It's time for the Soteriology 101 podcast, where God is most glorified by his love and provision for all people.

Welcome your host.

The director of apologetics for Texas Baptists, an adjunct professor of theology, and a local teaching pastor.

Dr. Layton Flowers.

Welcome to Sotriology 101.

We're going to ask the question today,

is God ever surprised by anything? And I think the answer for most theists is no, he's not

surprised in the same way that we would be surprised by something. However, there are passages of

scripture which speak of God getting frustrated, for example, in Genesis chapter 6, where he becomes

frustrated with the sinfulness of man. And we see even with Jesus especially being marveled,

marvel at their lack of faith and those kinds of things, or has a great wonder about their

lack of faith, which doesn't seem consistent with God knowing the future to some people. I personally think it's perfectly consistent for God

to express an element of frustration or angst or surprise. Marvel, for example, within the actual

temporal circumstances of life, despite the fact that he has eternal foreknowledge of certain things.

Just like, for example, when my wife and I got married, we talked about how, hey, we know there's going to be labor pains, but that doesn't stop her from expressing actual pain during labor.

Just because you foreknow that's coming doesn't mean you're not going to actually experience it. When you buy a house, you know you're

going to have to care for the lawn. It doesn't stop you from expressing frustration of owning a house

when you're having to mow the lawn and cut the bushes and everything else. You know, oh, man,

I can't believe I bought this house. And that frustration, it makes sense, in other words.

It's not illogical.

There's nothing that's even within our worldview that you can foreknow something's coming

and yet still within the temporal time that it comes express angst or anxiety or those

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