God’s Omniscience
Immediately after graduating from college, I moved back to my hometown and started a career in teaching and coaching. There were a lot of great things that happened during the first several years I was there, but one of the not-so-great things is that I was single.
I wanted to be married. I wanted to share life with someone. I wanted to have a family and be a dad, and so as years went by, and God wasn’t doing anything, I got kind of mad. I was frustrated with Him. I often asked the question, “God, why bring me here, where there is obviously no chance of that happening?”
In other words, “God, I know more about what is best for me than you do. This is what I need, and this is what you should have done to provide that for me. You should know this. You’re God!”
Maybe you’ve been in a similar situation with a job, your finances, a divorce, a situation one of your kids was in, or maybe it’s something you are facing right now.
Whatever it was or is, you find yourself, just like me, saying,
“God, I know more about what is best for me than you do. If you’d just listen to me and do what I’m asking, then my life would be better.”
Maybe you wouldn’t say it quite as directly as that, but it’s probably something you’ve thought or at least is in the back of your mind, guiding your emotions and decisions you are making or have made.
Bur as we continue this blog series on the attributes of God, we are going to talk about an attribute of God that flies in the face of the kinds of thoughts where we say, “God, I know what is best for me.”
The attribute we are talking about is God’s omniscience.
GOD’S OMNISCIENCE
“Omni” (as referenced in the last blog post on God’s omnipresence) comes from the Latin word “omnis” which means “all,” and “science” here comes from the Latin word “Scientia” which means “knowledge.”
So “omniscience” means that God has all-knowledge. God knows all things.
We know this to be true because it is what God has revealed to us through Scripture and through the Person of Jesus Christ. Look at what 1 John 3:20 says…
If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:20)
God knows everything. Not some things, not most things, but everything! God knows everything there is to possibly know. He’s omniscient.
Here’s the way Paul Enns defines God’s omniscience in the Moody Handbook of Theology:
God knows all things actual and possible, past, present, and future, in one eternal act. (Paul Enns, Moody Handbook of Theology)
Let’s look at some of the things Scripture says specifically about this…
GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING TAKING PLACE IN OUR WORLD
In Matthew 10, Jesus says:
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (Mt 10:29-30)
Think about how many sparrows there are in our world, and this is saying that God is aware of every one of them and what is going on with each of them at all times!
Aside from that, Jesus says here that God knows how many hair follicles are on each person’s head! There 8 billion people on our planet, and God knows the number of hairs on each of their heads!
Therefore, what Jesus is implying here is that God knows everything that is going on throughout our world at all times.
That includes you, and it includes the things that you think no one else knows about you.
GOD KNOWS YOUR THOUGHTS
Scripture declares that God knows what you are thinking at all times.
Would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart? (Psalm 44:21)
One of the things I hear people often say is, “No one understands me. No one knows what it’s like to be me. No one knows what I’m going through and what is going on in my head. No one truly gets me.”
There is this thing in all of us where we want to be known. And when we don’t feel like we are known, it can be so depressing.
But God knows who you are.
In Psalm 139:13, we are told, “He knit you together in the womb.” He knows everything about you.
When it feels like you are hidden and no one sees you in this world, God does! You are known by God, and no matter what He sees or knows about you, He loves you!
That is one of the most beautiful takeaways from the omniscience of God: He knows everything about you (the good, the bad, and the ugly), and He still loves you.
You are known and loved by God.
GOD KNOWS THE FUTURE
Earlier in Psalm 139:4, David declares:
Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. (Ps. 139:4)
David is saying that God knows what he is going to say before he ever even says it. God knows the future.
Sometimes the future to us is so uncertain and can cause so much anxiety and worry because we just don’t know what is coming our way or what is going to happen in our lives. But God knows.
I mentioned earlier about the time I was single and lonely and kept saying that I knew what I needed and when I needed it. But God is all-knowing. He knew whether it was best for me to be married or not. He knew if I was to get married one day who the best fit for me would be.
And we always have to think about this in terms of God’s attribute of goodness as well. He knows all things and acts in only ways that align with His attribute of goodness!
So, after being single for 6 years, I met Natalie, and pretty much from day one of meeting her, God was so gracious to just speak to my heart and say, “This is what I knew about your future! This was my knowledge combined with my goodness that equals what was best for you.”
And of course, He was right. I’m so glad that God knows the future.
And He knows your future too. Whatever it is that you are thinking should be different in your life right now because you think you know what would be best, know today that God knows the future, and He knows where He is leading you in His goodness. You can trust Him today!
GOD KNOWS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN UNDER DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES
In Matthew 11, Jesus makes this statement in verse 21:
21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (Mt. 11:21)
Jesus is saying that He had the knowledge that if situations were different that this course of action would have been taken.
So, God knows what would have been different in any situation of our own lives or in the course of the world if we or others had made a different decision.
Do you see the number of possibilities that this could be from every person throughout all of history? And God knows them all! Do you start to see how much knowledge He has? It’s unfathomable!
Also, God is able to take all of those choices that we would make and still move the world and our lives forward in some way according to His plan, His glory, and for our goodness!
This leads us into another one of God’s attributes that is related to what God knows.
GOD’S OMNISAPIENCE
God is not just all-knowing, but He is all-wise.
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Ro. 11:33-34)
Wisdom refers to the way someone uses knowledge.
There are a lot of really smart people in our world, who have a lot of knowledge, but they’re not wise! They use the knowledge they have in unwise ways.
But not God. He is able to take all of the knowledge He has and use it in the best possible way to make the best possible decisions out of all the decisions that could be made with that knowledge.
Charles Ryrie talks about God’s wisdom this way…
The wisdom of God tells us that God will bring about the best possible results, by the best possible means, for the most possible people for the longest possible time. (Ryrie, Basic Theology)
And this is the kind of thing that can just blow your mind to try and grasp and understand, but I really appreciate the way that Chip Ingram writes about this in his book The Real God…
Our lives are like pebbles dropped into the lake of world history, and the ripples impact countless other people, generation after generation. It would take an incomprehensibly wise person to keep track of it all. The jumble of decisions, actions, and events that affect others is mind boggling. Even the small part that we do see makes us think sometimes that the world is absolute chaos. But controlling his creation is like doing simple math for God. In one instant, he sees all relationships, all impact, all costs, all implications, and how it all fits into his wise plan in a fallen world.
And because you are his child, God orchestrates or allows only the best possible results, by the best possible means, to accomplish the highest possible purpose, for the longest time, for the most people in and around your life. Only God can make the wisest choice.
We get caught up in thinking we know what's wisest because we get little windows into truth and life. We jump to conclusions about what must be done. Sometimes we're right and sometimes we're completely wrong. Unfortunately, we often put our hands on our hips and demand, “Hey God what about this situation? What about that problem? What about that person? If you had only done this or prevented that, everything would be so much better!”
Our arrogance is stunning. Every time I catch myself beginning to question God's judgment, I visit the last few chapters of the book of Job, where God responds to questions about his wisdom. He doesn't argue or defend himself. He simply points out that in the grand scope of things, we know nothing. When it comes to divine wisdom, we haven't been there, and we haven't done that.
I hate to admit it, but I know how easy it is for us to act as if we are wiser than God. We need to continually see ourselves in the proper place as creatures before our Creator.
Isn’t that so true? We are the creation of an all-knowing and all-wise God and will not always be able to see things from His perspective.
But we can trust that because of His wisdom He is bringing about the best possible results, by the best possible means, for the most possible people for the longest possible time.
HOW GOD’S OMNISCIENCE AND OMNISAPIENCE IMPACT US TODAY
If there is an all-knowing and all-wise God, then you can rest in whatever situation or circumstances you find yourself in, and you can trust that He is acting out of His love and goodness for you, the people of this world, and for His glory.
That means even if you are struggling right now and you don’t understand it. We trust that God is all-knowing and all-wise and that He is good. He can only act in ways that bring about the best possible results, by the best possible means, for the most possible people, for the longest possible time.
We don’t sit in His chair. We don’t get to always see things from His perspective, but when we know who He is and what He’s like, it allows us to trust Him, even when we are struggling or suffering in some way.
Another application for us is that God shares His knowledge and wisdom with us as we walk through this life with Him.
Look at what the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:15-16…
The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
When we put our faith and trust in Jesus for salvation, He forgives us of all of our sins, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our lives, and we are united to Jesus. And in that spiritual union, we have the mind of Christ.
That doesn’t mean we are God, but it does mean that He gives us knowledge and wisdom to be able to make judgements about where we are at in life, where we are going, what to do in certain situations.
Because of God’s omniscience and wisdom:
When you don’t know what to do to fix your marriage He does.
When you don’t know how to parent your teenager, He does.
When you don’t know what to do about your finances, He does.
When you don’t know how to talk to that person you are in conflict with, He does.
When you don’t know how to deal with your anxiety, stress, or depression, He does.
God knows and understands all things, and if you are in Christ you have access to His mind, His knowledge, and His wisdom that He shares with you. Turn to Him in every area of your life whether it’s big or small and lean on Him and His understanding!
A great verse to memorize along these lines is Proverbs 3:5-6…
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Notice it says, “all your ways.”
This is not just for big decisions (who to marry, what job to take, what house to buy). God is involved in every detail of your life.
He understands everything about you, and how He created you. He knows how this world works and how your decisions impact you and others.
So, get in the habit of “not leaning on your own understanding but rather submitting to Him in all of your ways,” and as the Proverb says, “He will make your paths straight.”
He’ll give you the knowledge and wisdom needed to move in His direction and path for your life.
