Devotional 39: God is Omniscient (all-knowing)

After the Apostle Paul expounds on the sovereignty, severity, and kindness of God in Romans chapter 11, he breaks out in adoration of God’s knowledge, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (vs.33-36).  How often have you recognized and praised God for his unsurpassed and limitless knowledge?

A.W. Tozer elucidates the unequalled brilliance of God as follows:

God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, . . . all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desire, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell.

Because God knows all things perfectly, He knows no thing better than any other thing, but all things equally well.  He never discovers anything, He is never surprised, never amazed. He never wonders about anything nor (except when drawing men out for their own good) does He seek information or ask questions (A. W Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, N. Y.:  Harper, 1987, pp.62-63).

Job recognized the genius of God when he said, “With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding” (Job 12:13).  How can recognizing and then living according to the truth that God knows everything influence our daily lives?

First, we can trust the all-knowing God. The prophet Isaiah challenged Israel to trust God, “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God’? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:27-28).  Job in great trials and difficulties could trustingly say, “But [God] knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:10).  We can trust our knowing God as Jesus taught, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”  Do you trust God?

Second, we cannot hide anything from the all-knowing God, so why try?  The Psalmist says, “If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart” (Psalm 44:20-21).  Remembering that God knows everything should move us to quick confession and repentance of sin.  Furthermore, God’s unlimited and complete knowledge should be a deterrent to any decision to commit sin. God warns us through his prophet, “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory” (Isaiah 66:18).  Are you trying to hide something from God?  Stop!—it’s impossible!

Can you relate to what David the sweet Psalmist of Israel expressed about God’s knowledge?

O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it  (Psalm 139:1-6).

May God richly bless you as you meditate on the following Scripture about our all-knowing God!  Let’s acknowledge Him, honor Him, and worship Him!

With Prayer,  Pastor Mark

© March, 2012         Scripture quoted: ESV – Emphasis added

Verses for our meditation:  God Is Omniscient (all-knowing)

Exodus 2:25,  God saw the people of Israel–and God knew.

Exodus 3:7,  Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings.”

Deuteronomy 2:7, For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.

Joshua 22:22-23, The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today for building an altar to turn away from following the LORD. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself take vengeance.

1Samuel 2:1-3, And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. “There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

Isaiah 66:18, For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory.

Psalm 94:7-11, and they say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.” Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge– the LORD–knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.

Jeremiah 1:4-5, Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 29:10-13, “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:21-23,  ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.'”

Ezekiel 11:5, And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the LORD: So you think, O house of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind.

Daniel 2:20-22, Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.

Nahum 1:7-8, The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.   But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

Matthew 6:7-8,  “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Matthew 9:4, But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?

Luke 6:8, But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there.

Luke 16:14-15, The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

John 18:4, Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”

Act 15:7-9,  And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe., bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, And God, who knows the heart and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.

Romans 8:26-31, Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

1 John 3:18-20, Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

2 Corinthians 10:5, We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.