“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” –Abraham Lincoln

We recognize the Nosy Neighbor trope in TV and narratives. The know-it-all Mrs. Oleson on the long-running TV show Little House on the Prairie and Mrs. Kravitz watching out the window on  Bewitched revealed the human instinct to want to know more than is necessary. Their snooping always got them into trouble. 

When we study God’s word, we are instructed to listen to what God reveals and be content with what He conceals. There are not enough days to fill our hearts and minds with what He has divulged to humanity. 

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

We are directed to diligently seek what God has revealed. He has kept back nothing that is profitable for us. We are not to pry into these things. Israel abandoned the covenant of the Lord and worshiped other gods, and Moses urgently reminded them to follow what God had revealed. Matthew Henry reflects on this Bible passage: “By this light (we) may live and die comfortably, and be happy forever.” 

Noodling into something other than what God has revealed walks us into satan’s territory, and we become his emissary.  Knowing God through His appointed ways will fill every hour. 

Use the binoculars to view the nesting birds, ditch the Google searches, and be happy forever. 

Prayer

Almighty God, We pray to you with genuine hearts: 

Only to sit and think of God, 

Oh, what a joy it is!

To think the thought, to breathe Your Name

Earth has no higher bliss. -Frederick W. Faber ( from The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer, p.20)