Changi Chapel

Can man surprise God?

In Mark 6:6, we read how Jesus “marveled at their unbelief”. The word marvel (thou-mad’-zo in Greek) means “to be astonished” and “to wonder with great wonder, exceedingly much”.

It is fascinating to read in this passage how even God can be taken by surprise!

Is this really possible? Will anything really surprise God who is all knowing? Does not Psa 139:4 say “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether”.

Yet, it seems that man can YET SURPRISE GOD! So what is the mystery here? How can we get our heads around this?

The passage in Matthew 8:10 also throws some light on this word “thou-mad-zo” when it describes how Jesus was surprised with amazement and astonishment when he told the Centurion “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel”.

In this passage he was commending the faith of the Centurion, whose servant was sick and dying.

Hence from these two verses, we can see how “unbelief” (Mark 6:6) and “great faith” (Matt 8:10), both can amaze, astonish and even surprise God!!

As much as it seems hard to wrap our head around this truth that man can surprise God, these two verses, clearly point to this reality!

So when did you last surprise God?