God knows you better than you know yourself.
We know this because the word foreknew in the scripture above is the Greek word proginosko and it simply means to know beforehand.
Does that blow your mind or what? Can you even fathom something so radical as that? We might say we know this, because the Word of God tells us it, but I dont think that we can fully understand the depth of it.
For instance, whatever youre thinking right now, God knows it. But check this out. God knew you were going to think that very thought before you were even born. He is the one who formed you in your mothers womb.
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mothers womb. Psalms 139:13 (NKJV)
When God says He foreknew us, it means that He has a plan, task or a purpose for us. We see God speaking of this in the Old Testament when He told the prophet Hosea, I knew you in the Wilderness speaking about the people of Israel.
God was saying He knew them and He had a plan and a purpose for them. He says the same about us as Christians. He knew that we would say yes to the free gift of Salvation. And since He knows this, He predestined us.
The word predestined in the Greek is proorizo and it means to predetermine.
So God knows what were going to do and how were going to choose (He foreknows). And so He predestines (predetermines) a perfect plan for our life. We need to know that Gods plans dont take away our freewill; they work in conjunction with it.
Let me give you an example of God foreknowing a man and predestining him to His perfect plan.
In the Book of Judges in chapter 3; we read the story of Ehud who was from the tribe of Benjamin.
Now Benjamin means: Son of my right hand. And so everyone who was from this tribe were obviously right handed. But not Ehud, he was left-handed. Minor detail! Right?
I know it doesnt sound like a big deal, but how would you like to be called big man, when you are only 49 tall? I would imagine Ehud was teased growing up, and probably thought to himself, that God had made a mistake. After all, he didnt fit his name because he was left handed, not right handed.
Q:But God foreknew him, and He predestined him so what happened?
A:One day, Ehud was asked to carry out an assignment in assassinating the wicked King Eglon of Moab. Ehud hid a two-edged dagger underneath his cloak and strapped it to his right side so he could draw it across his body with his left hand.
So when the Kings bodyguards searched him, they only searched his left side, knowing Ehud was a Benjamite and therefore he was right-handed.
But guess what? He was left-handed, and therefore he was able to complete his mission in killing this tyrant. And because of this act, Israel was freed from captivity.
Maybe Ehud figured out after all that God had a plan for making him left-handed. Maybe now, he figured that there was a perfect reason that he was the way he was.
And isnt that the way it is for you and me as well? Im sure youve had times in your life when you wished you were the athletic one, or the smart one, or whatever else youre not. That is our nature in the flesh. But God made you a certain way, and for a perfect reason.
You see, the Lord knew what He was doing all along when He made you the way He did! God foreknows us guys and gals, just as He did Ehud.
He has a specific purpose for your life, and you might not see it right away. You might not know it for yearsbut one day, youll begin to realize why God made you the way He did.
STUDY QUESTION: According to Romans 8:28, Under Gods perfect plan of predestination, how are we to be conformed?
PERSONAL INVENTORY: Can you see how God made you uniquely different?
APPLICATION: Let God use you today in whatever He has planned for your life. His plan is perfect, and therefore you can trust it better than your own.
No comments:
Post a Comment