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What Did God Leave Out of The Bible? · Randy Unscripted

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Randy Black: What can we learn from the things God chose not to tell us?
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Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black.
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Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. He's a troublemaker.
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Welcome back to Randy Unscripted. I'm Randy Black, and this is the podcast where
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I talk about whatever happens to just come across my brain whenever it happens to come across it.
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And this episode, it started when I couldn't sleep the other night because I
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had just listened to an episode of We Get to Do This,
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by Adam Curry and Pastor Jimmy Pruitt, and the title of that episode was Presence
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Over Pixels, and there's a link to it in the show notes for this episode.
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And during the conversation that they were having, Adam shared something that had happened.
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That someone at their church who listens to the podcast and works in the security
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team and some other stuff at the church handed him a note, a gentleman named James.
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And the note had a very simple question on it.
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It said, do you know what God left out of the Bible?
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And then underneath it was an answer, your opinion.
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I laughed. It was clever.
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But what really caught my attention wasn't just the punchline.
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It's what happened next.
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Pastor Jimmy then started talking about the weight of preaching God's word,
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of sharing God's word, and the responsibility of handling scripture with care, handling it carefully.
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He talked about resisting the temptation to preach your opinions instead of preaching God's truth.
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And that's an extremely important conversation.
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But after I listened to the episode and my mind kept racing and going in different
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directions with it, I kept thinking about the question itself.
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Not about my opinion, but about God's omissions.
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Because the more I thought about it, the more I realized something.
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God didn't accidentally leave things out of the Bible. He intentionally left
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things out. And that raises a really fascinating question.
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What can we learn from the things God chose not to tell us? And that's where
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I want to spend a little bit of time today.
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So let's start with a simple question. Is the Bible complete?
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Most Christians would answer, absolutely. And they're right.
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But maybe we need to find what we mean by that word complete.
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Do we mean that it contains every conversation that ever happened?
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Every miracle that Jesus performed? Every sermon that every apostle preached?
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And every detail about every biblical character?
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Of course not. In fact, one of the men that God used to write Scripture tells us exactly that.
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Listen to these words from John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31.
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And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
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which are not written in this book.
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But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
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the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name.
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John says something extremely remarkable there. There were many other signs.
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Many, not a few, not one or two, many.
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Think about that. John spent years walking with Jesus.
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He watched him teach. He watched him heal.
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He watched him perform these miracles. He watched lives change.
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And when it came time to write his gospel, he didn't write everything he knew. He couldn't have.
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But more importantly, he didn't need to. Notice what he says there.
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These are written. Why?
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That ye might believe. John wasn't trying to satisfy every curiosity.
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He's trying to point people to Christ.
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His purpose wasn't information.
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His purpose was transformation. And I wonder if sometimes we approach the Bible
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with the wrong expectation.
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We want it to answer every question.
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God intended it to answer the most important ones.
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You know, like, who's God? Who am I? Why is the world broken?
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Can I be forgiven? Who's Jesus? How can I be saved? How should I live?
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Those questions, the Bible answers with remarkable clarity.
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But then there's other questions. Questions we'd all love answers to.
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Questions that Christians have debated for centuries.
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And God simply doesn't tell us.
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Not because he couldn't, but because he chose not to.
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I think that's worth thinking about, because if we believe that scripture is
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inspired, then we also have to believe its silence is inspired.
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Not in the sense that silence is a new revelation, but in the sense that what
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God chose not to reveal is every bit as intentional as what he did reveal.
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God is not an accidental author. He's deliberate, purposeful, intentional.
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Nothing made it into Scripture by mistake, and nothing was left out by accident.
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Once you start looking for them, you realize the Bible is full of these unanswered questions.
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Some of them are small. Some of them are enormous. Take, for example,
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the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8.
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The religious leaders drag her before Jesus. They demand an answer.
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Jesus kneels down and begins writing in the dirt.
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And then the Bible never tells us what he wrote.
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You ever wondered about that? I have. For 2,000 years, people have tried to figure it out.
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Some believers wrote that he writes down the names of the accusers.
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Some think that he wrote down their hidden sins.
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Others think he may have written down some scripture.
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The truth of it is, we don't know. We don't know because God never told us.
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Here's another one. What did Jesus actually look like?
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Think about that. The most influential person in human history,
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and the Bible never gives us a physical description.
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No height, no eye color, no hair color, nothing. God could have told us, but he didn't.
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Or what about Paul's thorn in the flesh? Paul mentions it.
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He prayed three times for God to remove it, and God said no.
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But Paul never actually tells us what it was.
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Was it poor eyesight? Was it a physical illness? Was it constant persecution?
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Was it a spiritual struggle?
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Those are all thoughtful arguments for all of the possibilities.
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But they're still just possibilities because Scripture doesn't tell us.
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Then there's Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. He's there at Jesus' birth.
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He's there when Jesus is 12 years old in the temple. And then he just disappears
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from the biblical record.
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There's no explanation. There's no obituary. There's no farewell. Just silence. Hmm.
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Let's think about this one. How many wise men visited Jesus?
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Every nativity scene at Christmas says there are three. Every Christmas pageant says three. The Bible?
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It never says. It mentions three gifts. Gold, frankincense, myrrh.
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But it never tells us how many men brought them. Maybe there were three.
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Maybe there were 12. we simply don't know.
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The same is true for the author of Hebrews, for the exact location of the Garden
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of Eden, the appearance of the Ark of the Covenant, the childhood of Jesus,
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the fate of so many biblical figures whose stories simply stop.
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And if anything like me, part of you wants answers because unanswered questions bother us.
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As humans, we like closure. We like details. We like certainty.
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But here's something I've been thinking about.
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Maybe the lesson isn't hidden in the answers. Maybe it's hidden in God's decision not to answer.
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Every one of those mysteries reminds us of something.
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God was under no obligation to satisfy my curiosity.
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He wasn't writing a Bible to answer every question that I'd have someday.
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He was revealing himself. And that is a very different purpose.
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When I was younger, I used to think that if I just studied long enough,
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I'd eventually have every answer.
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The older I get, the more comfortable I've become saying three simple words. I don't know.
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And maybe that's not a weakness.
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Maybe that's wisdom. Because every time I say, I don't know,
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I'm also saying something else.
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But God does. There's something freeing about that. It reminds me that faith
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isn't built on knowing everything.
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Faith is built on trusting the one who does.
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So why? Why would God leave so many questions unanswered?
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And I don't pretend to know every reason. Ironically, that'd be another opinion.
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But I do think Scripture gives us a principle.
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Listen to this from Deuteronomy 29, verse 29.
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The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed
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belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
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I love that verse because it draws a very clear line. There are secret things,
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and there are revealed things.
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God never apologizes for the existence of mystery. He simply reminds us that
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some things belong to him.
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Think about that for a moment.
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We live in a culture that believes every mystery should be solved.
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Every question deserves an answer. Every secret should eventually be uncovered.
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But that's not how God operates.
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Sometimes his answer is revelation.
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Sometimes his answer is silence. And both of those are acts of wisdom.
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The more I've thought about this,
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the more I've realized that maybe God's omissions are actually gifts.
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Take Jesus' appearance. If Scripture had given us an exact physical description,
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we would have spent centuries trying to recreate his face instead of following his teachings.
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If we knew exactly where the Ark of Covenant was today, would people be worshiping
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God or standing in line to worship the Ark?
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If Paul had identified his thorn in the flesh, would everyone whose suffering
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looked different conclude that God couldn't relate to them?
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Instead, God left it undefined. Every believer who struggled with weakness can
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see themselves in Paul's story.
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Sometimes God's silence makes his word more broadly applicable.
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It forces us to focus on the principle instead of getting distracted by the particulars.
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That's true all throughout Scripture. God often gives us what we need without
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satisfying every curiosity that we have.
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And that's where another passage comes in.
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Paul writes this in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17.
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All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
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for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
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that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
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Notice what Paul doesn't say.
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He doesn't say scripture answers every question. He says scripture thoroughly
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equips us. There's a huge difference.
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The Bible isn't incomplete because it doesn't answer every curiosity.
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It's complete because it contains everything God intended to give us for knowing
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him, following him, and living faithfully.
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Maybe we've been measuring the Bible by the wrong standard. Instead of asking,
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does it answer every question I have?
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Maybe we should ask, has God given me everything I need to know Him?
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And the answer to that question is unmistakably yes.
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The Bible doesn't leave us lacking. It leaves us trusting.
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There's a difference there. God isn't withholding what's necessary.
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He's withholding what isn't. And learning to trust that distinction may be one
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of the marks of a mature faith.
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So, what happens when God doesn't answer a question?
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Well, usually we do.
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Have you ever noticed that? Where the Bible leaves a blank space,
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we're often eager to fill it.
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Sometimes with tradition, sometimes with assumptions, sometimes with sincere
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study, and sometimes with our opinions.
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Now, before I go any further, let me be clear. There's nothing wrong with studying.
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There's absolutely nothing wrong with asking questions. There's nothing wrong
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with trying to understand difficult passages of Scripture.
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In fact, we're commanded to study God's Word. The problem isn't careful study.
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The problem is confusing our conclusions with God's revelation.
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There's a difference. One of the healthiest phrases Christians can learn is this, I don't know.
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Those three words aren't a sign of weak faith. Sometimes they're a sign of mature
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faith, because saying I don't know also means I'm not going to claim God said something he didn't.
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That is an act of reverence. And I've noticed something over the years.
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The older I get, the less impressed I am by people who have an immediate answer
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for every theological question.
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And the more I appreciate people who are willing to open their Bible,
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to read the text carefully and admit where mysteries remain.
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That's not compromise. That's humility. I think one of the dangers facing the
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church today isn't that we have too few opinions.
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It's that we sometimes speak with absolute certainty where scripture speaks
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with intentional silence.
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Man, that's dangerous because eventually people stop hearing the difference
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between thus saith the Lord and here's what I think.
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Those are not the same thing. As Christians, we should have deep convictions. Absolutely.
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But our strongest convictions should also rest on the clearest teachings of Scripture.
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The further we move from what God explicitly said, the more humble we should become.
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Maybe that's one of the reasons that James' note he handed Adam struck such a nerve with me.
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Do you know what God left out of the Bible? Your opinion.
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Again, at first it made me laugh. Now it makes me pause because every time I
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open God's Word, I have a choice.
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Am I going to let Scripture shape my thinking or am I going to spend my time
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trying to shape Scripture around mine?
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One approach produces pride. The other produces worship.
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And I know which one of those that I want. I don't want to become someone who's
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famous for having answers, because I don't.
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I'd rather become someone who's faithful to the answers God has already given.
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Because at the end of the day, my opinions don't transform lives. God's Word does.
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As we wrap this up today, I want to go back to where we started.
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A simple question on a handwritten note.
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Do you know what God left out of the Bible? Your opinion.
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It's a clever line. It made me laugh when I heard it, but after spending time
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thinking about it this week, I don't think the biggest lesson is about my opinion.
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I think it's about God's purpose. Every page of scripture reminds us that God is intentional.
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Nothing was included by accident. nothing was omitted by mistake.
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He gave us exactly what we need to know all about Him and to know Him.
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Exactly what we need to understand for ourselves.
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Exactly what we need to know about our Savior. And exactly what we need to live
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faithfully until He returns.
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Would I still like to know what Jesus wrote in the dirt? Absolutely.
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Would I love to know what Paul's thorn in the flesh really was? Of course.
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Do I wish I knew more about Jesus' childhood? Man, without question.
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But none of those unanswered questions have ever kept me from knowing Christ.
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They've never kept me from understanding the gospel. They've never kept me from following him.
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And maybe, just maybe, that's the point.
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Sometimes we become so fascinated by what God chose not to say that we overlook
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what he has already said.
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Maybe instead of asking, what did God leave out? We should spend more time asking,
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what am I doing with what he put in?
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Because the greatest challenge facing most Christians isn't a lack of information.
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It's a lack of obedience. Jesus did not say, if you know these things, you'll be curious.
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What he did say in John chapter 13, verse 17 was this, if you know these things,
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happy are ye if ye do them.
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Man, knowledge matters.
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Study matters. Questions matter.
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But eventually, every Bible study has to become a life that's lived.
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So here's my challenge for you this week. Keep asking good questions.
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Dig into God's Word. Study faithfully. Read carefully. Learn from mature believers.
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Search through the Scriptures.
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But when you come to a place where God simply has chosen not to speak,
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don't feel obligated to speak for Him.
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Be comfortable saying those three little words, I don't know.
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That's not weakness. That's humility. And humility has always been the right
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posture before a holy God.
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Then, take that same energy, that same passion, that same curiosity,
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and pour it into the things God has made unmistakably clear.
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Love the Lord your God. Love your neighbor. Forgive those who've wronged you.
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Walk humbly. Share the gospel. Remain faithful.
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Those aren't mysteries. Those are marching orders.
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If we spend as much time obeying what God has clearly revealed,
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as we do with debating what he intentionally left unrevealed,
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I think we'd look a lot more like Christ.
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And maybe, maybe that's the biggest lesson that I've taken away from all of this.
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The Bible isn't a rough draft waiting for us to finish it. It's a finished work,
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that invites us to trust its author.
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Let me leave you with the words of the prophet Isaiah.
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For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
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For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
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ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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That's from Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9.
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Sometimes the greatest expression of faith isn't claiming to know everything.
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It's simply trusting the one who does.
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Before we wrap up here, let me say thank you for listening. If Randy Unscripted
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has encouraged you, has challenged you, or simply given you something to think
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about, I'd love to hear from you.
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You can send a message through the contact page at randyunscripted.com slash contact.
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And if you give us some support, I would gladly share that here on the show
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So whether you listen or you share an episode of the show with a friend,
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you send a note in, or you support the show financially, thank you for being
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a part of this community.
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I appreciate every single one of you who take the time to listen to Randy Unscripted.
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I'm Randy Black, and this has been another episode of Randy Unscripted.