(January 23, 2021) Maureen McQuillan responds to an unusual question…

Dear Pastor Maureen

This will probably seem to be a silly question… but I’m asking it anyway. I was watching a good TV family movie the other night and in it a little boy was saying his prayers. Cute. But as he was asking a special blessing on his dad and mum, he finished off this way: ‘Will you please think about it, Lord?’ Well, it had me wondering if God has to think things through as we do. What do you reckon? Sarah.

Hello, Sarah

How unusual a question indeed! But I think I know which movie you mean. Sounds like one we recently watched in which the above happened and, for a moment or two, with smiles we thought as you did.

Well then, I’ve never been asked your question before but, on reflection, a few thoughts come to mind (See what you think)…

Firstly, we believe that as God is Almighty God, He knows everything, indeed knows everything already. His word (the Bible) is His mind and His word doesn’t change.

Ifyou hit ‘Dr Google’you’ll find Bible college graduates firmly stating this, and that God doesn’t have to ‘think’ things through as we humans do. ‘All-knowing or omniscient’ is the theological term… but let’s hold it there, Sarah. I’m not inclined to get technical; I tend to keep things simple! So…

• 1 Samuel 2:3 (a godly woman’s understanding): Hannah in her prayer said, ‘the Lord is a God who knows.’ The KJV reads ‘the Lord is a God of knowledge.’
• A psalmist wrote this about God’s knowledge, ‘His understanding has no limit’ (Psalm 147:5), and…
• The apostle John wrote: ‘God… knows all things’ (1 John 3:20).

There are other scriptures along these lines, but I must mention a particular verse before I go further… that ever popular, often quoted Isaiah 55:8, ‘“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.’

This would almost make you think that God has to think things through! But the Message Bible is more to the point: ‘I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.’ In any case, God declares in verse nine ‘For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.’ 

And there’s the key, Sarah. God is the supreme, creative, almighty one! He knows already what we’ve yet to find out, discover. We are human beings and not the supreme being He is. Made in His image yes, but being human, quite different.

Personally, I can’t for a moment picture God as having to ‘think’ about anything as we humans would be doing when considering issues, situations, promises to be keep and so forth. He knows already the end from the beginning (Refer to Deuteronomy 11:2, Ecclesiastes 3:2, Ecclesiastes 3:2)! No, imagining God having to think as we have to do brings Him down to our level and is disrespectful!

So, back to keeping it simple… how about we ‘think’ this way: Like that little boy in the movie, we do the right thing by asking a blessing for someone, or perhaps something for ourselves. But we don’t have to ask God to ‘think’ about it, that is think as we humans do! We just ask confidently in Jesus’ name, remembering John 14:13-14 and knowing that He, our heavenly Father who knows the future, will hear us His children and immediately be doing something about our request. We just have to wait in faith and trust to see how He works things out (and be open to Him possibly saying ‘No’).

Wrapping it up, do remember Proverbs 3:5 which encourages us to ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths straight.’God looks on our heart attitude and He will take care of everything. Knowing everything from the beginning, He’s already ‘thought’ things through on our behalf.

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Got a question for either Pr Maureen or Dr Robert McQuillan? Email to OnlinerConnect@gmail.com
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