God Knows

In SaLT group last week we explored what the Bible says about God. It's important to know what the Bible says, because if you listen to what people say, you will get a warped view of God. I think most heretical teachings stem from misconceptions about the basic of understanding of Who God is. Not that we can ever know and understand all things about God, but we can study and know what He reveals.



We explored God's communicable attributes; "things that God has communicated about Himself, or things that we share in common with Him". We explored His Being; Spiritual and Invisible. We also explored His moral attributes; Goodness, love, kindness, holiness, peace, righteousness. Where I had the most fun was when we discussed His mental attributes; knowledge, wisdom, truthfulness and faithfulness.



While talking about God's mental attributes we read in the Bible that God has knowledge of "all things actual" (Hebrews 4:13, 2 Chronicles 6:19, Job 28:24, Matthew 10:29,30).



What got me was that God has knowledge of "all things possible" as well!



THAT BLOWS ME AWAY!

1 Samuel 23:11-13



"Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD , God of Israel, tell your servant."



And the LORD said, "He will."



Again David asked, "Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?"



And the LORD said, "They will."



So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there."

So, God knows all. He has knowledge of all things past (even though He can choose to forget my trangressions), of all things present, of all things future, and knowledge of things that could happen. This is one of those "debate points" that people could discuss for hours and never answer the questions that inevitably arise, so I'm not even going to try.



For me, it's simple...God knows.



Wow.



My brain would explode if I ponder about all the things God knows about what could happen. In I Samuel 23:11-13 we see David asking God about what will happen if he enters the city. God tells him, so David opts not to go there. I argued that this is how God uses the gift of discernment in believers with that particular gift, but who can explain it? It Bloggles the Mind!



We also talked about God being an eternal being and being present in time...not just the past, or future, but in time at all times. Past, present and future is all now to God. Another mind bloggler, but in that discussion we talked about how patient God is. All Christians are thankful that God is patient with us, but I spoke up and said "well, it isn't difficult to be patient when you are in the now!" That went over well, and everyone chuckled, but then it got quiet as people pondered that for a moment.



Time moves for us. We want things we believe our future holds and we often can't wait to get there. God's existence is outside of measurable time. He exists in each and every moment at the same time. It makes me ponder patience.



Well, now I can't wait for SaLT group this Sunday! Wonder what kinds of discussions will be spawned?



God knows!