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Greetings Family, There is a verse in the Old Testament that I truly cherish. It is found in Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law." In this passage the Lord was speaking to the Israelites, God's chosen people, as they were headed for the promised land. They had seen God's mighty hand work wonders, and had experienced first-hand the powerful deliverance from brutal slavery and oppression.Almighty God had done great things for them. Although these words were written to the Israelites,they could easily apply to God's children even now. The promise is amazing and it points not only to God's omniscience(all-knowing attribute), but to His mercy as well. The things revealed belong to us and to our children - forever! That is great news! My focus was on the secret things one day, as I puzzled over some events that took place during the time of the Exodus:
"Then the Lord relented and did not bring on His people the disaster He threatened." Exodus 32:14
We all know the story very well. Moses went up on the mountain to get a hand-written message from God - life-giving words that were written for the for those miraculously rescued travelers. Meanwhile in the valley below, the fickle followers quickly turned aside from the living God to fashion the infamous golden calf. When the Lord alerted Moses of the situation, He made an offer to Moses that could be hard to refuse...an offer that only the Creator of the universe had the power to fulfill. God would destroy these rebels and start out fresh. Moses would no longer have to face the heartache, struggle and tension of dealing with these stiff-necked people. What a tempting offer - Moses could have instantly attained a great nation...no more whiners! Surprisingly, Moses did not take long to make a decision. He reminded the Lord of His very words, and of the inheritance promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord relented and did not bring the threatened annihilation. God changed His mind. Do those words bother you? Read on.. The same thing happened to King Hezekiah in Isaiah 38:1-8 Here's the Phyllis paraphrase: The Lord told Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah that his number was up. Get your house in order, you're a goner.
Those were not words that Hezekiah wanted to hear. Hezekiah prayed and wept bitterly.The result was that the Lord heard the fervent prayer, saw those tears, and added 15 years to Hezekiah's life. God changed His mind. How can this be? How can the perfect, all-knowing,all-powerful,ever-present God do such a thing? Our finite minds have difficulting grasping this. There are many deep theological texts that provide various explanations, and numerous translations to explain. But the simplest explanation was put to me this way: To humanity, with its limited capability, it appears that God changed His mind. The reality is that God knows the future. It is not that He did not have foreknowledge, but because He had foreknowledge, He foretold to Moses and Hezekiah the natural course of things in order to prompt a response to avert them. God did not change His mind as a man does. He is God!
That is what I wanted to say. Our sovereign King reigns. What comfort we can take from that truth in these uncertain days. Allow these truths to penetrate your life this week. You will be glad you did!