God's command to kill Isaac

In a sermon on the radio yesterday, Tony Evans talked about God's command to Abraham to kill Isaac.  He focused on verse 22:12, in which, after Abraham proves his intent to obey, God says:  "And now I know that you truly fear God."  

Really, I thought God knows everything!  Right?  Why put Abraham through that dreadful ordeal? (I always thought the sentence  meant that now Abraham knew that he truly feared God. But that's not what the verse says.)  Evans discussed briefly the incorrect, "God doesn't know how things will turn out," theological understanding of the sentence.  And then he gave his surprising understanding of it's meaning:  "God indeed does not know everything:  He doesn't have experiential knowledge of our praise and trust until we actually give it to Him."  

So I went to the Hebrew Bible and, sure enough, the word for "know" is "yadah": which can be understood as "experiential knowledge"; the same word as that is used, for example, to describe marital relations in the Bible.  (Mike, is that what the Moody Bible Commentary means by "actualized?')   

If this is the right understanding, then, Wow!  Worshipping and praising God is not something we merely should do because we are commanded to do it and because He deserves it.  We really do have something valuable to give to God in our worship and service Him!  "God inhabits the praise of His people."  What a great encouragement that is!  

What else can I do but praise God!  And when I do, I receive the great reward of experiencing God's pleasure.


(Here is a different Evan's sermon which makes the same point.)




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