Known

You know how sometimes you think you know something, but then you find out you really didn’t understand? I had one of those moments recently.

I’ve been doing a book review for Bible College on the book ‘Knowing God’ by J. I. Packer. It’s interesting, but has been taking me a while to get through.
Anyway, I came to a section where it talks about God knowing us, something I have always been aware of, by the author puts it like this:

There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me. (page 45)

That hit me.

Every now and then, we fail in our Christian walk. We slip and do something that we find hard to forgive ourselves for. ‘If I can’t forgive myself,’ we think, ‘How can God ever hope to forgive us?’ But as Mr. Packer explains, God already knew we would do that, and he STILL loved us, before we even did it, knowing we WOULD do it.
He has forgiven us in advance, before the moment of failing.

All we have to do is accept that forgiveness.

It’s not an excuse to keep on sinning, and thinking ‘Well, God will forgive me’, but it is a comfort for those moments we legitimately fail.

Praise God.