Dark Speeches and Riddles

“With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” —Numbers 12:8

God spoke with Moses face to face, clearly and directly and not in riddles.

But there are times when the Lord will say something in riddles or dark sayings so that the hearer will seek out the true meaning of what He is saying.

So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world” (Matthew 13:35).

What is a riddle? “A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and conundra, which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer.”

God doesn’t want to confuse us when He speaks to us. However, He looks to be sought after. Oftentimes, He does this to increase our appetite for Him, so that we will seek to understand His mysteries. We are not to try to fully explain God but to have faith and believe in Him (Heb. 11:6). We should pursue Him to understand His ways and listen, obey, and respond to His voice.

God speaks at times in dark sayings to challenge His people to seek out the truth. There are things God would hide from the prophets on purpose. Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (ESV). The Lord reserves the secret things to Himself, but the things that are revealed belong to us—the believers by the Spirit. God has secrets that He will disclose to us in part.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV).

This verse shows us what it looks like when a riddle is given. Things are not clear but darkly stated and need more understanding. The King James Version calls it “dark speech.” Understanding this strange way God speaks at times is not an instant process. Riddles or dark sayings need a divine understanding through the Holy Spirit to dissect God’s allegorical language.

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God (1 Corinthians 2:10 ESV).

The Spirit of God searches and investigates everything and even the depths of God. It is imperative in this hour that we access the Spirit of God to discern what He is saying in riddles and dark sayings. Christian believers must do their due diligence when it comes to the mysteries of God. When I am in prayer, there are times God gives me bits and pieces of things but not the full revelation or understanding. It takes me some time to dig it out through studying until it makes sense.

The Lord gives me clues and hints concerning things I am researching. Like a forensic detective, over time I am able to solve the case. We have been given keys to the kingdom of God, but we must learn how to access it by the Holy Spirit. Matthew 13:11 clearly says, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.”

As children of God we are given the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. It is our spiritual inheritance! When God speaks to us in riddles and dark sayings it’s not that He doesn’t want to us to know things; it’s really the opposite—He does! Are we open and willing to search it out like treasure in the sea? Unraveling and understanding riddles and dark speeches will take the quickening response of the Holy Spirit to make sense of dark sayings of the Lord.

Let me give you a prime example of a riddle or dark speech. There was a time I was ministering to a woman and the Lord spoke to me and said, “Kathy, Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell.” I heard the Spirit of God speaking this to me in my spirit about her life and current spiritual relationship with God. I said to myself, The Liberty Bell? What does that have to do with Kathy? And the Lord revealed to me that Kathy had turned her back on the church and stopped putting her trust in God. When I heard the Lord speak this to me He began to pull back the layers and unveil the beauty of His Word.

God was basically using the Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell as a prophetic dark speech or riddle for me to get the understanding as I ministered to her. Knowing the background of the Liberty Bell, I was able to speak prophetically. God was saying that he was going to summon Kathy back to Him after she had become independent and not interdependent.

Religious bondage had turned Kathy away from the church, but by His Spirit God was going to bring her back to her homeland—which is actually Philadelphia, her birthplace and home—and set her in a place where the spirit of the Lord dwells, which is a place of liberty. She had many cracked and broken promises in her life through bad relationships, but God was going to preserve her and restore back her honor and integrity and make her a symbol of freedom like the Liberty Bell.