Today we come to three great attributes about God that are unique to him only. The three attributes I speak of being Gods omniscience, omnipresence and his omnipotence.
* Gods omniscience - God is all-knowing
* Gods omnipresence - God is all-present/all-seeing
* Gods omnipotence - God is all-power
To me these three attributes alone qualify God as ‘THE GOD’. Have you ever asked yourself the question, why is God God? It may sound like a dumb question, but really, what makes God so special that he is the greatest being in the universe?
The first thing that makes him so great is that he is Omniscient or all-knowing.
The Completeness of Gods Knowledge
The Bible teaches us that God knows everything completely and perfectly.
God 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 does he seek information or ask questions (except when drawing men out for their own good). God can make the best decisions because he has all the facts. He knows all the possible outcomes, and all the possible effects. God knows how everything fits together. God perfectly and eternally knows all things which can be known, past, present, and future.
In Isaiah 40 we see that God required no forums, committees, consultants, engineers or rocket scientists when he made the heavens and the earth. There were no psychologists, counsellors or guru’s to show him the path of understanding. With God, there is no computer required to keep track of the names and numbers of stars, no calculators for the quantum physics equations - no God didn’t require any of these - he KNEW ALL THINGS.
In God, knowledge finds its completeness.
The Depth of Gods Knowledge
God has an astounding depth of knowledge of his creation, which also includes mankind.
The H.G. Wells classic War of the Worlds starts off like this:
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter.
This novel is, in a sense, very true. There is an intelligence greater than mans who has scrutinised and studied us, however, it is not a mortal, but THE IMMORTAL (God). Evidence of this is in Psalm 139 as to what God knew about David. What we find there concerning David, is also what God knows about us.
Searched - v1-3
Of God, David said that he had searched him. In fact, the appropriate word is ‘scouring’ - to search thoroughly and energetically. It was as if God knew every detail of Davids life - even his most private secrets.
How well had God searched David? Enough to know:
- every movement - even sitting and rising
- every daily activity
- every thought
- every word - before it was even said - knows our impulses (thought patterns)
He knows us thoroughly
Sifted - v4
God doesn’t merely know what we think; he understands what we think. He knows the hidden motives and agendas that stand behind our thought processes. "You comprehend [literally sift] my going out and my lying down". Gods eye follows our course through the day and is upon us when we retire.
Scrutinized - v5
Not only does God know us, he keeps us under scrutiny. His hand is upon us. Like a human father, God goes before us and behind us, as his hand guides us and with his knowledge, he looks after us.
Gods knowledge is a "wonder" knowledge - beyond our comprehension.
David goes on to mention another of Gods special qualities - Omnipresence.
The Greek word for God is *Theos* (Theos); which derives from the root *Theisthai* (Theisthai), which means ‘to see’. They regarded God as being the all-seeing one, whose eye took in the whole universe at a glance, and whose knowledge extended far beyond that of mortals.
Omnipresence, is the concept that God is all-present and all-seeing. David saw this God is:
Unlimited by space (v8)
There is no corner in all creation where God is not absent - if I go to the heavens, if I descend to the depths... ...you are there.
It is not a case of ‘I live near God’, but that ‘in him I live, and move, and have my being’.
This closeness of God is a far cry from what Bette Midler is trying to get across in her song "From a distance". I don’t know whether she wrote this song out of misunderstanding or spite, but I do know that it is totally wrong. Her song "From a distaince" indicates to us that God is far away and keeps his distance from earth. One gets the feeling that God has lost control, hope of regaining it, and doesn’t really care.
But God is very close to us, and believe me, he cares.
Omnipresence does not mean God is scattered in the universe.- part of him is here, another part there. His whole being is in every place.
Omnipresence differs from pantheism (belief that God is present in everything) in that there is a distinction between the creator and the created.
If God is all-seeing, then it must be impossible to hide from him. Jeremiah mentions this in:
Jeremiah 23:24 - Can anyone hide in secret places so that I can not see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord
David asks in v7? Where can I go from your Spirit? where can I flee from your presence?
Undaunted by Speed (v9-10)
If I rise on the wings of dawn (travel at the speed of light from east to west (to David, the far side of mediterranean sea¸ he could not escape from the Lord. Rather, the hand of the Lord would lead and comfort him. Even if I settle on the far side of the sea, New Zealand, your hand will guide me (Praise God!)
Unaffected by Darkness (v11-12)
Even in the blackest of nights, or the darkest of places, there is no hiding place from God - he sees us as if it were the light of day. Infra-red? Ultrasonic? No - but God knows where to find us. He knows:
Saddam’s nuclear bunkers, Salmon Rushdie’s address, all the missing children in New York, America’s most wanted crim’s, central Auckland. He also witnessed the true story behind princess Diana’s death.
God sees all.
As Jonah experienced, you can’t even hide in the belly of a whale in the depths of the sea. He saw and he heard Jonah in that dark place.
No one can escape the presence of God
Add to these two great attributes a third - Omnipotence (All Power)
This word originates from the word ‘almighty’. It describes Gods ability to do anything he wants.
There are things God does not want to do. These limitations, if this is the correct word to use, are:
Natural limitations - things contrary to Gods nature
He can not lie (Tit 1:2)
Be tempted to sin (James 1:13)
Deny himself (2 Tim 2:13).
Remember a forgiven sin
Self-Imposed Limitations - things he has not chosen to include in his plan
He did not choose to spare his son
He did not choose to save all people
He did not choose all nations in old testament times
He did not choose Esau
He did not choose to spare James (Acts 12:2).
Though he could have done any of these things without being inconsistent, he did not choose to do so in his plan.
With all these aside, consider some aspects of Gods power:
* Creation - God made this world out of sheer nothingness. He is so powerful, that he simply spoke and the worlds came into being. In this great creation, God is not left drained or lethargic.
* Sovereign - God did not create the world and retire - he governs it and sustains it. God does not have ‘bad days’ or ‘time-outs’. Isaiah 40:28 God never wearies.
God is also soveriegn over rulers and authorities - he establishes and tears down nations as he wants.
Prov 21:30 - there is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord
* Redemption - The power of God is seen in the miraculous conception of Jesus. God is so powerful as to fuse the two natures - human and divine into one person. Raising Christ from the dead and snatching us from the power of darkness was a tremendous display of Gods power. The power of the Gods gospel can change the human heart. The power of God preserves us in his grace.
Nothing is too hard for God.
In Psalm 139, David is captivated by Gods power in his life. This power is displayed even:
Prior to Birth
The language David uses is figurative in that ‘creating’ and ‘knitting’ describe Gods involvement in the natural process of reproduction. In the womb he was woven together, literally embroided - this suggests his veins and arteries. (Davids frame means his skeleton and his unformed body may be his embryo). When he was being formed in the womb he was as remote to the human eye as the lower part of the earth, but God saw ever detail.
Even Davids rudimentary knowledge of the human body led him to be in awe and wonder. He praised God over the thought of how marvelously he had been made.
With what does one compare the human body to? It is a fantastic machine.
I wish we had a computer at work like this machine - runs for 90 years with no upgrades ! Pity about the memory though. I wish my computer rendered pictures as quick as the eye did.
Its not just me thats like this... Even the genious’s of this world are amazed. In the New York Times last year computer tycoon Bill Gates shared his thoughts on Gary Kasparov being beaten by a computer (called ‘Deep Blue’) at chess. This is a portion of what he said:
Now a computer called "Deep Thought" has won and, as I said, the victory has little significance. It just proves that a bunch of chess experts with a computer can outplay a lone genius.
Humans gave Deep Thought algorithms that let it evaluate different chess positions, a knowledge of book openings and the ability to try out billions of possible chess moves each minute. The machine is highly specialized. It does one thing: it plays chess. It can’t even play checkers or balance a checkbook, let alone appreciate humor or reason with a child.
Human intelligence involves generality. A human being can be put into a general situation, understand that situation, learn new things and apply that knowledge to other situations. Playing chess can help teach a person how to apply strategy in other games or situations and possibly even succeed in business, but playing chess can’t teach a computer anything. The chess-playing computer doesn’t have one iota of generality.
It’s impressive that a big, breathtakingly expensive computer can perform billions of calculations amazingly fast.....What is awesome now, and will remain so then, is the human brain.
What kind of incredible pattern-recognition algorithm does the brain use that makes it so effective that it takes a supercomputer to beat it in a game of chess? It’s a complete mystery how the brain, which sends signals relatively slowly, can recognize and react to patterns incredibly quickly.
Gary Kasparov’s brain can play checkers, translate Russian to English, and rapidly cope with new circumstances. It can also beat Deep Thought in chess some of the time. That’s awesome.
Today, we too, marvel with David at the complexity of the human body. The scientific study of the human body can only underscore Davids conclusion a thousand fold. - "I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made".
In the womb, God sees more than the detail of the unformed body - he also sees their entire life. God in his omniscience knew the life of the child before it had even been born. There is no journal made moment by moment - these days are ordained "before one of them came to be".
During life
David went on to marvel at how much he was in Gods thoughts moment by moment. Gods thoughts towards David outnumbered the sand itself (innumerable). It was not a past event in Gods planning stages before he was born, for David said that "When I awake, I am still with you" (v18). He may have lost consciousness of God in sleep, but God never lost consciousness of him.
What an awesome God we have !
Its important that we learn something tonight about how we go about living with these truths. So how should all this influence us as we go about our life?
I believe there are three issues that we need to firmly cement in our minds tonight:
Omnipresence - God sees you
God sees you— he sees you as much as if there were nobody else in the world for him to look at. As I look out from the pulpit to you and beyond, my attention is divided as to who or what I look at; but God is able to grasp a million objects at once, as it there were nothing else but that one. Imagine if all the stars were blotted out, the earth gone, the angels and every other creature dead, and you are left alone, the last person - how God could observe you. But God does really look at you as if you were the only person he has ever made. This very moment, God sees you - you - you - you.
God sees you entirely. He is not put off by your appearance, he looks within.
God sees you constantly. God sees you where ever you are - in public or private, and at all times.
God sees you supremely. He sees you for what you really are. No one knows you better than God.
What does this mean:
To the Prayerful. God sees you: and if he can see you, surely he can hear you. Perhaps you cannot say a word when you pray. God understands. He knows the desire, when words stagger under the weight of it; he knows the wish when language fails to express it.
To the Fearful. When you have doubts, anxieties, and fears, you are not alone in the world; there is at least one eye regarding you; there is one hand that is ready to assist you. Don't give up in despair. God can see your care, your troubles, and your anxieties and he wants to comfort you.
To the Careful. If your doing the best you can for God, keep it up - God sees and will reward you, whether it may be in this age or the next. While you have to live by faith and not by sight for the short time you are on this earth, as Gods friend, you will have a special closeness of his presence and be able to enjoy special times with him.
Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." - in worship, fellowship
Matthew 28:20, "Surely I with you, even to the end of the age." - to the end of time
Romans 8:38-39 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord." - unseperable
To the Sinful. - If you have never come to God for forgiveness for sins, then take note. When you sin, wherever you may be or whatever you do, remember that Gods eyes are looking on you. It is in the sight of a holy God that you sin, and should you not turn from it, he will bring you to justice. And as an eye witness, how easy it will be for him to condemn you. Turn from your sin to Jesus
May be you are a christian who struggles with sin. Keep listening - Gods wisdom and power can set you free.
Not only does God see you, in his Omniscience - God knows you
As omniscience states, God knows everything, therefore he is not surprised by anything. God is not surprised that we sin, even when we try not to, because he knows more than anyone else what the human heart is really like.
So how can God in his omniscience be of help to us?
Salvation:
The fact that each one of us is not perfect, means that Gods omniscience is a problem to us. If God knows all our thoughts and motives, then we stand condemned before him. But God has provided salvation (a way of escape) from his judgment that we deserve, and it was through the death of Jesus Christ that we have this. This was no accident - it was planned by an all-knowing, all-wise God. Through the death of Christ, we can be free from sin, death and judgment. But thats not all - God can then begin a process of change in our lives. 2 Cor 3:17 says, "for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
(Gods grace is also seen through his omniscience in that he is infinitely merciful to the sins we committed and will commit in the future. For God to forgive all the sins he does, the many sins we commit each day, is an act of unrivaled grace and compassion. It is one thing to be unaware of offenses and forgive, it is quite another to be totally aware of offenses yet still forgive.)
Gods grace gives us tremendous Security:
Nothing can ever come to light in the believers life that would surprise God and cause him to cast him out. No enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since his knew us totally before we knew him.
Sensitivity:
Since God is an all-knowledgable being, we should be extremely sensitive to every warning he gives us. He does not warn us on the basis of only guessing what might happen. He knows.
Sensibility:
God not only gives us warnings, he has plenty of advice to offer and and past case studies to go by, all written down in his Word to us. Its the instruction manual from the manufacturer, so it makes sense that we should read it.
Solace:
When faced with those inexplicable circumstances in life, we invariably take refuge and find solace (comfort in misery) in the omniscience of God. Not only does he know what actually happened, but he knows what might have happened. He always knows what ultimate good and glory will come from events which we cannot understand.
In light of all this we need to be Serious and thoughtful:
We need to remember that there is nothing we can hide from Jesus. He knows us inside and out---he knows our joys and heart aches, he knows when we are obedient and faithful to him and when we disobey and sin---and someday we will be held accountable to what we have said and what we have done while on this earth.
We should be in similar mind as Paul when he said his goal is to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience to Christ (2 Cor 10:5).
But this is harder than it sounds.
This is where Gods Omnipotence comes in - that God comforts you
God comforts us in that he offers his power to us. This is not referring to his creation power or the power to sustain the universe, it is a special power that he works within us - it is one of inward renewal. One of the most powerful demonstrations of Gods power is the power to change the human heart.
Many of you here today, are a testimony that God has the power to change a heart.
Just think about this tremendous power to transform a heart:
When God made the world, he met with no opposition
he had nothing to help him
he had nothing to hinder him
God bought about one miracle - he spoke the word and the worlds came into existence.
For a person to come to the state of renewal (or salvation)
satan opposes him,
the state of a mans heart and conscience he must convict - what a hindrance!
he works many miracles (blind see, deaf hears the voice of God, dead is raised)
Gods power enables us to conquer sin in our lives. While we don’t instantly become Pastor Awesome overnight, God can work through us, even when we are not aware of it. It does however, take a conscious effort to resist temptation and sin. If we have a problem that we can’t handle, especially a temptation that we are really gullable for, Gods power is available for us to overcome it. This is the same power that enabled Jesus to live a perfect life on earth. Whats important here is that we trust God, study his Word, and do our best to follow him, and sincerely ask God to deal with the specific sins in our lives. It is then that we will experience Gods awesome power to truely transform us.
Gods power assures us that he is strong enough to keep us from being snatched out of his hands. That is, that we can never be taken away from him and loose that promise of eternal life. Romans 8:38 says that nothing can overcome Gods power to separate us from him - not death, life, angels, demons, the present, the future, nor any powers, no height or depth or anything in creation - his power will keep us.
Gods power gives us comfort that his work on earth will continue, that the church will continue, and not even the gates of hell will prevail against it. While many have tried to rid the earth of Christianity, it has never worked. Gods work will continue to grow, and the harvest will continue.
Gods power gives us confidence to face the future. When we look at what he has done in the past, and his acts of power in our lives and others, it is with hope that we look to the future. Knowing that Christ has conquered death and that on the other side is an eternity with him is the greatest comfort that any person could ever experience.
As well as our hope for eternity, we know that God has a special plan for us on this earth. If God has a book on our lives and takes so much care of the intricate details at birth, if his thoughts towards us are uncountable, then surely he has a purpose for us. I believe God goes out of his way to show his power in peoples lives. A wasted life is not in Gods plans for any person. Jesus came that you may have life and have it to its fullest. All I can say is that his perfect plan for you certainly includes him at the forefront. I certainly hope you experience his plans for you.
Though my walk with God may not have been as long some of yours, my conclusion about God is that he alone is the greatest being in the universe, and that there is no competition for that spot. Whats more important though is that he takes the top spot in my life in everything - and thats a real challenge. Its a challenge I face day by day, relying on God to get me through. I would never make it if it wasn’t for God being who he is - he is ‘THE GOD’. I also call him ‘MY GOD’. I hope you can to.
Omniscience - God all-knowing
The Completeness of Gods knowledge
The Depth of Gods knowledge
Searched
Sifted
Scrutinized
Omnipresence - God all-present / all-seeing
Unlimited by Space
Undaunted by Speed
Unaffected by Darkness
Omnipotence - God all-powerful
Gods Limitations
Natural - things contrary to Gods nature
Self-Imposed - things chosen not to include in Gods plan
Gods Power
Creation
Sovereign
Redemption
Life Plan
Omnipresence - God sees you
Entirely - God is not put off by appearance, he looks within
Constantly - God sees you - in public and private, and at all times
Supremely - God sees you for what you really are
What does this mean for the:
Prayerful - A listening ear
Fearful - A comforting hand
To you who are:
Careful - A close friend
Sinful - A condemning eye-witness
Omniscience - God knows you
Gods Provision:
Salvation - No condemnation
Security - No accusation
Our Response:
Sensitivity - Listening to warnings
Sensibility - Learning of wisdom
Solace - Refuge in God
Seriousness - Accountability to God
Omnipotence - God comforts you
Gods Power for You:
Sin - Conquered
Eternity - Safe
Future - Secured
Gods Plan for You:
Purposeful - Life to the Fullest
