God Inside Our Moments

Posted on by Jennifer Arimborgo

 

“The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom” (1 Kings 3:10, NLT).

As we know, God’s heart overflowed so much with pleasure in Solomon’s request that He decided to make him the wealthiest, most successful, most illustrious man alive… in addition to being the wisest. Now that is quite the overflow of delight over one prayer! 

I am fascinated to think about the concept expressed in this story… especially in the light of the way it all turned out in the end. Solomon married 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). As God had warned, they turned his heart away to worship demon gods. God felt entirely different about him at the end of his life: “The LORD was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice” (1 Kings 11:9). 

What strikes me, when we examine these two different parts of Solomon’s life, is the extreme contrast in God’s emotions. How is this possible, if He is outside of time? His Word says that He sees the end from the beginning (Is. 46:10). If He was already seeing and experiencing the offensive conclusion of Solomon’s life at its outset, how was there room in His heart for great delight and pleasure in his early prayer? Why wasn’t God’s heart already clouded and tainted by the evil He was foreknowing and foretasting in His son?

What this speaks to me is that God comes into our moments with us. He is capable of being in both the eternal realm, and the temporal realm at the same time. And what’s even more amazing is that He comes so entirely into our moments with us. He was able to be so present in Solomon’s righteous moments that it was like the future hadn’t happened yet for Him either. (A side thought: maybe this is like the inverse of how to Him it’s like we haven’t ever sinned, once He forgives us and washes our iniquity away. Hmm…)

If God had been viewing Solomon‘s life only from outside of time, the end of the story was that Solomon ended his days in disobedience. There would have been no reason to bother with blessing him so exceedingly. However, in that moment, God was not just standing outside of time looking at the whole picture from there. He was completely in that moment with Solomon, His heart overflowing with pleasure at what Solomon decided to ask Him.

In that same way, God is in your moment with you right now. He is entirely inhabiting this very second of your existence. He is more intimately identified with your current experience than you ever imagined. In fact, He is feeling your feelings so keenly that He can testify, “As they do it unto you, so they do it unto Me” (Luke 10:16). 

“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit…” (Is. 57:15, ESV).

The One who is high and lifted up is dwelling with you and me even as you read this. And even right now, you can steal His heart like Solomon did. Ask Him for wisdom. Ask Him for His intimate, manifest presence. You have no idea how much of an impact your prayer makes on Him!

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When it comes to the subject of foreknowledge, I ponder on the story of Abraham’s obedience in offering Isaac to God. When God then said to Abraham, “Now I know that you fear me…” (Gen. 22:12), can we conclude that prior to that moment, God did not fully know it, in spite of seeing the end from the beginning? Or what is your understanding of how God experienced this moment in time? 

34 thoughts on “God Inside Our Moments”

  1. Really interesting point you bring up. Never thought too deeply about this. But I guess God has a way of being our God who is present in that moment and meeting us where we are at in the now and not allow His knowledge of how everything plays out to interfere communing with us in the present. You have highlighted another wonderful attribute of God.

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    1. Different examples of this keep coming to my attention, too. Like today in my Bible time, about how God “saw” that His servant repented and humbled himself, and decided to lessen the consequence. So somehow He waited until that moment to render the decision, even though He knew ahead of time it was going to happen. So fascinating to chew on!

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  2. God’s foreknowledge and omnipotence are issues which I suspect we may never understand, even when we “know as [we] are fully known.”
    We will never grasp fully the nature and existence of a mind, heart and will as vast as our Creator’s.
    Hallelujah! He is worthy of our praise.🤠

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  3. Very interesting. It has me pondering, but I always come back to this: God is God and we are not. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and his ways higher than ours.

    I just love him and marvel at his mysteries.

    God bless you. You are a good writer.

    Marcy (And I heard Him Whisper)

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  4. A very thoughtful and insightful post. Thank you. God is indeed deeper and more present in our moments and our life than we ever could image. Even Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. God the Father must have foreknown how He would respond to Satan’s temptations but this recorded story is another reminder of how GREAT IS OUR GOD INDEED! The Bible shows by example how much we need HIM in every moment and be connected day by day as we face our own ETERNITY.

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  6. Thank you for writing a post that makes me ponder! That’s when I dig deeper. When I look up the word “know,” from Genesis 22:12. When God stopped Abraham, saying, “Now I know, it has several implications. One is to experiencially know. I truly believe God knew that Abraham feared or reverenced Him, but now, as you said, He had lived the moment with Him. These moments are important because if God acts on what He knows is in our hearts rather than urging us into the moments that prove our faith, I think that our faith would often remain in seed form and never blossom into maturity. Because Abraham obeyed God, God now knew that fear of the Lord had solidified in Abraham’s heart, and as a result, Abraham would be faithful with all that came next. If they had not lived that moment together, would Abraham have been equipped?

    It’s possible that the same was true of Solomon. God knew Solomon’s end, but He also knew that when He took joy in the youth who genuinely loved Him in that moment, that Solomon would accomplish much for God’s kingdom before his eventual moral failure. God knows the real deal, and He always rewards faithfulness. Aren’t we the same way with our children? We will invest in every moment our hearts can fill together, loving them for who they are today, regardless of what tomorrow may hold. Whether Solomon ever returned, he knew God’s heart toward him. God is so good!!

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    1. Linda, I love, love, LOVE reading these thoughts of yours! Goodness, thank you so much for such an insightful reply. It confirms to me some things Holy Spirit has been speaking to me over the last week and that I journaled about. I really, really like how you expressed all of this. Thank you with all my heart, and may you have a most amazingly blessed week in Jesus’ presence!

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      1. This morning I also remembered Hebrews 2:10, concerning Jesus: “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”

        He was perfect, but scripture indicates he wrestled with what lay before him after his arrest. He was a perfect sacrifice for us, but he could not take our sins without walking through it victoriously. He was perfected in suffering. It is a lot to wrap the brain around.

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      2. BOY is it! I have pondered on that verse many a time. There’s so much depths there! (I am finally getting a chance to catch up with everything on here. It’s been a whole new level of NONSTOP for me since I started school in August, keep praying for me!)

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  7. I love that you tackle this question, as I ask these sorts of questions all the time!

    Even this morning, reading ‘And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified’ I was trying to get my head around it – does He not predestine everyone? Or call everyone?

    I often ask God to explain these things to me – sometimes He gives me insights, as He did through you this evening.

    Thank you, Jennifer.

    Thank You Holy Spirit.

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    1. Aw I am so glad it was helpful to you! Yes, I have very much pondered predestination too. I kinda lean towards the thought that He foreknew which ones of us would say yes to loving Him, and in that sense, He predestined us as His chosen ones because He knew we would choose His choosing. I had a youth pastor years ago that would encourage us regularly, “Many are called but few are chosen because we gotta choose the choosing!” And he would encourage us again and again to do so. I say, yes Lord, yes Lord, pick me! I choose You!!

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      2. Boy do I hear you! Blessings back to you Dawn. (I am finally getting a chance to catch up with everything on here. It’s been a whole new level of NONSTOP for me since I started school in August, keep praying for me!)

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  9. Thankfully, sis, even though the Lord knows everything–including the future–He is able to delight in us when we do what’s right even though He’s going to have to discipline us later for things we do and say that are wrong. A very imperfect analogy: I was able to delight in my kids when they were babies even though I knew they were going to do and say things that were sinful as they were growing up!

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    1. That is truly an excellent and helpful analogy, thank you Keith! (I am finally getting a chance to catch up with everything on here. It’s been a whole new level of NONSTOP for me since I started school in August, keep praying for me!). A beautiful, Merry Christmas to you and your precious family. 🙂 🎄

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  10. This year our household has started hosting a time of prayer in our church on Sunday evenings, open to any and all who would like to be present. We usually follow the Night Prayer form from “A New Zealand Prayer Book” and read a short section before passing the lead onto the next person.

    Tonight, however, it was a little more casual, as we had a few new faces, so it felt kind to say out loud when we were finished speaking and were passing on to the next person to speak. This initially felt strange to me, like I was not as present in the moment with God. But then I had to laugh in my head at myself a little. Because it was so nice to be intentionally with each other, making sure we were all comfortable in that space, and God being with us as always, was what helped me feel is was just a little bit more special, without being able to put my finger exactly on why!

    Thank you for sharing and the encouragement to ponder! 🙏🧡

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