From Revelation to Realization
I recently heard the tail end of something said on the radio. I wish I had heard the whole thing, but what I did hear reminded me of something Pastor would say; it was this, “From revelation to realization.” So, what’s a grammar nerd to do with that? Start by looking the word up. The word ‘revelation’ is defined as “the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence or the world.” It comes from the word ‘reveal.’ Realization is defined as “an act of becoming fully aware of something as a fact” or, the one I like better, “the fulfillment or achievement of something desired or anticipated.”
I’m very familiar with asking God to reveal to me where my keys are or where my phone is, but I’m not writing a HOPE Note about my memory loss. So, I started thinking…what are some bible stories that would fit and the two I liked were Abraham and Isaac and Noah. In both of these stories, God reveals to these men a plan, His desire for them, with little to go on other than a parent saying to their child, “because I said so.” As I read about Abraham’s situation in Genesis 22, I am amazed that he didn’t put up a fight when God told him to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering. I would have been on the Heaven Hotline demanding answers as to why a loving God would ask me to kill my own child. Not Abe…he goes on like God asked him to sing a song, tells his servants that he and the boy are going to the mountain to worship and they’ll be back in time for dinner. Abraham knew he’d be coming back alone, but he alerted no one of what God had asked of him. He was calmly obedient. We know how the story ends…as Abraham prepares to kill his son, an angel cries out for him to stop and God supplied a ram for the offering. Abraham had received revelation about what God wanted from him, but now he was realizing why. God was testing his faith and he passed…and in my book, he passed BIG!
Noah’s story is similar in that God revealed to him a plan, with a set of plans! One difference I see in their stories is that here, we can read that God was very upfront with His end result…He was unhappy with the wickedness of the people and He told Noah He was going to destroy the earth with a flood. So, He gave Noah a very specific design for an ark to save the animals and his family. The lack of understanding falls into play when you realize it had never rained on earth. Genesis 2 tells us that water came up from the ground to nourish vegetation. So, here’s Noah, violating his HOA guidelines, building this huge boat, because God said to. Can you imagine all the Karens he must have endured? All the stares, all the snickers, all the ridicule. But Noah was calmly obedient. He received his realization when the floods did come and he and his family were spared.
The common denominator here is obedience. Not frustrated, obligatory obedience, but calm, I-know-my-God’s-got-this obedience. Maybe we struggle sometimes with a plan God has revealed to us, but unless we follow through and do it, we will never reach our realization…that fulfillment or achievement of something desired or anticipated.