Playing Chess with God

   Is the title a bit odd or humorous? I stumbled upon this question on Yahoo! Answers a few seconds ago, and people have different opinions. The complete question was “Can we trust God while we play chess with Him? He knows how will we play doesn’t he?” I know you’re having those thoughts already and thinking how God will play. Here are some of their answers:

 “God will be disqualified, coz he knew what our moves will be.”

“We may be playing chess, but God is not. Chess is a game of strategy. Its not strategy if you already know what the other person is going to do.”

“If you believe in God, it’s automatic that He is trustworthy and wouldn’t cheat. A cheating god is not God at all.”

   There are other answers that I didn’t take account of, but those questions are the ones that grabbed my attention as I read that odd question.
   So, how will God play really?
   The first answer on my opinion (I’ll clarify this that this is just my opinion) is wrong. Why? On my outlook, God being “All-knowing” doesn’t mean that He already knew everything, every choice we’ll make. Oh, I’m already hearing disagreements, but let me clarify this first.
   In the Bible, there are many accounts that God tested man. I’m sure you’ll agree with me here. Let me use Abraham for example. How God did test Abraham? In Genesis 22:2 God said:  

“Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

We know the story very well that he obeyed God and when he was about to slay his son God said:

“Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” (Emphasis added)

   God said “Now I know” Hhmm… God didn’t knew what Abraham was about to do? Again, God being an All-knowing God for me doesn’t mean that He knew all our choices, he chose not to know everything. Why? Because God gave us freewill. What I mean here is that God CAN choose to know our decision on a current situation, He can choose not to know. Take this for example. Your father gave you a bag filled with various things. You have the power to know what’s inside, but you can choose not to know as well. So there are those situations wherein God will choose not to know our decisions.
   So to go back on the first answer, on my opinion God will not be disqualified. And this is applicable to the second answer as well. 

   Now on the third answer, I agree that God will never cheat at all. But if God choose to know our moves, is that called cheating? I don’t think so. It’s His natural being. And as a sovereign and wise God, it’s not cheating but doing what is right. What I mean is He might get you checkmate in a single move! Or He might let you appeared as if you’re going to win.

   As I meditate on this, I’ve been thinking how many times I played chess with God. I tried my own moves, trying to control the situation. God would even let me take his queen and his powerful pieces. But in the end, it’s a checkmate! And I love it when God does that—those situations when we have no choice but to surrender our KINGS. When He proved that we can do nothing on our own and that we should trust God, and not to lean on our own understanding. Are we moving against Him? Are we playing chess with God? Don’t let it come to the point of checkmate. Surrender you king.