i. Extent
[06/16/19]
As I consider the subjects I have chosen for discussion, it strikes me that most any one of them is deserving of a book in its own right, if one wishes to truly treat on the subject. I, on the other hand, have not the art or the desire to do so. I am at best scratching the surface of each of these topics, however much my volume of words may seem to indicate otherwise. Here, we touch on a very big topic indeed, which is the omniscience of God. If it were possible to properly address this topic, to borrow John’s thoughts on the Son of God, the books must fill the earth, and even the universe, for God’s omniscience has full and complete knowledge of all the earth, all the universe, and each and every creature therein, past, present, and future.
What does the term mean? It’s simple enough. It means that God knows everything. There is certainly nothing of which He is unaware, yet that is but a minor aspect of the point. It’s not a matter of awareness. It’s a matter of thoroughgoing, most intimate and complete knowledge. Let’s start where we can perhaps remain comfortable, and consider His omniscience relative to the world around us. “He counts the number of the starts, and gives name to all of them. Great is our Lord, and abundant in strength. His understanding is infinite” (Ps 147:4-5). Consider that for just a moment. Think about the last time you were out on a clear night and could see somewhat the stars above. Think you could count them? He does.
If that has not already put you in a place of recognizing a knowledge far in excess of your own, think about a time when you have been out in true darkness where the full splendor of the Milky Way was in evidence. Still think you can count those stars? He has. Not only has He counted them. He has named them, each and every one. I would stress the power of naming in this instance. It’s not just that God has a fine imagination, and an endless well of names from which He pulls willy-nilly and sticks each star with such name as happens to come up. No, what God names, He names with purpose. Think of the examples where He names, or renames individuals in the course of the Scriptures. There is always significance to the name given, but there is also significance far in excess of the meaning of the name. To name is to exercise authority over. It is surely a declaration of authority. This feeds into the reason why Jacob sought to know the name of the one with whom he wrestled. It was an attempt at leverage; a sense that having the name gave one authority to command, or at the very least demand.
Whom God named, He made quite clear, He had particular authority over. He was, as it were, reasserting His full rights as Creator. You are mine. I name you. Observe also the order in Eden. Adam was given a task, to name the animals. Why? Because he, as the original man of mankind, was to have dominion over the animals. This was not to be exercised as a power of life and death, which is why the first animal sacrifice didn’t go over so very well. It was to be an exercise of good leadership and sound judgment, an exercise in shepherding. But, be very clear on this. The right of naming given to Adam was a delegation of authority from the One who named him.
So it is with the stars. God naming them isn’t a convenience thing, or something to do with His idle hours because He would be bored otherwise. It is a declaration of dominion, of control. He names them. He set them in their place, and He alone determines their progress from there. For all the immensity and the seeming chaos of the heavens, there is in fact a very discernable order to the motion of every object therein. Science has long understood this, and at some level, has understood that such order actually requires a God Who set things in order. There may be room to debate the extent of His continued involvement, but that this order didn’t simply appear out of chaos of its own accord should be clear. It is an act of utmost deception to pretend otherwise. Is it any wonder that Paul, in his introduction to Romans so thoroughly condemns those who by their every effort seek to oppress and hide the truth?
God’s understanding is infinite. That is the very definition of omniscience – all-encompassing knowledge. There is nothing that is outside the set of God’s knowledge. Nothing. Carried to its logical conclusion, this must mean that even nothing itself is within that set.
Compare and contrast. Just last night, we were watching a show from the BBC, wherein a rather jovial chap wanders his way across the US. Now, it’s quite clear that the selective process by which his various encounters were chosen was undertaken with an eye toward the quirky and entertaining. It’s not at all clear to me just how real a sample of American life he got. It seems a tad heavy on the fringes to me, but then, maybe that’s us in a nutshell and I just can’t see it for being in the midst. But, what struck me last night was his visit to Glacier National Park. This series is not all that old, perhaps eleven years back or so. And here is Mr. Park Ranger giving full-throated support to the assured loss of these glaciers to the effects of global warming. Why, by 2020, which is now but six months away, I should observe, all these glaciers may be gone; 2030 at the latest. The evidence is simply too conclusive.
Compare and contrast to more recent reports. So convinced were the custodians of that park that they had put out signs to inform their visitors of the impending loss. “Gone by 2020,” they apparently read. But, lo! It is rather painfully clear at this point that they certainly won’t be gone by 2020, and are in fact growing once again. The signs have quietly been removed. I don’t suppose any apologies have been given to the visitors who came to enjoy a national park and were instead hit with the depression agenda. But, it is a striking example of the limits of man’s knowledge and understanding over against the limitless knowledge of God.
Man is so enamored of himself as to suppose he has this irrefutable impact on Creation, that he is capable of lengthening or shortening its days. Man cannot even lengthen or shorten his own days. Oh, I know. We look upon the suicide, or the results of a lifetime of poor judgment, and think it a life cut short. But, it is not. We have the arts of medical science overcoming sundry diseases, and the ever-popular efforts at preserving man from death entirely, and think that life has been lengthened over against expectations. It has not. We may compare and contrast and find one life shorter and one longer than average. We may discern averages rising or falling with the times, but the simple fact of the matter is that the extent of each life is known to God, and known not because he looks forward in time and has an ‘aha’ moment. It is known because it was His to determine from the outset. Just as He has numbered and named the stars, so it is with man. He has numbered and named them and set them in their courses.
Not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from our Father, said Jesus. The very hairs of your head are all numbered (Mt 10:29-30). His knowledge is at once extensive and intimate. That knowledge, as I have been saying, is not simply awareness of events, or things to occupy idle moments in eternity. He knows because He determines. If He knows the number of your hairs, and also the loss of each one as we age, He also knows the number of your days, and while you have your impact on that number from your perspective, for your choices and actions quite assuredly have consequences, yet there is nothing within your power by which you might alter the number determined for you by God. “If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why are you anxious about other matters” (Lk 12:26)? Your father knows your needs. Stop worrying.
[06/17/19]
Indeed, our God is ever watchful over us. “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable” (Isa 40:28). The tumble of Isaiah’s words is wonderful. He is the Everlasting God. We are pointed back to the temporal extent of His omnipresence. He is the LORD, the self-existent one. He is the Creator of the whole earth, and as such knows how we tick. He does not become weary or tired, such that His attention might perhaps wander at times. No! His understanding is inscrutable.
There’s a fine word. But, what does it mean? That which is inscrutable is not capable of being investigated or analyzed. It is not readily understood. It is mysterious, unfathomable. God’s understanding is so vast as to defy our efforts to proceed past that which He has chosen to make known. Indeed, that inscrutable aspect of His knowledge is the very thing that renders it necessary for Him to make known to us that which He would have us to know, for we cannot arrive at such knowledge on our own. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high. I cannot attain it” (Ps 139:6).
Elsewhere is the message that that which God reveals to us belongs to us, but that which He does not, He retains for Himself. I cannot find the reference this morning, and my paraphrasing is poor, but the point is made. This is a revealed faith, a revealed religion. It is not the fabrication of the imagination of man. If it were, it would surely have a much different flavor to it, and where man has attempted to shift the shape of Christianity to suit his preferences and imaginations, that difference in flavor soon becomes evident. But, God’s understanding, however much of it He chooses to make known to us, remains infinitely beyond our capacity. There will always be matters, even matters of significance to the pursuit of sound doctrine, which remain mysteries to us. They are, we must accept, not for us to know, and to push on in pursuit of that knowledge would in fact be an offense against God, as well as proving to be a fruitless and frustrating endeavor.
His understanding encompasses all that is, and even all that is yet to be, for He being outside of time, future is as certain and revealed as past, and all informs the eternal present. He never tires, that He might miss the passing of some event. One thinks of Elijah taunting the priests of Baal. Shout louder, increase your energies. Perhaps your god is asleep and needs waking. Perhaps he’s busy elsewhere and hasn’t heard you. By way of contrast, this is never needful with the true God. Thus, Jesus instructs us not to think we can embellish or improve our prayers by the outpouring of many words, or the endless repetition of them. Christianity has no use for mantras, nor should the Christian. God knows your needs before you even think to come in prayer. It is sufficient that you make mention of them, and even that is more needful as an act of obedience than as some mechanism by which to move God into action. He already acted. You’re just catching up.
ii. Depth
Perhaps we could look further into that thought and that passage. “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. And don’t use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose they will be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them! Your Father knows what you need, before you even ask Him” (Mt 6:6-8).
One could think to find cause for rejecting the idea of praying in tongues by this passage, with its admonition not to use meaningless repetition like the Gentiles do, but that doesn’t appear to be the thrust of Jesus’ instruction. The repetition is meaningless not because it uses non-words, although there was plenty of ecstatic utterance to be found in Gentile practices. Rather, it’s meaningless because it adds nothing to what has already been said. It’s not a new petition, and God already heard the original. To keep repeating it suggests a lack of faith that He heard in the first place. It classes Him with the other so-called gods who perhaps needed such constant banging on their door because they are neither omnipresent nor omniscient. But, God is both. If you have made your need known, then you have obeyed the command to pray. You’re done. He has heard and He will answer as He sees best. Relax.
Neither do you need to make public show of this. Jesus is not, I should observe, rejecting the idea of public or corporate prayer. I might suggest that such public, corporate prayer ought reasonably to have a different flavor to it, be less to do with personal petition and more to do with kingdom purpose, but then I might make the same point in regard to personal prayer. That said, Jesus is not requiring us to turn our every prayer to some higher ideal, leaving aside personal concerns. He is simply saying not to make a show of it. I would say the simple crux of the message is, pray like you know God. If you know Him, then you know full well that He already has your concerns in hand. He doesn’t need a lengthy analysis of why He ought to answer as you suggest, nor even the least guidance at all as to how He ought to answer. Remember, His knowledge is inscrutable; vastly superior to and in excess of your own. It’s not like you’re giving Him necessary counsel, nor even useful counsel. You’re just sending your wish list as perhaps you did with your grandparents in the lead up to Christmas. And, sad to say, it demonstrates about the same degree of faith.
Rather, pray in recognition of God. He already knows. Your prayer is not moving Him to action, but acknowledging His action. Your prayer is not directing His movements, but entrusting yourself once more to His goodness. Don’t pray for show, pray for purpose. Pray because it’s commanded of you. Pray as it’s commanded of you, simply and in earnest, fully expectant of an answer because fully assured of God’s hearing. Pray in remembrance that He Is the Everlasting Father, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth. Pray, then, in humble acknowledgement of your own lowly position, and in awe of the immense privilege of laying your petitions before such as He Is.
Let’s go back to that marvelous text of Psalm 139. “O LORD, Thou has searched and known me. Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up. Thou dust understand my thought from afar. Thou dust scrutinize my path and my lying down, and art intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, Thou dost know it all!” (Ps 139:1-4). That is at once marvelously reassuring and daunting in its admission. As concerns our habits of prayer, there it is again… before I even think to pray, You know it all. Mind you, the obverse holds equally true. Before I even let slip my tongue and speak words I must surely regret, You know it all. Before Peter denied knowledge of Jesus three times, even as He watched Jesus being so ill-treated, Jesus knew, and made sure Peter knew as well. Jesus also knew full well that this was not the end of the story. He knew forgiveness would come there on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Jn 21). Nowhere do we read of Peter saying a word about this horrible failure, at least not prior to that lakeside reunion. But, God heard his secret prayer and answered.
But, observe the extent and the intimacy of this knowledge of God. Every action undertaken by us is undertaken within His sight. Every thought we entertain, we entertain with God beside us, as it were. Awake or asleep, it makes no difference, we are being scrutinized by the all-knowing God. No distance separates us. We may feel distant, or think ourselves far from Him, but He is ever near. He knows it all. Here, then, in David’s words, we have a prayer to be prayed with a certain fearfulness. Search and know me? Well, as David fully understands, He already has, and He already does – better than you know yourself. It becomes, then, a prayer to be understood as seeking that God would make known to me what He already knows. You know it all God, reveal to me what needs to be revealed, that I may be rid of any wicked and hurtful way. I hate those who hate Thee, Lord, yet fail to see that I am too often included in that rank. I search my heart and think I’m in good shape, even though I know better than to suppose that could be the case. So, reveal that wicked way, force me into the place of acknowledging my anxious thoughts, that You might lead me back to the way everlasting, that You might once more grant me assurance of Your tender and perfect care of me.
Yes, and indeed, that too, is promised us. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Don’t be like a horse or a mule with no understanding, requiring bit and bridle to hold them in check” (Ps 32:8-9a). Yes, His eye is ever upon you, but not to seek out crimes to be punished, like some eternal Big Brother. No, His eye is upon you to counsel you, to whisper course corrections in your ear at first opportunity. Assuredly, sterner measures will be taken where your stubbornness renders such measures necessary, but that is not the first recourse. It is the persistent merciful intervention of a loving and inexhaustible Father. “I will counsel you with My eye upon you.” When you sleep, and when you go out; when you act, and when you merely contemplate. Wherever you go, whatever you do, to whomever you speak, and howsoever you think, My eye is upon you to counsel you. Don’t be like the mule, requiring that I lead you by the nose. Don’t be like the ox, requiring that I slap your behind with the goads. Be willing to My counsel, for My word is sweet, and My burden light.
[06/18/19]
The last verse I expect to consider here comes from the book of Job, drawn from Elihu’s exposition. “For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, and He sees all His steps” (Job 34:21). This comes amidst a discussion of God’s justice, exercised in perfect righteousness. The point, then, is that the guilty are not going to find it possible to escape justice, nor shall those wrongly accused fail to be vindicated. God, the Judge, has seen everything, knows the full details of everything. As long as we’re in this text, it would serve well to consider God’s own exposition shortly after this point is made.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding! Who set its measurements, since you know? Who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7). We could keep going. God does. So many questions are asked to probe and reveal the scan limits of Job’s knowledge, and all are spoken by One who knows the true answers, because He is not only the One who knows, but the One who does. This is the God of Whom Elihu spoke, saying that His eyes see all a man’s steps. This is the God with Whom we have to do, and allow me to stress that perhaps a bit differently than we generally read it. This is the God with Whom we HAVE to do. Choice is not given in the matter. We may choose to treat with Him willingly and rightly, or we may choose to treat with Him spitefully and rebelliously, but we HAVE to treat with Him. It may not be today, but it will be. The pagan as well as the Christian will, in due time, discover the God of Truth.
iii. Implication
This is perhaps the greatest implication for us of God’s Omniscience. It’s all well and good to recognize that the extent of His knowledge so far exceeds our own as to defy comparison. But, the power of this realization hits when we recognize that His knowledge encompasses every least detail of our being. His knowledge of us is intimate, and it is an intimacy that does not require our willing partnership, in all fairness. That same intimate knowledge is had in regard to the worst of sinners. Every last detail of every last sin is known to Him. Every thought of sins that went unrealized sits before Him as evidence of the character of the man who thought. There is no mask, no pretense that holds up before Him, for He already saw behind that guise.
Thus, we read repeatedly of the depth of God’s knowledge of saint and sinner alike. Is it any wonder that Paul would observe, echoing those who went before him, that there is none found righteous by God’s all-knowing assessment? No, not one (Ro 3:10). God, you see, knows the hearts of men (1Ki 8:39). This, I observe, comes from the mouth of Solomon in his wisdom, yet it makes me wonder just how wise he was. “Hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, for Thou alone dost know the hearts of all the sons of men.” That’s a prayer I don’t think one could pray with earnest understanding, if his understanding stopped at the nature of man. Any person of reasonable self-awareness ought rightly to dread that such a prayer be answered. Render according to all my ways? Please God, no! I should be slain of an instant! Yet, God could choose such a course, and be perfectly just to lay low every last man, woman, and child, for all have sinned. All have sinned from birth, and all shall continue to sin even to the lip of the grave.
Yet, God is also merciful, and has paid the death penalty that is our due. With Justice unsullied, He is able to pardon where He pleases to pardon. The only way to hear Solomon’s prayer without utmost trepidation that it might be answered is to know and to fall upon the mercy of God Almighty. He knows all my deeds, but He knows also the deeds of His Son, and He knows very well those who are His own by His own choosing.
Solomon, it seems, learned well from his father David. “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind. For the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him. But if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever” (1Chr 28:9). Those are chilling words, aren’t they? God understands not just the thoughts, but the intent of those thoughts. Sometimes, it seems we barely know the intent ourselves as we think them, yet God knows where they would lead, given the chance and given freedom from consequence. Praise be to God, there is no freedom from consequence, and by His infinite grace, we are kept from pursuing our thoughts to their fulfillment, else our sins would be greater still.
“If we had forgotten the name of our God, or extended our hands to a strange god; would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart” (Ps 44:20-21). Honestly, I find no reasonable ‘if’ to this. We forget daily. We are forever chasing after strange gods, albeit that in our oh so enlightened state we consider them no gods at all. We are so terribly brilliant that we can’t even claim to properly recognize or understand our own deeds, let alone our hearts! The heart, we are reminded, is deceptively wicked, and not to be trusted, quite frankly. The mind is not much better, being blinkered by sin and blind to our own failings. But, God is not blind, and He is gracious to His children. He reveals to us that which we can withstand having revealed. He guides us that we might address the sins of the heart as He exposes them to our view, and He so works within us that we do indeed make progress against sin, most often to our great surprise.
“Everyone who does evil hates the light,” Jesus said. “He does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (Jn 3:20). But, they are exposed. For darkness is as light to the Lord (Ps 139:12b). But, for the one brought into the light, there is good news indeed! “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (1Jn 3:18-20). Understand, God is fully able to judge, and indeed, as the author of Hebrews declares, “the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of joint and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). There it is again, even the intentions are there before Him – even when they are not clear to us. “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13).
It is at once terrifying and immensely comforting. God knows our deeds and our thoughts, and that is terrifying indeed, for our deeds and our thoughts invariably condemn us. But here’s the bright side of that whole intentions business. He knows that for those whom He has called, those whom He has redeemed from the grip of sin, our intentions are far removed from those thoughts and deeds. Our intent is to serve Him with all our heart, all our mind, all our strength. The spirit, as Jesus said, is willing. Sadly, the flesh is exceedingly weak (Mt 26:41b). God’s judgment takes both into account – both the thought (acted upon or not), and the intent (whether realized or not).
iv. Result
[06/19/19]
We have begun to see already what results of God’s infinite and intimate knowledge. He knows our hearts. He knows them better than we know our own. What has not as yet made its way into the discussion is that God’s infinite knowledge is combined with an equally infinite and perfect wisdom. While we don’t have an ‘omni’ to describe it, He is all-wise. What does this mean? It means that His plans have taken every event into account. There is no contingency to His planning for His plans have already accounted for everything. Knowing all, He is not in need of if/else clauses in His planning. He speaks and it is. He determines, and so it befalls.
This is part and parcel with His knowing the hearts of men. His planning has taken that into consideration. He knows how you or I will choose to act in any and every situation and has even set those situations in motion in order that we might choose and act according to our will. It is not, then, that God coerces our will such that we have no alternative but to comply. It is rather that His planning has already taken into account our inevitable choice of action, such that even those things we mean for ill He is able to use for good. Likewise, those things others intend for our harm are worked out for our good. God is not taken by surprise. God does not revise and reimagine. There is no need.
We are privileged to witness this all-knowing, all-wise God in action as the Apostles wrestle with life post-Ascension. How is it, they might have wondered, that his perfectly wise, all-knowing God allowed Judas to be in their number? If He had intended for there to be twelve apostles, why were they now reduced to eleven? That Judas was not truly of their number was clear enough. If he had been, he would not have been lost. He would not have taken his own life. But, he did. And it was clear enough that Jesus was not only aware of his treachery at the end, but had been aware of it even before choosing him as a follower. No, God had not been surprised by this, but had found this man’s treachery needful for His own good purpose in the shockingly evil death of His own Son.
Still, it left a hole in the team, and they recognized this. They recognized a need to fill that hole, and also that it was hardly their place to go appointing apostles. Yet, another needed to be sought. So, they prayed, and prayerfully arrived at two names; men who had been eyewitness to events as they had been, men who had been baptized as they had been, men who had been faithful disciples as much as they had been. Even then, they would not take the choice upon themselves, but give the matter over to God to decide. We may not think much of their methods, but they were common enough practice, harking back even to the Urim and Thummim of the earliest days of Israel’s life as a nation. They prayed, and they drew lots. It is their prayer that reveals the intention of their heart, as well as their recognition of God’s knowledge and wisdom. “Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two Thou hast chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place” (Ac 1:24-25).
To us, this seems like an attempt to make gambling holy, but that is only because we are more enamored of gambling than God, I suspect. There is much, though, in that short prayer that speaks wisely. God, You know the hearts of all men. There is a tacit admission in that. We don’t. We’ve done our best to assess those who might fill this office, but our knowledge is partial at best, our wisdom suspect. You know. Not only do you know the hearts of these two men, whether they are in fact as they appear to be; but You also know which You have chosen. We don’t. If we did, we would simply run with it. So, then, all-knowing God, reveal this bit of your all-wise plan, and show us which of these two You would have fill the office Judas vacated.
This has to inform how we go about seeking leadership for the church even now. For the most part, this doesn’t include seeking new apostles, and I would argue that it cannot. But, I’ll save that argument for another day. Whether it’s pastors, elders, deacons, or any other office in God’s church, the first thing we must needs recognize is that it is God’s Church. It is His authority, and His alone that appoints a man to office. If man takes office apart from God’s authorization, he is a thief, an imposter. He may claim the label, but he has not the authority or the capacity.
Now, in our church, we seek as best we may to vet those who would serve as elder. Their example and ability are assessed as best as can be done by those who know them only in part. They are interviewed and asked difficult and probing questions. But, of course, we do not see the heart. We cannot guarantee that what has been answered accords with the truth of the man. We can only assess as best we may. Having done so, we put forward the names of those we find to be willing and able candidates for the office, and ask our congregation to prayerfully consider which of these men God would have serve as elders in His church for the next season. So, we have replaced the drawing of lots with the casting of ballots, but the intent is much the same: God, show us Your choice.
On the surface, I would have to say it is as near to gambling as is the drawing of lots. We do not know how seriously any of our fellows takes the matter of prayerful consideration. We don’t know how the votes will go, or how things shall work out having voted. I mean, we know we shall abide by the vote, and so long as there is not a significant nay vote, I suppose we can count on any man voted in agreeing then to serve. But, there is a need to recognize, through all of this, that the vote is in fact a drawing of lots, a seeking to hear from God whom He has chosen.
Honestly, in some ways I think the drawing of lots would be easier to weather. After all, it is not as though individuals we know and account our friends have voted us down and must now be faced. What would happen, though, if one stood for office and found himself rejected either by the vetting process or by the vote itself? There have been those rejected in the course of vetting. Something comes up which recommends against calling this one into service. It’s difficult, but it must be done, and it must be done with grace. Hopefully, the decision will be received with equal grace, but it’s hardly assured. Some will take it well. Some will have offered the evidence for their own rejection with full awareness that this was a likely outcome. Others may be offended by the decision, seeing nothing in the reasons given that ought to have led to their rejection. Others yet may find, having been called to office and having accepted, that the thing was beyond them after all, and perhaps they ought to step down before they do harm.
But, with a vote, there is a reading out of the results. We may not know who voted which way, but the reality that there are some number of negative votes is known. It risks playing on the mind of the officer. Why the no vote? And, imagine if the nays exceed the yeas. It would be devastating, I should think, to the one to whom it happened. One or two is hard enough to take. Being voted down in no uncertain terms would, I should think, make it hard to show one’s face again. Praise God, I’ve not known it to happen, but the potential is there if the process leading up to the vote has not fully served its purpose.
But, let me return to my main subject. God knows whom He has chosen. Whatever the process used, that is the assurance by which we proceed. As our church is currently in the midst of transition and shall be working through the steps of seeking and calling a new pastor, it is assuredly our great comfort to know this. God knows. He knows the man He has chosen. Our process, while we shall certainly do our best to ascertain our own state as well as the fitness of any candidate, is not about choosing so much as seeking that God would make known to us whom He has chosen. You know, Lord, and we wait upon You to make it known to us.
There is another aspect of this which must have our attention. “Remember the former things long past, for I am God. There is no other. I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’” (Isa 46:9-10). Note the command and the reason backing it. Remember what was, because in what was, I have already declared what will be. There is a reason to be fully aware of the history of God’s people, for God has been speaking throughout that history, pointing out to His people that which He is doing. There is, in what has been revealed, much that has yet to have transpired. There is, in past pronouncement, that for which we continue to look with confident expectation.
It’s funny how often the knowledge clause of this passage is quoted in reverse, such that we will often hear it stated that God knows the beginning from the end, but such knowledge as that is hardly worthy of notice. What does that say? That He can tell the difference? That having seen the outcome, He can look back down the tunnel of time and see how it all started? Such knowledge is hardly a challenge even for a man with sufficient interest in the subject. Arguably, the primary function of science is to see the end and seek to understand the beginnings from whence it sprang.
But, what is actually said is that God knows the end from the beginning. Indeed, it is saying He knows the end because He Himself declares the end. Let’s put this in its grandest context. God, as we have observed previously exists before all things, and shall exist after all things. We have observed that there is no time to which we might travel where He is not. Indeed, we can go so far as to say that He is before time, for He created time as well as space. There, if we could come to terms with such things, is the beginning from which He declares the end. From before the first moments of Creation, God already knew in precise detail every last event of every last man, woman and child who would ever come into being. God already knew in precise detail how things would proceed, from the creation of Adam to his fall; from there to the patriarchs; from the patriarchs through the judges and kings; right on down to the moment of Jesus’ birth, as well as the moment and the means of Jesus’ crucifixion. Nothing was by chance. Nothing could derail events. Nothing could so much as alter the timing by so much as a moment.
He, the Triune Godhead, declared the end from the beginning. He spoke and it was. His purpose will established. Indeed, it already is. We merely await the working out of His full purpose. And observe, ALL His good pleasure will be accomplished. Nothing will be left undone. Observe also the means by which this shall happen. “I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” We have our part, it is true. Of course, I could as readily observe that the worst reprobate has or had his. Judas had his part to perform as much as did Peter. Pharaoh had his part to perform as much as did Moses. So, there is nothing in having a part that gives us room to boast. Rather, it gives us pause. It gives us utmost cause for humility, that He has entrusted to us some part in His purpose. But, for the believer, there is in this declaration a cause for good courage as we go forth in His purpose. WE will not be accomplishing it by our magnificent compliance and unflagging efforts (as if!) No, HE will accomplish. He is gracious and lets us have a hand in it, but it is His doing, and because it is His doing, its good outcome is assured. We may not see it in our lifetime. We may not recognize the good of it. But it shall be as He has said it shall be, and it shall be when He has determined it shall be. It cannot be otherwise.
