The Bible is clear that God is all-knowing; if I were studying attributes instead of names, the word would be Omniscient. He knows our words before we even speak them out, our actions and the motives behind them; He even knows our unspoken thoughts.
Proverbs 2: 6 says that knowledge, wisdom and understanding all come from the Lord. Romans 11: 33 speaks of the unsearchable depths of God's knowledge and wisdom.
The rather mind-blowing thing is that God is willing to teach us and share some of His knowledge with us. He gives us wisdom and understanding in situations that would normally be beyond us, and He imparts knowledge of how to live life well.
Sometimes He even goes a step further and reveals secrets to us. When Daniel is interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream, he twice calls God El Shamayim Gelah Raz - God in Heaven, the Revealer of Mysteries. (Daniel 2: 28-29) Later in the chapter (vs 47), Nebuchadnezzar himself declares, "Surely your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings and the Revealer of Mysteries - Gelah Raz."
The Hebrew word rāz can mean either mysteries (things that are hard to understand) or secrets (things that are unknown to most people), yet God often chooses to reveal them to His people. And He doesn't only reveal things to special people who interpret dreams - like Daniel or Joseph. He wants to confide in trustworthy people who honour and respect Him, Psalm 25:14 says that, "The Lord confides His secrets to those who fear Him."
In Deuteronomy 29:29, we read that the secret things belong to the Lord (and we don't need to worry or be concerned about them), but the things He has chosen to reveal are ours and it's our responsibility to obey them.
This understanding of God sharing His secrets or mysteries with us is not just an Old Testament idea. It's carried into the New Testament, where the Greek word is mystērion. Jesus says several times in the Gospels that the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven have been revealed to us. Paul speaks 20 times in his letters about the mysteries that have been revealed to us. (See, for example, Romans 16: 25 or Ephesians 6: 19, which refer to the Revealer of secrets and the "mystery" of the Gospel.)
Today's names of God reveal His infinite knowledge - El Deah - the God of Knowledge - but also the incredible privilege we have in being those He chooses to reveal His secrets too. He is still Gelah Raz, the Revealer of Mysteries today.
