It is difficult to wrap our minds around the concept of an omniscient God. When we say His knowledge is perfect, we mean there is no fact so obscure as to be beyond His awareness. This is a far cry from Hollywood’s rendition of God. Some are just not comfortable attributing to God superhuman qualities. Even religious people sometimes seem prone to take the punch out of God’s power. Famous theologians have commented on Scripture in such a way as to explain away Bible miracles as merely natural events. For example, we are told that the ancient Israelites, under the leadership of Moses, did not actually cross the Red Sea on dry ground but at a swampy place where the Egyptian chariots got stuck in the mud. Others have gone so far as to suggest that Jesus did not actually die on the cross, but that He merely passed out under the stress and later revived in the coolness of the tomb. However, if the Bible teaches falsehood in one area, how can we rely upon it in another area? And, who will set themselves up as the one who determines which parts of the Bible are true and which are humanly-originated myths?
God knows all things…past, present, and future. By comparison, we are limited to what we are able to learn from the past and what we can experience in the present. God’s perfect knowledge can be disquieting to some. But, in Hebrews 4:13, we are reminded that “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” We simply cannot hide from God because He knows everything.
But the perfect knowledge of God can also be quite reassuring. The God who knows every time a sparrow falls to the ground and can name every star in the heavens, is also the God who watchers over His people. He knows our needs better than we know them ourselves or can put them into words to bring before Him in prayer. The God who created the heavens and the earth is the God we must serve and worship. We cannot understand everything that happens to us in this life because we are limited in our resources. But we can trust in the wisdom of our all-knowing God who says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9).
God is not a man. Nor should we try to bring Him down to our level. To do so invites spiritual disaster. Instead, we should respect Him for who He is and rely upon Him as our true and living God.
— Glen Elliott —