God Doesn't Know?

It seemed that everything God had done for Israel was in vain, accomplished nothing, and was treated by his people as worthless. Was God disappointed? Can God’s feelings be hurt? Does God have feelings, or is he impassive? According to the prophet, Hosea, God is frustrated and doesn’t know what else he can do to get them to keep their covenant commitments to him. Hosea indicates that God has tried everything he knows how to do, all to no avail. He rescued them from slavery, made them his special people–a people with a special purpose, for the rest of the world–has blessed them with a great land, defeated all their enemies, sent them prophets, warned them of the dangers if they did not do right, has loved them with an everlasting steadfast love. He has even tried punishment–severe punishment. Nothing has gotten through to them. They have ignored God and done it their way. And continue to.

According to Hosea, it is God’s own words that tell us he doesn’t know what to do with them. Can this be? God is supposed to know everything, but he doesn’t know how to do with this intransigent nation of rebels. Maybe we have been wrong. Maybe there are things God doesn’t know. We’ll have to explore this. If there is that which God doesn’t know, perhaps even can’t know, we must abandon the ancient idea that God is omniscient, all knowing. Is Hosea wrong, or have we been wrong all these centuries? It may be that God is more complex than we have simplified him to be, than our creeds and doctrinal statements have been able to formulate; it just may be that there is more to God than can be fitted into our formulas.