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GOD KNOWS

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 24, 1879

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 54, No. 5.

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GOD KNOWS.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.
I will read for my text this evening, Acts 10:5, 6. “And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.”
An idea is conveyed in this text which to my mind is very beautiful; it is that the Lord notices little things,—that he remembers our names, and knows our dwelling-places. Before I come to my text, I will read some passages of Scripture that will illustrate this. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Heb. 4:13. We are informed here that there is not any creature, not anything that is not open to his sight; and that nothing transpires that he cannot see plainly.
In Jeremiah 32:19 the same thought is expressed. “Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men; to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
This idea is brought out very clearly by David in Psalm 139. “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.” When we retire to rest, when we rise in the morning and prepare for the day’s work, the Lord observes all. How impressive the thought! We have not spoken a word to-day that the Lord has not heard and given attention to; he has weighed each one. We sometimes hear people talk, and do not give attention to what they say; but not so with the Lord.
It overwhelmed the psalmist to think how wonderful was God’s knowledge. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
Men sometimes hide themselves in the dark, and commit deeds that they would not do in open daylight; but the Lord can see just as well in the darkest chamber as in the light. We may say, “Yes, we believe that;” but do we realize it?
The thought that specially impresses my mind this evening is this: that the Lord not only takes cognizance of things in a general sense, but that he knows individually every person, and what each one does. He does not know simply that they belong to a certain class, as Americans or Jews, but knows them as individuals; knows their given name and surname. Take, for example, the case of Moses. “Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead.” Josh. 1:1, 2. The Lord knew Moses by name. He says, “Moses my servant.”
“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” Rev. 3:5. Then our names are in the book of life. A man who has become converted has his name written there, and not only as a converted man, but as a particular individual. The name is mentioned before God and the angels. If there is a man on earth who loves God, he is not only known in Heaven as a man, but Christ mentions his name, and the angels know it. They talk about him just as we do about our brethren. Christ said: “Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in Heaven.” Luke 10:20.
I now come to my text, and you will notice how beautifully it presents this thought. I will first read from the beginning of the chapter. “There was a certain man in Cesarea, called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always.” A very good man, you see. I hope there are such persons in this house to-night. “He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.”
The angel of God who came from Heaven understood who it was before he came. He was going to see a man by the name of Cornelius. He called him by name. Cornelius was a benevolent, praying man. He prayed continually to God, and he heard him. The Lord said, Gabriel, look at that man. See him give to that widow. I will send a special messenger to him. The angels knew his name, and Christ knew his name. “And now send men to Joppa. And call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” The Lord knows just where we stay; where we sleep at night. He knows the business at which we work. Why, the child of God is just as familiar to him as our own children are to us. I do not know simply that I have a little girl or little boy, but I know where they sleep, what they do, and all about them.
Now another thought, and that is this: The Lord’s knowledge is infinite, and is very broad; but he is interested in us, that is, he sympathizes with us, whether we are rich or poor, sick or well. I will read something on this point. “For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” Lam. 3:33. The Lord does afflict sometimes, he does it frequently. I had to punish my little girl the other day, but it hurt me as much as it did her. We complain, perhaps, because we are sick. Some have had to come away from home, leave their family and their children, and be at great expense. We cannot see why it should be so. It is not God’s pleasure that we are sick. He has a good end in view all the time. In another place it says, “In our affliction he is afflicted.” That is the point. I will give an illustration of this. “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings.” Deut. 32:11.
The eagle, as you will remember, does not build its nest on the ground or in the bushes, but seeks the top of a high tree, or the projecting point of a high rock, which no one can reach. There the mother eagle lays her eggs, and hatches her little eaglets. She feeds them until they are strong enough to fly, and then, in order to teach them to use their wings, she forces them from the nest, and throws them right over the precipice. They are in a terrible predicament. It looks to them like certain death. They begin to flutter their little wings; but when it seems that they must fall and be crushed to death on the rocks below, the mother eagle flies underneath them, and catches them on her back. After the little things have rested and recovered from their fright, she lets them fall again. In this way they learn to use their wings. Although the mother seems so cruel to them at first, she does not forget them. Her eye is continually upon them, and she would rather die than have the little ones hurt.
We find ourselves, perhaps, sick and away from home. It does not seem as though it ought to be so. Why does not the Lord order it otherwise? The Lord looks beyond our short vision; he has a good object in it all. Take the case of Job. When his sons were all dead, his oxen killed, and his wife was telling him to curse God, it seemed to him that God had forsaken him; he felt as though the hand of God was against him. If Job could have read the book that was to be written of his experience, and heard the sermons preached from it, he would have suffered his trials a good deal better than he did. If he could have seen how many millions were to be comforted by reading the record of his trials, his bed of ashes would have become one of roses; but he did not see that. Just so, because for the time being we feel as though the rod of God was heavy and our path dark, and we begin to think that he does not hear us and does not care for us, it is simply because we do not see the end as God sees it.
The case of John Bunyan is very much to the point. Probably you have all read “Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.” If there is a book outside of the Bible which is inspired, it is this. It has been read by hundreds of thousands; it has been known to convert thousands of souls to God. When John Bunyan undertook to preach, his enemies immediately tried to stop him. They said, “Bunyan, you can’t preach in that way. If you do, we will shut you up in prison.” He had a wife and several children, and depended upon his earnings to buy their daily bread. He would not stop preaching, however, and so they put him in Bedford jail. He had to stay there for twelve long years, during which time he never earned a dollar, while his poor wife was almost a beggar. John Bunyan must have said to himself, “If God loves me and cares for me, why does he leave me here in jail?” The blessed Lord saw better than he did. If Bunyan had been at liberty, he probably would never have been heard of out of his own country. While he was in jail he began to write, and as a result we have “Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.” Everybody read it. He did more good while in jail than he could have done in a hundred years outside. We cannot always tell whether it is for the glory of God that we should have health and friends, or be deprived of them; that is God’s business.
God is able to do for us all that can be done. All the trials of life have not simply come by chance, but the providence of God is in these things. It was not accidental that slavery was abolished; in the providence of God it was brought about. I do not think it simply happened that men thought to build this Sanitarium; I think the Lord had something to do with it. You cannot see how it is best that you should be kept away from your families and friends, but the Lord has a reason for all these things. We cannot see before us, but the Lord can. The Bible teaches, and it is reasonable, that in everything, business, pleasure, or anything else, we ought first to commit our ways to God. We should ask the Lord to direct us. He understands all about us.
I will read a passage from Matthew: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” In two hours from now, probably all of us will be in our bed-chambers,—the lights put out, and the rooms dark; no one there but ourselves, perhaps. Remember, then, that the Lord God knows where that room is; knows who sleeps there, and all about it. Just get down on your knees, and pray to God for all you need.
Dear brethren, and sisters, and friends, how many of you, as you go through life with its cares and toils, have a practical faith in the love of a present God? The person who does not, loses half the sweetness of life; he loses that strength which comes from God, and he will lose the rewards which are in store for those who love the Lord and serve him. The happiest man, the one who has the most unbounded satisfaction and the deepest joy, is he who faithfully trusts in God every day. To say our prayers mechanically does not amount to much, but to take the Bible as it says, to commit our ways to God, will bring the rich blessing of the Lord. Shall we not think of this to-night? Shall we not all of us go to God with new faith, and have confidence in his power to watch over and guard us? It is our privilege to go to God with everything, for he understands all our hopes, and fears, and doubts. May the Lord help us to have faith in him as a real God, in Christ as our Saviour, and in the plan of salvation as that which will save to the uttermost.