"Anticipated Lives"

What goes through the mind of a being with perfect foreknowledge as He plans according to an "eternal purpose?" (Ephesians 3:11).


"His understanding is infinite... Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of creation" (Psalm 147:5; Acts 15:18).


We cannot know the answer to such a question because we have no frame of reference for how our Creator thinks. The plans of humanity are all made from uncertainty about the future, and from ignorance of what will happen in the next moment. We may think ourselves somewhat sure of things to come, and of our plans. However, deep within our minds, we know that no real certainty exists concerning tomorrow. Conversely, God plans with perfect certainty and assurance concerning every outcome. No exigency or contingency surprises Him, He never has an unexpected moment, and nothing ever catches Him off guard. As David confessed, such things "are too high for me" (Psalm 131:1).


Little more can be said of the Divine reality of omniscience because, again, we have no frame of reference for such a sensibility. We simply cannot think in these terms, and attempts to analyze God's mode and measure of thought quickly crash upon the rocks of our ignorance. Therefore, rather than seeking understanding of God's understanding, we do better to take great assurance from the fact of His infinite knowledge. We live anticipated lives. God has perfectly foreseen every moment of our eternal existence, and is perfectly prepared for every exigency or contingency. The one to whom we have entrusted both time and eternity is ready for the happenings of both realms, and every destination to which we will ever arrive finds Him awaiting us with the provision of the Lord Jesus Christ. "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).


Few truths more confirm the reality that God is God, and we are not. Little wonder that Solomon commanded believers to "lean not upon thine own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5). We lean rather upon the Understanding we cannot understand. We can trust it, however, and we can rejoice that the God who promises to be everything we will ever need is perfectly prepared to do so. All things in our lives are perfectly anticipated because the future that is dark to us shines brightly to the Eyes that span the past, the present, and the future with perfect and infinite clarity.


"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor?"
(Romans 11:33-34)