God's Early Edition

     Did you ever watch that TV show 'Early Edition' (it ran on CBS from 1996-2000).  Ok, me neither. But I love the premise. This normal guy starts getting tomorrow's newspaper delivered today. Wow! How great would that be? 
     
     Knowing the winning lottery numbers in advance.  Which football team would win the Superbowl - a day early.  Which horses end up in the Win Place and Show positions.  Which shoes go on sale. (wink, wink)


     Turns out this guy reads about the disasters and tries to prevent them.  You know, the car wreck, the house fire, the exploding gas tank.  He runs around trying to save as many lives as he can. 


     Now how we would respond to that same information is a subject for a whole other post. 


     What occurred to me recently when I was studying predestination -(our home group is in Ephesians and you can't really gloss over the idea of predestination when you're studying Ephesians.) Is that God has the ultimate Early Edition.


     He knows in advance which horse to bet on - so to speak. 


     I went to the passage in Romans that gave me this insight - 


      "For those whom he foreknew, those he also predestined. . . " Romans 8:29


     And looked up the word for foreknew. It's proginosko and sure enough, it means "to perceive or recognize beforehand, to know previously" Keyword Study Bible NASB 1990


     This resolved for me the apparent conflict between all the predestination passages and this simple, lovely, and in many ways, more appealing truth. 


     "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9


     See - there He is. That's the big hearted God I fell in love with. 


     He didn't create anyone 'to perish'. He just knows in advance who will choose it. 


     But rest in the knowledge that there is a choice.  Keep praying for your beloved unbelievers and have faith in a "compassionate and gracious God slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin." Exodus 34:6 (related post)


     How about you? Have you struggled with the idea of predestination? How did God resolve it for you? Are you discouraged in praying for your beloved unbelievers?