God knows

Some questions have obvious answers. "Can you believe that?" No, I can't. "Does this dress make me look fat?" Silence. "Can a man enter his mother's womb and be born again?" Of course not. "Can a dried-out skeleton come back to life?" Uh, no.

Except on that last question, the obvious answer isn't the right one. That question shows up in Ezekiel 37:3: "He asked me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' I said, 'Sovereign Lord, you alone know.'"

It's almost a catch-phrase: "God knows." We say it when we have no idea, which is OK. But we say it to imply the answer isn't knowable. That's a wrong use of those two words.

The fact is, God knows everything. When Ezekiel says, "Sovereign Lord, you alone know," there is a huge amount of theology in five little words.

"Sovereign." Our God rules over everything. There isn't one molecule of this universe outside his control.

"Lord." Ezekiel acknowledges this God as his own; he expresses his allegiance to this God and claims his own position as a faithful foot-soldier in his Lord's service.

"You alone." No one else. Not one other being. There is no equal to God.

"Know." God knows. Those aren't just a buzz-phrase. God does know. He knows everything; there isn't one single thing in the whole universe that he doesn't know. 

Ezekiel is no dummy. He's already said and done a lot of strange things in service to this Lord. So when God asks him an obvious question, he immediately realizes that his human answer doesn't apply here. The true answer is whatever God wants it to be. Because in addition to knowing everything, God can do anything. Ezekiel knows those bones will dance if God wants them to.

What an example for my life! There are a ton of things that I don't get in life. There are so many times that I just don't know what's right. And those things cause me stress and seriously impact my joy. What if I could say, as Ezekiel does, "Hey, this doesn't look possible to me, but this is God I'm looking to here. My human calculus doesn't apply. God loves me, he is good, and he's all-powerful. He has promised good things, and what he promises he will do."

But more than that, when earthly solutions look impossible, I need to trust heavenly truth. There are a lot of issues our country faces that seem to require compromise of my values. There are world problems that threaten to engulf us. Solutions seem impossible. But God has sustained and will sustain. It's not my job to secure this country or this world for my grandchildren; it's my job to faithfully serve my Sovereign Lord. He'll sort out the Supreme Court, or any other issue, if I just trust him.