“Certainly the Lord God does nothing
Unless He reveals His secret counsel
To His servants the prophets.
8 A lion has roared! Who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken! Who can do anything but prophesy?” (3:7-8).
They were enjoying their comfortable spot, perched in the lap of luxury and convinced that as God’s chosen people, they were chosen to enjoy success and prosperity. After all, they had been chosen to be delivered out of Egypt; certainly they were also chosen to be elevated among the nations.
God’s people had so deceived themselves into believing that God’s choosing had something to do with them, assuming God’s blessings were theirs for the mere fact that they had been born into the chosen family of Israel.
But they somehow forgot that being chosen had nothing whatsoever to do with them at all.
“The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt,” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).
And they somehow forgot the very reason why they had been chosen.
“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth,” (Deuteronomy 14:2).
They somehow forgot God had chosen them because of His unfathomable love. And they conveniently forgot God had chosen them to answer His call: His call to be obedient, to keep His covenant, to belong to only Him, and to represent Him in holiness to all the surrounding nations.
“’Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel,” (Exodus 19:5-6).
And rather than choosing to be set apart as His, but instead choosing to unite themselves with all the surrounding nations in their iniquities, they were choosing His Irrevocable Punishment.
Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt:
2 “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities,” (3:1-2).
And now it was too late; but it’s not like they hadn’t been amply warned. And by a series of rhetorical questions, we can hear His frustration as the Lord confronts this rebellious nation, chosen to be His, with what they should never have missed; and it is as though He was asking the obvious: can you not read the handwriting on the wall, can you not connect the dots? Why should you be surprised? Shouldn’t you know? It’s not as though all this has been kept a secret.
“Do two people walk together unless they have agreed to meet?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?
Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something?
5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no device in it?
Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all?
6 If a trumpet is blown in a city, will the people not tremble?
If a disaster occurs in a city, has the Lord not brought it about?” (3:3-6).
They should have been able to read the handwriting on the wall, they should have been able to connect the dots. They should never have been surprised. They absolutely should have known. In other words, it was no secret, for He Reveals His Secret Counsel.
Consider Him Who Reveals His Secret Counsel
God is not saying He Reveals His every Secret. In the original language, Secret Counsel is one word, and is also translated plan, secret, and counsel; but at its root, is the idea of intimacy.
From Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance:
Secret Counsel: “5475. סוֹד sôḏ: A masculine noun meaning counsel. Confidentiality is at the heart of this term… When it means counsel, this term suggests the idea of intimacy… David used this term to describe one of his close friendships (Ps. 55:14[15]). God establishes a close, intimate relationship with those who revere Him and walk uprightly (Ps. 25:14; Prov. 3:32).
In context, when the Lord God says that He “does noting unless He reveals His secret counsel,” He is referring to the Word He had revealed to His prophets to declare. And because they had an intimate relationship with Him, He trusted that they wouldn’t be able to help but walk uprightly in obedience to proclaim His message and Reveal His Secret Counsel to all who would hear.
“Certainly the Lord God does nothing
Unless He reveals His secret counsel
To His servants the prophets.
8 A lion has roared! Who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken! Who can do anything but prophesy?” (3:7-8).
- He Reveals His Secret Counsel that we would be warned.
- “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me,” (Ezekiel 3:17).
- He Reveals His Secret Counsel that we would turn from our evil ways and be forgiven our sin.
- “Perhaps the house of Judah will listen to all the disaster which I plan to carry out against them, so that every person will turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their wrongdoing and their sin,” (Jeremiah 36:3).
- He Reveals His Secret Counsel that we would be without excuse.
- “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin,” (John 15:22).
- He Reveals His Secret Counsel that we would be watchful.
- “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near,” (Luke 21:25-28:).
- He Reveals His Secret Counsel that we would be ready.
- “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be,” (Matthew 24:37-39).
How do we respond to Him Who Reveals His Secret Counsel?
There are Secret things that belong to only Him, for He is God; surely there things far beyond our ability to even hear about, let alone understand. But the Secret Counsel that He does Reveal through His Word is ours forever and is meant to lead us to obedience.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law,” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Oh, that we would be take Him at His Word, that we would tune our hearts and ears to hear His Secret Counsel to always heed His warnings, that we would quickly turn from any evil ways and be forgiven of our sin so as to walk closely with Him and never offer excuses for our sin, that we would walk in intimate fellowship with Him Who Reveals His Secret Counsel so as to be watchful and ready for His return.
And oh, that we would live in reverent fear of the Lord so as to never forget why we have been chosen in Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him, (Ephesians 1:3-4).
God has promised that as we live in holy, intimate fellowship with Him, He will faithfully instruct us in the way to choose; and as we follow His Secret Counsel, He will bring our soul into the prosperity of His Presence. Let us fix our eyes on Him Who Reveals His Secret Counsel, that we may grow in our faith so as to live by what we know of His covenant promises all the days of our life.
Who is the man who fears the Lord?
He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
13 His soul will abide in prosperity,
And his descendants will inherit the land.
14 The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him,
And He will make them know His covenant, (Psalm 25:12-14).