Have you ever felt déjà vu? Have you seen something or done something and like you have seen it or done it before? Ever wonder why that could happen? What if everything you see, everything you do, and everything you say is already known? How would you feel?
Déjà vu feels puzzling to us. We may say it is a weird feeling. We don’t understand it. Some will explain it as there being parallel universes and the knowledge of something happening in the other universe crosses over to us. There is a much simpler explanation, if you are willing to accept it.
God knows everything we will do, everything we will say, and every situation we will face. He doesn’t force us to do anything. He has granted us free will. We make our choices. Yet, because God lives outside of time, he sees all of time in a single moment. The Apostle Peter tells us a single day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a single day in God’s eyes (2 Peter 3:8).
The Psalmist says that God knows our path. He knows all our thoughts. He knows how we will react to specific situations. He even knows what we will say before we say it. It is hard for us to wrap our mind around it. I like how C. S. Lewis describes how this happens in his book Mere Christianity. He says for us to imagine a piece of paper. Draw a line on it. Put a dot on the line. God is the paper. The line is time. Our life is the dot. We live within God, and therefore, God knows everything all at once.
So, how does God change his mind? I don’t think he does. He already knows what we are going to ask. He already knows how we will change. He doesn’t change. He does exactly what he decided to do all along. We change. We gain a new perspective. We misinterpret our change for God’s change. Again, something that is hard for us to understand. Yet, déjà vu is God giving us a glimpse into his knowledge.
I pray we all know that God already knows everything about us. I pray we seek to follow his guidance. I pray each one of us trust that God is leading us on the path he wants us to walk. God knows all. God sees all. God is directing all. Follow the path God has for you.
Psalm 139:3-4
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
Marty Pressey 