This week, in our study through the attributes of God we examine God’s omniscience. The New American Oxford dictionary defines omniscience as “the state of knowing everything.” It’s difficult for us to comprehend knowing everything. In fact, it’s more likely than not that you have come to accept that you do not know everything. We may know a lot about one thing, or a little about many things, but we do not know everything. However, the Lord does.
“How can God know everything?” Remember, God is not like us (Psalm 50:21), he transcends—is above, goes beyond—all things! Job asked, “Does he not see my ways and number all my steps?” (Job 31:4) And again, “For his eyes are on the ways of man and he sees all his steps.” (Job 34:21) Psalms 147:5 says that God’s “understanding is beyond measure.” When God led Ezekiel into a valley full of dry bones and asked him if the bones could live again, Ezekiel called out God’s omniscience by stating, “O Lord God, you know.” (Ezekiel 37:3) Lastly, Hebrews 4:13 tells us “no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” God knowseverything!
As the creator and sustainer of all things, God knows us physically and mentally. David said, in Psalm 139, that the Lord knows when we rise, when we sit, when we lie down; he knows our words before they come out of our mouth and he knew our days before we existed. Jesus said that the hairs of our head are numbered (Matthew 10:30 and Luke 12:7); who else could know these details except for the one who made and sustains it all?
Sovereignly, God knows us spiritually, too. He knows those who will be saved through faith in Christ (Ephesians 1:4-5), who will spend eternity with him (Revelation 13:8), the good works that he prepared for us to do before we were prepared to do them (Ephesians 2:10), and he knows our sin (Psalm 69:5) and the amount of temptation we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Finally God knows the day and the hour that Christ will return to take us to where he is (Matthew 24:36). You see, God is not out there somewhere unaware trying to figure out how to handle things, that to us, seem like they’re out of control. He is seated on his throne, omniscient, where not one thing exists without his knowledge.
Go Deeper:
Praise God for his knowledge of all things.
Read all of Psalm 139 to see how intimately God knows us.
Grace & Peace,
John
(You can reach Pastor John at jwhite@thevillagemi.com)