Just because you know, or you think you know, how someone is going to answer doesn’t mean you don’t have to ask the question.

That’s a statement made by Abigail Chase in the new National Treasure movie, Book of Secrets, and it’s the key to unlocking one of the greatest mysteries of all time; if God is all-knowing, then why do we ever need to ask him for anything? Why do we need to pray?

For whatever reason, the second National Treasure movie starts with our two leads, Ben Gates and Abigail Chase, going through a time of difficulty and separation. I suppose this was to help lend the film a sense of romantic tension like the characters had in the first movie, but I found it to be a contrived plot device that really only led to re-covering some of the same ground of the first film. But I guess it just goes back to that human flaw where we find the pursuit of something more interesting than the possession—although personally I find it much more interesting when a couple stays together, makes things work and is actually happy as that’s something we just don’t see any more.

In any event, that’s all beside the point; what I found interesting about the relationship this time around is that it reveals a key insight into our relationship with God. During one rather amusing scene, Chase and Gates create a distraction with an argument: a very loud argument in Buckingham Palace. As it turns out, the fight is personal as much as it is for show.

The problem is, Abigail resents the fact that Ben doesn’t ask Abigail what she thinks or what she wants to do because he believe he already knows. Despite the fact that he’s usually right, Abigail feels it’s wrong for him not to ask the question just because he believes he already knows the answer. That’s not fair to her, and it doesn’t really show that he cares about her as a person or about her opinions.

The really fascinating tidbit about this, as I found out first-hand during press functions to promote the film, is that actress Diane Kruger admitted this is an argument that she has on a regular basis with her boyfriend. She ended up using her real-life arguments to improvise the fight scene for the film with Nic Cage—much to the embarrassment and consternation of her boyfriend.

Most of us would probably agree with Abigail—and Kruger—that it’s rather insensitive for someone to forgo the courtesy of asking someone what they want, what they think, or what their opinion is just because we think we already know the answer. That’s just not how a healthy relationship should work.

If that’s true, then why would we ever expect it to be different with God? God loves us. He loves us so much that in order for us to have a relationship with him, he sent his son Jesus to die on a cross to remove our sin so that we could be in the presence of a Holy God. However, many people are intimidated or put off from having a relationship with God because they believe he’s an overbearing know-it-all. He is, after all, omnipotent. If he knows everything, what kind of relationship could we possibly have?

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