I asked this same question as I was struggling with Christianity and God.
The answer for me, came in looking at another of those common Biblical critiques... creationism.
In reading scripture (not to put down Theologians, Philosophers, etc, but if I’m looking for the things of God, I will first of all see what God has to say for himself. Afterwards, I enjoy comparing my thoughts to those of notables throughout history), the crux of the issue was time.
Is God bound by time, or is time merely one of His creations, and He is in essence ‘outside’ of time?
Please look through scripture yourself to consider this idea.
The answer that came to me, was that God is clearly outside time. He not only sees the present and the past, but also knows the future, because He ‘sees’ it. Prophesy, predestination, etc are all offshoots of this.
God prophesies because He knows what WILL happen.
God KNOWS what our choices will be, because he has seen them.
We have been given ‘Free Will’ to choose whether to follow God or not, yet we are also ‘Predestined’ because God knows the choices we will make. Not because He forced us to do them, but before we were born, He knows our future.
Our destinies are known to Him before we were born, and He knows the choices we will make using our Free Will.
Some use the term ‘predestined’ to project all responsibility upon God for His know, as if it is His fault we do as we do because he knows we will do what we do and does not stop us. In fact, that is the best way to define freedom of choice, that He knows yet He allows us to do it anyway.
Can He be outside AND inside at the same time?
Right now, God is not displeased with me for the sin I will commit tomorrow. He is pleased with me, now. Tomorrow, when I sin, He will BECOME displeased with me, and will bring guilt upon me through the working of the Holy Spirit. After confession and repentance of the sin, God will no longer be displeased with me, but will go back to being pleased with my obedience.
Or is He pleased with me now, for the now, and also at the same time, displeased with me for the tomorrow, and at the same time, pleased again for my repentance after the tomorrow, ---- for all eternity?
I think it is the former, based on all the time indicative adverbs and verb usage He uses in His word. Think "slow to anger", "God became...", "If Israel continues..."
Just a little something I have been thinking about lately.
i.e. - God has seen the end to this movie. He knows Rosebud is a sled, but he's not gonna tell you! He knows you will not appreciate it unless you discover it for yourself.
I thought this “Slice” might be apropos to this discussion:
http://www.rzim.org/slice/slicetran.php?sliceid=1472