For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29)
What a wonderful thing to be
known by God! The elders use to pray, “You know us Lord, better than we know
ourselves.” His knowledge about me is greater than my comprehension will ever
be in this life. God knows us through and through. He meticulously made me for
a certain end: “to be conformed to the
image of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Some limit foreknowledge to
mere “foresight” or that God knows what will happen before it happens. But
God’s foreknowledge is so much more than that. The word speaks of a determinant
design. The idea is captured beautifully by David when He says, “you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
And the extent of God’s intimate innate blueprint of “whom he did foreknow” is
stated in Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee
in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I
sanctified thee, and I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nations.”
Another analogy is that of a
parent already knowing the things of life that his or her child will discover.
He made us for a purpose, and that purpose is to be the elect of God. We’ve
been set to that end. In that day, one’s knowledge of self will catch up with
His knowledge as Paul says, “But then
shall I know even as also I am known.”
The knowledge of who I am, and
what God intended as He created me, is something I discover as I live
and yet I can never discover what He has not known. Again, the Psalmist is abundantly clear,
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in
your book before one of them came to be.” Our personality, proclivities,
passions, placement, etc. were all aimed by God for our redemption.
