"Cosmic North Korea"?
I Chronicles 28:5–10
“Of all my sons—and the LORD has given me many—He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. He said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build My house and My courts, for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out My commands and laws, as is being done at this time.’ “So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever. “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”
It is beautiful when Scripture says “the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought (v. 9).” Whilst God’s omniscience is disquieting to many, such as when the late atheist Christopher Hitchens said God is a “cosmic North Korea”, similar to but even worse than a pervasive state apparatus prying into the most private aspect of our beings—our thoughts, to me this is actually comforting and it is because unlike human dictatorships, God is perfectly good and loving and I can rest assured in God’s knowledge of my heart. Christian philosopher, William Lane Craig said, "in many circumstances, others may misunderstand us and our motivations. They may malign us and impute to us false motivations that aren’t at all what we intended. In these kinds of situations it is comforting to know that God knows our hearts. He knows where your heart really lies and what your motivations really are", "for the LORD does not look on things as a humans looks on them; people look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (I Sam 16:7)." God knows my heart; He discerns our true motivations. He understands us even when we fail and do not live up to the standard that we should (Psa 103:13-14). God is a compassionate father who understands us and our frailty and fallibility as His children. Even at times when our devotion seems low and we are not in fellowship with the Lord as we ought to be, or when we fail to “serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind (v. 9)”, God knows the truth. He is our refuge as we strive in righteousness. He knows the truth about our hearts and that we do love Him and that we want to follow Him, and in earnest, we "press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ (Phi 3:14)." God has established His Kingdom forever, and we know King Solomon failed for he was flawed just as us, but Christ the King of Kings was unswerving in carrying out The Father’s commands (v. 7), and so because He is in us, we are justified and we take part in His majesty’s Holy Kingdom. What an awesome privilege, let us make sure we live in thankfulness to Him!
“Of all my sons—and the LORD has given me many—He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. He said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build My house and My courts, for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out My commands and laws, as is being done at this time.’ “So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever. “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”
It is beautiful when Scripture says “the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought (v. 9).” Whilst God’s omniscience is disquieting to many, such as when the late atheist Christopher Hitchens said God is a “cosmic North Korea”, similar to but even worse than a pervasive state apparatus prying into the most private aspect of our beings—our thoughts, to me this is actually comforting and it is because unlike human dictatorships, God is perfectly good and loving and I can rest assured in God’s knowledge of my heart. Christian philosopher, William Lane Craig said, "in many circumstances, others may misunderstand us and our motivations. They may malign us and impute to us false motivations that aren’t at all what we intended. In these kinds of situations it is comforting to know that God knows our hearts. He knows where your heart really lies and what your motivations really are", "for the LORD does not look on things as a humans looks on them; people look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (I Sam 16:7)." God knows my heart; He discerns our true motivations. He understands us even when we fail and do not live up to the standard that we should (Psa 103:13-14). God is a compassionate father who understands us and our frailty and fallibility as His children. Even at times when our devotion seems low and we are not in fellowship with the Lord as we ought to be, or when we fail to “serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind (v. 9)”, God knows the truth. He is our refuge as we strive in righteousness. He knows the truth about our hearts and that we do love Him and that we want to follow Him, and in earnest, we "press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ (Phi 3:14)." God has established His Kingdom forever, and we know King Solomon failed for he was flawed just as us, but Christ the King of Kings was unswerving in carrying out The Father’s commands (v. 7), and so because He is in us, we are justified and we take part in His majesty’s Holy Kingdom. What an awesome privilege, let us make sure we live in thankfulness to Him!
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