God's knowledge

God knows the future.

God knows the future.

Isaiah 13

If there’s one thing I had to become quickly accustomed to as a new parent, it was driving around in the car with my daughter strapped into her car seat behind me—facing backwards. Since I was often driving with no other adults in the car, I wasn’t crazy about the requirement of a rear-facing seat for babies since it meant I wouldn’t be able to see Caroline at all while I was behind the wheel. A thousand wild ideas of what could “happen” to her while I couldn’t see her used to go through my head. So, before I could drive myself crazy, my husband bought a mirror that attached to the seat she was facing so at least I could see her reflection. Problem solved.

God is in control, part 2.

God is in control, part 2.

Ecclesiastes 9

Just in case we didn’t get the message in chapter 8 yesterday, Solomon continues to drive home the point about having little control over the things that happen to us in life: “The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” (vs 11)

God knows you.

God knows you.

Psalm 69

It seems like from the time we started dating, my husband and I have had a favorite saying in our relationship: Get out of my head. Ever since the first days of our courtship, we’ve had an uncanny ability to finish each other’s sentences. Sometimes, it feels like we can even read each other’s minds.

God knows your sorrows.

God knows your sorrows.

Psalm 56

There is such a beautiful verse in this psalm, perhaps one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible: “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (vs 8)

When I became a stay-at-home mom for the first time with my baby daughter, I remember that there was nothing harder for me than when she cried. Oh, I don’t mean when I heard the sound of her crying. It was seeing her cry that really got to me. I could handle the moments when she was screaming her head off for one reason or another. But it was too much for me when tiny tears would slip down her cheeks. When she would cry those little tears, it broke my heart!

God specializes in extreme makeovers.

God specializes in extreme makeovers.

Psalm 30

I like how this psalm ends: “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.” (vs 11-12) There are times in this world when promises like this seem almost impossible… but so necessary to cling to for hope’s sake.

God is an artist.

God is an artist.

Psalm 8

This has always been one of my most favorite psalms, especially this part: “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens... When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (vs 1, 3-4)

God hears it all.

God hears it all.

Psalm 6

A few years ago, my husband read a book called Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow. Out of the many things he told me about the book, the one thing that has stuck with me is that a lot of men are a bit uncomfortable with all the “relationship” imagery the church uses when it comes to God—especially referring to God as a Lover. And I will agree that much of church (and church language) has become “feminized.” Here’s one example from Murrow’s book:

God wants you to be free.

God wants you to be free.

Job 18

I don’t remember when it was that I finally worked up the courage to watch the movie Braveheart. It was a long time after it was released, and even then, I remember watching most of it through the laced fingers covering my eyes. (I have a problem with graphic violence.) But I can never forget the final moments of that film, as Mel Gibson’s character, William Wallace—bound and seconds away from death—cries with his last breath, "Freedom!"

God knows what's best.

God knows what's best.

Job 16

Eliphaz and his friends accused Job of attacking God. Job claimed it was the other way around: "I was living in comfort, but He has taken that away. He has taken hold of me by the neck and shaken me to pieces." (vs 12) Commentators are divided (on this verse and the surrounding ones) as to whether the "he" is referring to God or Satan. Regardless, we’re going to proceed as if Job was talking about God. Have you ever felt like life was going along smoothly, and all of a sudden, God stepped in and messed it up?

God knows the whole story.

God knows the whole story.

Job 7

As Job continued his response to Eliphaz’s speech, he once again addressed God directly: "I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard? When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning." (vs 11-16)

God helps us see the big picture.

God helps us see the big picture.

Job 3

At the beginning of this chapter, Job wished for something that many people have wished for at some point: that he had never been born. "May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, 'A boy is conceived!' That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it." (vs 3-4)

God restrains evil.

God restrains evil.

Job 2

To me, there are two very interesting things regarding evil in the first and second chapters of Job. The first one involves how Satan perceives the spread of evil in the world: he blames God. Did you notice that? Check this out from chapter one: "'Does Job fear God for nothing?' Satan replied. 'Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.'" (vs 9-11)

God works with small groups.

God works with small groups.

Ezra 1

The book of Ezra begins with the decree, made by Cyrus king of Persia in 538 B.C., that gave the Jewish exiles the right to finally return home to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple of the Lord. (Here’s an interesting side note to that story. Many scholars believe that Daniel was instrumental in stirring the heart of the king by sharing with him the prophecies in Jeremiah 25 and 29 regarding the return of the exiles from Babylon. Incidentally, these prophecies mention King Cyrus of Persia by name—even though they were written 150 years before his birth.)

God deals with us individually.

God deals with us individually.

2 Chronicles 6

Today’s thought is a simple one and uses these verses as a jumping-off place: "Forgive, and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart), so that they will fear you and walk in obedience to you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors." (vs 30-31)

God understands you.

God understands you.

1 Chronicles 28

If I had ever believed in the theory of evolution, I'm pretty sure my first pregnancy would have blown that belief out of the water. As I went through that experience, week by week, I marveled at the little life unfolding in my own body. From the heart that is fully functional and begins to beat by five weeks to the whole development process, it was very hard for me to understand how people (especially doctors who know the intricacies of pregnancy) could believe that there is no design involved in human development.

God can be trusted with the details of our lives.

God can be trusted with the details of our lives.

1 Chronicles 24

In this chapter, we encounter once again the Hebrew practice of casting lots. This time, it was used to create the divisions of priests who would work in the temple: "A larger number of leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than among Ithamar’s, and they were divided accordingly: sixteen heads of families from Eleazar’s descendants and eight heads of families from Ithamar’s descendants. They divided them impartially by casting lots, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of God among the descendants of both Eleazar and Ithamar." (vs 4-5)

God is the one who remembers.

God is the one who remembers.

1 Chronicles 8

After eight chapters, we are nearly done with the genealogies. (At least the ones at the beginning of this book. I’m sure we will encounter more as we go along.) In today’s chapter—as I’m sure you noticed if you read it—there wasn’t particularly much to take hold of. Just another long list of names, following a previous seven chapters of long lists of names.

God knows everything.

God knows everything.

2 Kings 23

One of the things about God that confounds me is how He can know the future yet leave us free to make choices. This is a subject I’ve gone back and forth on in the past, and I still don’t feel "settled" into a position (and I may never). On the one hand, it is very clear that God knows specific details about the future, including people and events. On the other hand, the Bible is also clear that God gives us freedom to make choices, and I sympathize with people who argue that if a choice is made freely, how can it be known ahead of time?