I shared this picture on social media. I've been trying to share some verses you may not be as familiar with. Jeremiah 23:24 makes me smile. It speaks of the Creator and He knows all about you - He sees you. You cannot hide. Now I suppose to some not being able to hide from God doesn't seem like a good thing. But I see it as a wonderful thing. He cares. He wants what is good for me. He knows all that I'm doing and thinking. The Creator of the universe sees little insignificant me. Smile.
But what also struck me is God asking a question. Why in Jeremiah 23:24 doesn't God just say He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and man cannot hide from Him? Instead the Scripture verse is posed as a question; asking us to reason. Requiring of us to think.
Isaiah 43:13
"Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?"
Answer: No one
Ezekiel 18:23
"Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord GOD, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?"
Answer: Condemning us gives Him no pleasure. He wants us to turn from our evil ways.
Jonah 4:11
"Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"
Answer: God has compassion on whomever He wants.
Micah 2:7
"Is it being said, O house of Jacob: 'Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these His doings?' Do not My words do good to the one walking uprightly?"
Answer: God is patient. God blesses the righteous.
These are rhetorical questions. They are a literary device which makes us sit up and notice and makes us think. They make a point rather than elicit an answer. They can be questions which have no answer like, "Why me?" Or they can be questions which have an obvious answer like "Is the Pope Catholic?"
Rhetorical questions lay emphasis on some point and they prompt further thinking and reflection. They draw the audience's attention.
Some questions from Job 38:
"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?"
"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?"
"Who set its measurements?"
"Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
"Have you ever in your life commanded the morning and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?"
etc., etc., etc.
Answer: God is the Almighty. Who are we to question Him? (See what I did there. I answered the rhetorical question with a rhetorical question! Ha!)
God's questions in Scripture reveal Him to us.
And what do the above rhetorical questions reveal to us?
God sees everything about us.
God is powerful and almighty.
God wants to save.
God is compassionate.
God is patient.
God is Almighty. We are not.
Rhetorical questions are just some food for thought.