A gracEmail subscriber wrote: “How could God be disappointed in human beings, since he knew everything before the foundations of the earth?”
As happens dozens of times each week, I responded directly to her. “I do not know,” I stated. “The subject of God’s knowledge of things in advance makes my head swim!” She wrote back: “Oh wow! This is a new possible way of thinking for me! Thank you for your kind response, your honesty and your ministry.”
I pass on this private correspondence, not because of its complimentary comments about me, but because the fact that this sister thought my response was something to be complimented says a lot about the common culture. I am afraid that we have come to expect clear answers and definitive solutions to all questions and problems — including those regarding Scripture and faith.
To the extent that is so, we do well to recall the Psalmist’s comment: “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me” (Psalm 131:1). Some things are just above our pay scale! The apostle Paul pointed to the same truth when he said: “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God” (1 Cor. 8:2). Not one of us has all the answers, and that’s the honest truth.
