Did God not know?

This must have been the question the children of Israel asked themselves at every stage in their exodus from Egypt. Did God punish Pharaoh so severely only for him to capture us at the Red Sea? Did He let us cross the sea knowing there was no food in the desert? Did He not know there were giants in the Promised Land? Why send Moses when nothing is ready? Did He not know?

It is more profitable for God that a man be changed than for his circumstances to change. If He had to choose between a character-change or a change in circumstances, He would choose the former. It does not cost Him much to part seas or make food drops. But it is such a mission to change the ways of man because his heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

That’s why He does not call someone when things are ready. He needs to use the things which are not ready to make the man ready for his mission. So while the man is busy killing the giants in the land, God is also killing the self in him – at the same time. This way God gets to kill many birds with one stone – you. Such that in the final analysis, the situation is changed, you are changed and He is happy – so it becomes a win-win-win situation.

So all obstacles in the path are not to hinder man but to speed up his progress. It may look like it was meant for harm but it is not, as the Psalmist said it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes – Psalm 119:71. A barrier is a new classroom where one patiently sits thorough the trial knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing – James 1:2. This means that if one graduates too quickly he may come out imperfect and incomplete, lacking everything.

So did God know about the trials in Exodus? He did and told them so Himself when they finally arrived in the Promised Land. He let them know how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. Duet 8:1-6

This is the same thing Jesus said He does in Revelation 3:19 that those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline; so be earnest and repent. Jesus does not learn about our situation when we pray about it. He knew about it because He-is-the-God-Who-Sees [Genesis 16:13]. So just know that He knew; and pray to pass through with flying colors.