"It is not for you to know..."

"So when they had come together, they asked Him, "Lord, at this time are You restoring the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:6-8 ESV

When I was reading this earlier this month one of my first reactions to this verse was to feel sorry for Jesus that after all He had been through and taught them, the disciples were still not getting it.  Then I thought, Jesus, why didn't You just tell them no? Why didn't He take the time to explain to them again that His was not an earthly kingdom? Not now? It was not the time for explaining, He ascended in a cloud immediately after this statement. He had already explained numerous times. In fact if you read the previous verses, Luke tells us that Jesus appeared to them during the 40 days after His suffering and talked to them about the kingdom of God.


 I don't know, maybe they fixated on just a few words of what He said.  He did tell them, in fact, commanded them to not leave Jerusalem but to "wait for the Father's promise".  But He essentially tells them that this awaited promise is the Holy Spirit. I do kind of have to give them a break though.  They had been taught all their lives that the One they were waiting for, the Messiah would come and set up His kingdom.  They had focused all their lives on this event happening.  But God just did not do it the way that they supposed. Sound familiar?


Oh, I am so much like the disciples. I think I know what God is going to do.  I have taken a scripture out of context or misinterpreted it or taken something that God did say and run ahead of God, continually asking, nagging Him about when He is going to do what I think He said He would!! His answer to me is the same that it was to them. "It is not for you to know". Essentially, somethings, many things are "above my pay grade"! Why do we so often want to do God's job or correct Him in the way He is running things! What arrogance we have and what little insight. We have forgotten that:

"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV  

and how:

 "From ancient times no one has heard, no one has listened, no eye has seen any God except You, who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him." Isaiah 64:4 HCSB

Jesus basically says to the disciples and to us, "Hey, that is not your job, this is your job: wait for the Lord,  be My witnesses, listen and look for God; wait, hear and obey. What  has He told us to do that we are not doing and instead are worried about things that we don't even need to know.  God is faithful!  He will accomplish His plan and He has given us the privilege to be His witnesses. O that we would be about our Father's business, not trying to usurp His authority or plan but to know Him and obey.

O Lord, help me to listen, to hear and see You act. Help me to wait on You, walk with You, not trying to figure out what You are doing and making my own plans, not lagging behind being slow to obey but waiting and doing, trusting and obeying. Help me to not be concerned with things I don't really even need to know but that I would entrust them in Your hands (whether it be people or things that I may be anxious about).  Help me to do what You have told me to do. Help me to be Your witness, to know and love You. You are worthy!