“Known to God from eternity are all His works.” Acts 15:18

Known to Him

I am in continuous wonder at God’s shaping work in my life. To take just one example, He foreknew that I would be a writer. He set this up in my life back in the days of everlastingness—back in the beginning of eternity, if there is such a thing. He knew it then, and He didn’t only know it but He planned out the work of it.

This is how He did it: When I was tiny and sitting on my mother’s knee, I listened to the rhythm and melody of the words in a book as she read to me, and God stirred something in me. Then I learned to read and write, forming the letters and words. Next I saw that what I wrote mattered—I could tell a story, and people would listen (not because the story was good, but because the people were polite.)

Next came school written assignments resulting in teachers’ praises. The lack of red pen marks on my papers told me something: I did it right. This built me up, but my parents made sure I stayed grounded. I had a rough patch in high school when my writing took on a weird exploratory bent, but thankfully it didn’t last long, for it didn’t glorify God at all. He pulled me back, and set me loose in a new direction, for which I am forever thankful.

We learn in Romans 8:29-30 that God foreknew, predestined, called, justified, and glorified us—in that order—to be conformed to the image of His Son. And so, I know my calling isn’t exactly “to write” but to be conformed to the image of Jesus, that I may glorify God who did all this in me.

God has always known the works He would do. Then why pray? Somehow our prayers please Him. It pleases Him to know that we seek Him in this way, acknowledging that the works are His—these are things only He can actually do. “It is the LORD who does all these things” (Acts 15:17).

When we pray, we ask Him to do what He already planned to do.“Your will be done,” Jesus prayed. And what about when He doesn’t do it—when He doesn’t “answer” our prayer? We keep praying—“Pray without ceasing”—and we will eventually come around to seeking His actual will, and we will see that come to pass.

We usually WANT to do His will, of course, but even if we don’t, “He devises means” (2 Samuel 14:14) to get His works done. It is nothing for Him to go around us, or to go in a back door, or to unlock a door or heart or mind, so that His work is done.

And frankly, wouldn’t we rather have His will done than our own? He has devised His works in His perfect wisdom so everything turns out perfectly in His time.

“Father, Your works in us are too big to fathom, and we can’t figure it out. We are just thankful that You included us and you use us alongside You to do the works. May we be open to the development of Your works in us that You already planned to do. In Jesus’ precious Name. Amen.”