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Isaiah 45:4 "For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me."

 

God is speaking to Cyrus, the future (by about 140 years!) king of Persia, who will allow the Jews to return to Israel after the exile. So this is an amazing prophecy from Isaiah, God calls Cyrus by name and reveals his role in salvation history a century and a half before he is even born. Amazing as an accurate prediction of the future, but more amazing, I think, for what it reveals about God's timelessness, and how He has chosen each of us to live and be in the time and place we find ourselves. 

 

God knew Cyrus from the very beginning of time, just as He does each of us. He had a plan for Cyrus and gave him the grace to be able to carry it out ("Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped" (Isaiah 45:1)), just as He does for each of us. 

 

We are here for a reason. We are encountering what we encounter, suffering what we suffer, meeting who we meet, learning what we learn, so as to do His will and carry out His plan. He has seen every moment of our lives from before we existed, and even then was grasping our hand, giving us the grace we need each second, if we will only accept it. That is what is truly amazing. That is what makes total surrender to Him the most beneficial, perfect thing we can do.