Daniel 12:13 But go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
Rest in God’s Omniscience and Grace
Most of us like surprises when we know they are going to be pleasant, but under normal circumstances most of us like to know what to anticipate. We want to know what is going to happen, when it is going to happen, and how it is going to happen. But we never really know the future, do we? There is so much that is unknown to us. For instance, when we read the book of Daniel there is something of prophecy, the time yet to come, that God seems to reveal. Yet, if you don’t understand all that you read in the book of Daniel, you are in good company. Neither did Daniel.
In Daniel 12, Daniel asks some messengers of God, “What shall be the end of these things?” or “What is going to happen?” The reply was, “Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Daniel was not going to know the answer to his question about the future.
Later Daniel is told, “Blessed is he that waiteth.” Verse 13 says, “But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” We rest not in our grasp of the future, but in our waiting upon God. I do not have to know the future if I know the God Who holds it. Instead, we rest in God’s omniscience, and we stand in His grace.
God’s omniscience speaks to the fact that God knows everything past, present, and future. God’s grace speaks to the fact that His power is available to His people today. So while I don’t know the future and don’t have the power to stand up even for the day, I serve a God Who does.
God does reveal much of what will happen, and any person intent on understanding what God says and means can know more than most people will ever know and can see farther than most people can ever see. But even then we do not know everything that the future holds. Thank God we know the God Who is in control both of this day and the days to come. We can rest in His omniscience, not our own knowledge, and we can stand by His grace, not by our own strength.