As most of you know, my husband is the 1998 Illinois State Cherry Pit Spitting Champion. However, it appears the mantle is passing to the next generation.
Last week our grandson, Matthew, was having fun eating cherries and when I told him that Cherry Pit Spitting is a very real competition, he got rightto work on his technique.
First, he put the cherry in his mouth and pulled off the stem.
Next, with sixty seconds to clean the pulp off the pit, he diligently concentrated on mastering the task…
With a nearly clean pit, and an opportunity to spit only moments away, Matty suddenly looked up in shock and disbelief.
That pit was not going to come out the same way it went in! It is time for Plan B.
It’s interesting how much of our lives is lived out in Plan B – and often thankfully so. Many of our plans don’t turn out as we expect because we don’t know everything that can happen, or might happen from the start. Life is full of twists and turns that often alter our best laid plans.
However, God never resorts to a Plan B because God is never surprised or caught off guard by any unexpected turn of events. He can’t be because God knows everything.
That is such a big thought for me – there is nothing now, nor has there ever been or ever will be, that God doesn’t know. He knows everything; he always has and he always will. He never didn’t know everything.
Wayne Grudem in “Systematic Theology” states it this way, “God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act.” What does that mean?
God fully knows himself – God completely and fully knows his infinite, eternal and unlimited self. He knows all there is to know about himself.
“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” – 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 NIV
Unlike God, we don’t know all there is to know about our own finite selves. We have thoughts we can’t explain, emotions we can’t control, and we wonder why we do the things we do. However, not only does God know himself fully, he knows us fully; he knows us better than we know ourselves.
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” – Psalm 139:1-6 NIV
God fully knows all things actual – God knows all things that exist, and everything that happens. There is nothing in the world that God is not fully knowledgeable about. Nothing is hidden from God. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows the tiniest details of our lives, our actions, our thoughts, our words, the number of hairs on our heads and even the number of days of our lives.
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” – Hebrews 4:13 NIV
God knows all things possible – God knows how things would turn out if what might have happened were to have actually happened. As Isaiah says, those thoughts are too lofty for us!
However, Jesus had this knowledge. In Matthew, when Jesus said to the unrepentant towns, “if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago…” we see clearly that Jesus knew not only the actual but also the possible.
God knows all things in one simple and eternal act – God is always fully aware of everything. God doesn’t have to learn anything. Everything that is knowable is known to God at all times, and it is known in facts that were not learned or that have to be recalled. His knowledge never grows or decreases. All knowledge fully exists in God’s conscious mind all the time from eternity past through eternity future.
However, God does tell us that when we repent, he will remember our sin no more. Does he forget? No, he simply chooses to never hold it against us. He chooses to let us live in his Plan A – redeemed and forgiven!
“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” – Isaiah 43:25 NIV
Though God knows everything, he still gives us a choice whether to accept him or reject him, and that choice will determine our eternal destiny.
The only way to be sure you will spend eternity with God is to accept his plan of salvation: Turn away from sin and turn to Jesus. Ask Jesus to forgive you and to save you. Ask him to live within you and then commit to live in his plan: Plan A.
What is your plan?
This summer (2016) I have chosen to highlight an attribute of God each week in the blog posts. For the entire catalog of attributes, please click on this link:
For individual blog posts click on one of the following links:
Knowable Creator Wisdom Father Good Just All Knowing Unchanging Eternal Spirit Truth Light Beautiful
Marcia Furrow 
Plan A for me.
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