Whatever you are presently going through, the Word of God wants you to know God knew!
I find such comfort in that. While Israel was suffering in servitude for four hundred thirty years, all the while, God knew.
Four hundred thirty years seems like an awful long time for God not to intervene, but Evangelicals must hang on to the declaration from God’s throne that God knew.
While our issue is likely not forced servitude, every human being on Planet Earth today is going through something where they feel God is silent or indifferent or lacking empathy, and that is without having to wait more than four hundred years. Some of us have endured some hardship of another for mere months or a few years, and we feel profound abandonment, and that feeling is vexing and dehabilitating.
Yet, the divine response is still the same: God knew! I prayed just this morning before my daily Bible reading that “God is the Potter.”
Since God is the Potter and we are His clay, common sense would tell us that Clay has no input whatsoever in how the Potter molds it.
The Potter does not even take the clay’s thoughts and considerations into his mind; you know that. If that realization frightens or alarms you, I have a world of comfort for you
The Potter is, of course, the God of Heaven and Earth. He is not only Holy; He is Just, Good, and full of Grace and Mercy. That’s the part we love to fixate upon. Let’s not forget He is Wrathful, hating both the sin AND the sinner as you cannot separate one from the other: both will be banished to eternal Hellfire for eternity
I draw your attention to a scene from C.S. Lewis's famous book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:
Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh," said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.
My awesome God is not safe! He may require you to wait for decades, even for multiple decades. Some may perish, never seeing deliverance within their lifetimes, but none of these realities changes the divine promise and declaration that God knew!
That means whatever you and I are going through is part and parcel of God’s master plan. For the Christ-followers, that means as part of God’s masterpiece, your unique plan is God’s way of conforming you to the image of His Dear Son.
For the one who is not yet a Christ-follower but part of the Elect, this means God the Holy Spirit is working things behind the scenes to draw you eventually to God the Son.
For the one who is not yet a Christ-follower but “not” part of the Elect, this means you will reap what you have sown. You demanded autonomy, and thus, God grants the desires of your heart.
The bottom line is for each state, God knew!
God knew is frightening and, humbling, and comforting all at the same time and in different ways, depending upon how one responds to the Personage of Jesus Christ.
I rest this day after Christmas resting, never perfectly but consistently, in the promise of Almighty God: He knew! So the next time you feel overwhelmed or forsaken, remember God knew, or if you are a stickler for proper grammar, then you preach the Gospel to yourself by saying, God knows precisely what I am going through today!
Is He safe? Hecky Naw, [what I used to say as a kid] he ain't safe, but He is Good, and He knows [knew]!
Again, I find such comfort today that whatever I am going through, God knew, but what about? Are you resting, or as I wrote yesterday, are you “learning to be content” as you patiently wait upon the Lord?
The Word of God is so captivating that just mere words can enthrall our hearts to wonder. We indeed serve an awesome God who stoops down to our level and engages with us, oftentimes while we are rebellious and stiff-necked.
As usual, let me know what you think. Until then, keep your hands to the plow and seek to serve for an Audience of One!
With fear & trembling,
Ricky Verndale Kyles Sr. DEd.Min
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