God Knows

*Edited October 5, 2015.*

As I was reading through Genesis one day, I stopped at Genesis 15:13 and came to an amazing realisation.  The verse says, “Then the LORD said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be slaves there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.’ ”  That was probably the hundredth time I read this verse and I suddenly realised:  We can take comfort from this.  Now, you’re probably thinking, “What?  What the heck are you talking about, Ricky?  How could we possibly take comfort from this?  Are you crazy?”  First of all, I’m not crazy; I’m mentally unrestrained.  Secondly, allow me to explain.

We are children of an omniscient God who loves us.  Because He’s omniscient, He knew that the Israelites, His people, would suffer for 400 years.  And what did He do?  He brought His people out of suffering.  Now, you might say, “But Ricky, why did He wait 400 years to save His people?”  I’ll tell you that in a little bit.  First, I want to reiterate myself by saying that God is omniscient — He is all-knowing, and since He is all-knowing, He knows the perfect time when something needs to happen.  Consider briefly Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son…”  The key phrase here is when the fullness of time had come, which is just another way of saying, “When it was now time for this thing to happen,” which is given in the subsequent clause — God sending His Son to, and for what purpose?  To die for our sins and thus save us from eternal damnation.  Certain events on earth (and maybe Heaven) had to happen before Jesus was born incarnate.  Likewise, certain events on earth had to happen through His providence before He could free the Hebrew slaves.  Before I get to why God “waited” 400 years to save His people, remember St. Peter’s point in his second epistle, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (3:8).  Peter is referring to God’s infinitude.  To us finite beings, 400 years is a really long time, but to God, that’s nothing.  To Him, 1,000 years is the same as one day.  Time is irrelevant to God because He is not bound by time; rather, time is bound by God, since time was created when He created everything, after all.  That’s why I put “waiting” in quotations because God doesn’t need to wait; He’s already completed the work.

So, why did God “wait” 400 y ears to deliver His people?  God may not be bound by time, but we are.  He either can’t or won’t fast forward time just to get to the end.  Remember what I said about certain things having to happen on earth through His providence before He acts?  In this instance, with the Hebrew slaves, that was Moses.  Our God being omniscient, infinite, and therefore existing outside of time, He not only saw but also knew what He was going to do with Moses.  God wouldn’t free His people until Moses was born, until his mother laid him in a basket in a river, until he drifted upon the Pharaoh’s daughter, was raised as a prince, murdered an Egyptian soldier because of an injustice being done to a Hebrew slave, fled to Midian for 40 years, and then revealed Himself to Moses as a burning bush.  (I say “wouldn’t” instead of “couldn’t” because God could’ve freed His people by completely eradicating the Egyptians.  Instead, in His mercy, He brought Moses before Pharaoh multiple times, giving him the chance to repent and change his ways by freeing the people of God.)  God knew that in order to do this work through Moses, His people would have to suffer for 400 years.  Just because God knew this doesn’t mean that He approved of it.  How would you feel if you knew your children — or your descendants — would suffer in slavery for 400 years?  And by the time God started His work through Moses, he was in his eighties!  Why God “waited” 40 years to reveal Himself to Moses, we can never know.  Perhaps God was shaping him in some way in preparation for the great journey ahead of him.  And as we know, Moses went ahead to do great things in the name of the Lord, God freeing His people and bringing them to the promised land.

Now then, how do we take comfort from this?  Consider the times we’re in.  We can draw similarities between the godlessness of America and the godlessness of ancient Babylon.  (Revelation actually depicts Babylon as a whore, the imagery being symbolic of people who follow after false religions, which is committing spiritual adultery against God.)  Additionally, Christians are increasingly being persecuted by enemies such as ISIS, and even in America, and we are groaning in pain for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Then there are our own personal sufferings.  This is where we can draw our comfort:  hundreds of years before the Israelites’ 400-year bondage, God knew it was going to happen, and because of His promise in Christ first given in Genesis 3:15, God brought His people out of it.  Sure, it was a long time, but He still fulfilled His promise.

Therefore, since God knew about their 400-year suffering, then certainly God knows of our current suffering, whether personal or global!  Not only that, but He knew what’s going on right now in the world thousands of years before it even happened!  Likewise, He knows what’s going to happen in the future before we even know about it and suffer from it.  So how can we take comfort from this?  Examine closely the words in Exodus 2:23b-25, “…and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.  Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  God saw the people of Israel — and God knew.”  God hears our groaning and prayers and our cries for deliverance.

Even more, we have a new covenant in Jesus Christ fulfilled through the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God’s promise to save mankind from his sins has been fulfilled in Christ.  Here’s one way the new covenant is delineated:  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19).  Another way Scripture delineates it is:  “For if while we were enemies [of God] we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).  God knows of our suffering; He’s known about all of our suffering before the foundation of the world, which is exactly why He sent His Son to die for us, that we may not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

God hears you.  If you’re in pain, no matter what the pain is, God knows.  He will deliver you a way of escape.  “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Whatever it is that you’re going through, God has brought someone in the past through it as well.  It’s nothing new to Him.  He knows what He’s doing, so He’s more than capable of helping you endure the pain until He eventually cures it.  Our hope is in Christ, and as Christ intercedes on our behalf, God hears you (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).  “So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise [through Abraham] the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain [the sanctuary of Heaven], where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:17-20).  No doubt you flee from your troubles and suffering into the refuge of God so that you may receive encouragement from Him, holding fast to our hope that is set in Christ, who came before us.  This hope in Christ is the anchor of our souls — it sets our hope firmly in place, unable to be moved.  What is this hope?  It is our faith in Him — His fulfillment of the Law, death as our sins died with Him, in His resurrection, ascension, and ultimately our salvation that is in Him alone — the salvation that is coming at His return.

God knows you’re hurting, but what sets  the Christian apart from the rest of the world is that the anchor of our soul is our hope and faith in Christ.  Many Christians are quick to quote Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” and so much so that it has become an annoying cliché.  I say that because this verse is abundantly quoted while those who quote it don’t have faith in those words.  What’s the point of quoting a verse if you don’t have faith in its truth?  Charles H. Spurgeon once said, “Impatience would push open or break down the door, but faith waits upon the Lord, and in due season her opportunity is awarded her.”  Have faith; deliverance is coming.  In due time, God will bring you through your suffering and pain.  Just have faith that He will bring you through it His way, not your way.