"You Never Know"

A phrase that some people use that I'm starting to find annoying is “you never know.” Occasionally I hear believers say something like, “You never know what God will do.” It must grieve the Holy Spirit to hear His people say clichés like that. The truth is we can know what God is doing if we are sensitive to His leading. Jesus said in John 16:13 that the Spirit of God “will guide you into all truth” and “will tell you things to come.”

Another often-used phrase similar to this is “God moves in mysterious ways.” Some believers quote this like it came out of the Bible. This saying actually originated from an 18th-century hymn written by William Cowper. The promises of God are not mysterious but His methods of bringing them to pass can be. As Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

It’s true that some spiritual matters remain a mystery. Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” For example, you may not know why a certain individual died at a young age but God may choose to reveal the reason to those that need to know.

Amos 3:7 says, “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” God uses His people to warn the world of coming judgments. Examples include…

• Noah and the coming flood (Genesis 6:13)
• Abraham and Lot of the future destruction of Sodom (Genesis 18:17; 19:14)
• Joseph and the seven-year famine (Genesis 41:30)
• Moses and the ten plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7:1)
• Jonah and the destruction of Nineveh (Jonah 1:2; 3:4)

Sadly, some people remain ignorant of what God is doing in the earth because of listening to the wrong voices. 2 Timothy 3:6-7 mentions that in the last days there will be “gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Every time I read this passage, I think of housewives and single mothers who constantly watch tabloid talk shows on TV, filling their minds with useless information that won’t make a positive difference in their lives.

Occasionally when I’m out evangelizing, religious folks try to tell me that nobody can know for sure if they will have eternal life. But 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God “…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” That will happen as more of God’s people share the gospel with sinners and they respond to it by receiving salvation. Jesus said in John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” But truth alone doesn’t make anyone free. It’s knowing it and then applying it in their lives.

We can know the will of God by reading our Bibles, claiming His promises, and staying in communion with Him. But we can bring negative things into our lives simply by speaking the wrong words. As Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Let’s get “you never know” out of our vocabulary. Let’s believe God will bring revelation to help us fulfill His plans and purposes on the earth.

“The Holy One has anointed you, so all of you have knowledge.” - 1 John 2:20 (GOD’S WORD Translation)

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