June 2020  by Sheologie

Your God Knows It All

When my husband, Skip, and I were first dating, we were driving around one day when he turned to me and said, “Did you know that Lady Liberty’s nose on the Statue of Liberty is 4½ feet long?”

Skip’s the kind of guy who tucks away all these facts that make you go, “What? How did you know that? And what makes you think I want to know that?”

The thing is, our God knows all that and more. He really is a know-it-all. The Bible teaches that God is omniscient, which means all-knowing. The word omniscient comes from two Latin words: omnis, meaning all, and scientia, which means knowledge. So it just means that God has a perfect knowledge of all things.

That means God doesn’t learn, and no one can teach Him. He doesn’t have to sequentially build on His knowledge of things. He knows it all, and He doesn’t ever forget anything. He knows everything that has happened, everything that will happen, and even everything that might happen. And He knows the things that humankind has yet to discover.

As David wrote in Psalm 147, “His understanding is infinite” (v. 5). Omniscience is a magnificent part of God’s character, yet it can be so hard for us to grasp. That’s because we humans tend to fixate on the present, misunderstand the past, and fear the future.

But God doesn’t do that. He sees the entire tapestry of your life when you’re tangled up on one thread. He comprehends everything from every angle for all people for all time. If a doctor’s report came that you didn’t see coming, He did. If a divorce snuck up and swept the legs out from under you, He knew. If a temptation knocked at your door, He saw it coming. If a friend hurt you or a child strayed, God understands. And when you fall, God’s omniscience means He’s already there to catch you. That is incredible.

This comforting truth helps us when we’re stuck on the whys of life. Are you stuck on why something is happening? Let this settle in: you don’t have to know why, because He does. Our future is secure not because we know what lies ahead, but because we know who lies ahead: God.

When you think about God’s omniscience, think of flying on an airplane. When you get on a plane, do you go to the cockpit and start telling the pilot which lever to pull when? No. The stewardess is going to escort you to your seat and say, “Sit down, put your seat belt on, have a nice beverage, and enjoy the ride. Let the one who knows how to fly the airplane fly the airplane.”

In Psalm 50, God said, “You thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you” (v. 21). In other words, “You think I’m anything like you? No way.” The way God thinks is not the way you and I think. His knowledge is complete and perfect. And that ought to blow your mind. We don’t have to know it all and understand it all in order for it all to work out. Our job is to simply be reassured by God’s omniscience and trust Him.