Skip to main content

Foreknown


Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. (Psalm 139:4) 

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5) 

            That God knows what is going to happen before it does causes some people great difficulty. Others, it provides with an escape. What happens is not their fault, God made them do it. One of the divides among Protestants is between the Armenians, who believe that God knows but doesn't (always) determine, and the Reformed, who believe that God's foreknowledge is due to His choices. At least, that's my simplified understanding of it.
            I recently wrote about God's existence outside of time (Eternal Now). Given that He can enter time at any point, He can effectively work backward, forward and even possibly sidewise in time. His knowledge then is incomprehensible only in its extent. I'm amazed that God can remember it all. Of course, if He couldn't, He could refresh His memory, and we would never know. That means that whether we understand or not, He knows it all.
            Science tells us that everything that happens to us is actually stored in our memories. Why would we expect that God is less able to remember than we? Our problem isn't with remembering, it's with recalling. Before we stop bending our minds with the concept, consider that God not only knows beforehand what will happen, but He also knows what could have happened.  He chooses what is best for us, even if it's not what we want. 
           All of this is interesting fodder for meditation, but the thing that we need to hold on to is the last, that God knows not only what will happen, but what could happen, and what does happen is for our best. Some people complain about this, because (they say) they don't understand how __________ could be in someone's best interest. Would it be better if they lived forever and got everything they wanted? Wouldn't God making someone (everyone) happy be better? Would it be best for a baby to be carried everywhere? Fed anything and everything it wants? Given anything and everything it wants? Permitted to do anything and everything it wants?  
            I am glad that God knows what is coming up in my life, the good and the bad. I am joyful that He has it all planned out, and He's told me that He won't let me miss the turns.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more