God Is All-Knowing........International Sunday School Lesson for November 28, 2010

ATTENTION!! As usual I am ahead of the game, please be aware that this is my commentary for the International Sunday School Lesson for November 28th and you will find November 21st below this one or on the right hand side.

Have a great Thanksgiving! 

Blessings!

Jed

God Is All-Knowing……..International Sunday School Lesson for

 November 28, 2010

 By

 Jed Greenough

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-16, 23-24

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.

²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

I will bet there are some of you out there today that really don’t like this psalm.  There’s just something that gets in your craw when you read things like, “Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.” Or, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Ah, foreknowledge and predestination, these are the things from which entire denominations spring!

I don’t want to get into any debates such as these create but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to get a little controversial but first let’s go back to the International Sunday School Lesson for November 21, 2010 where I closed with this question concerning Israel, “If they did not have faith…..why did He choose them?”

During the last couple weeks of the International Sunday School lessons we read Psalm 90 and Psalm 91.  In Psalm 90 we read the prayer of Moses concerning his people who over the course of 40 years were dying in the desert rather than the Promised Land and we contrasted that with last week’s Psalm 91 where the people in sight in this psalm were dwelling in His midst.

And now today’s psalm which says, to put it succinctly, God knows everything.

I am very comfortable with this aspect of God; however I know that many people are not.   They do not like to think that He knows who will be saved or not or who will succeed and who will fail.

Which finally leads me back to that question concerning Israel, why did He choose them?

He knew that when they were free of Egypt that they would almost immediately grumble that they would have been better off there.

He knew that they would turn to idol worship even as He was giving Moses the commandments that contain prohibitions against it.

He knew despite all the victories He gave them over nations there would be doubt about victory over others.

He knew that before His temple was built that it would not always stand.

He knew that this people would crucify His son.

I could surmise things that may or may not be true with why they were chosen but I do know this, there is no doubt that they were and still are chosen and that He knew every choice they would and will make.

What does God know about you?

I certainly have been asking a lot of questions lately and I hope these questions cause you to pause and ponder.  I think this pondering is helpful, I think that it brings maturity to our faith even though some things like God’s foreknowledge as it says in verse 6 from today, “is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”  We just can’t wrap our brains around it if you will, but that is okay because if we trust Him “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.  For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.”  Romans 8:28-30

If, as I said, there are some out there who don’t like today’s psalm, I am as certain as certain can be that you don’t like Romans 8:28-30 either!

Consider:

1 Corinthians 2:14

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

Are you struggling with accepting some of the aspects of your faith and is that troubling you?

In order to truly come to Him and accept the things that come from Him you must quit this struggle.  Pray to Him the words of verses 23 and 24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Those things in your faith that you are anxious about, that you struggle with, perhaps due to pride that you have been unwilling to leave behind, you need to surrender to Him in order to believe and accept all the scriptures and not just those that suit you.  You must accept that no one can come to Him on their own power, or by their own spirit or on their own two feet but only on their knees.

If you cannot accept this, He knew you wouldn’t and if you do surrender, He always knew you would!

For Discussion:

1. Consider Verses 2 and 4 and Romans 8:26-27 with regard to our thoughts.
2. Gather interpretations of verse 5 from the members of the class.
3. With regard to verse 15, how is the womb like the depths of the earth?
4. There are no doubt wide and varying interpretations concerning God’s foreknowledge and predestination within your class.  These matters should not be avoided but should be handled with discernment.
5. Some would question God’s word when scripture such as todays are read.  Be prepared to defend His word.
6. Consider that verses 23- 24 are easy to say and read but to pray this in earnest one should be prepared for what God will do!  Discussion of this fact may reveal to the class what they truly have buried in their hearts!

(Next week’s International Sunday School Lesson for December 5, 2010 will be The Highway for God looking at Isaiah 40:1-5, 25-26, 29-31)

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.