God’s Character
January 24, 2021
As a parent there are certain things that are most important when it comes to my children. If I asked you about what comes to mind first - as aunts, uncles, grandparents or parents . . . obviously, we want them to be healthy, happy, content with life, a Jesus follower and more. When it comes to my boys besides those - - is this . . .
I want to know where they are! You know what I mean? One is almost 21 and the other is 23 and living on his own. But, I still want to know where they are at almost anytime of the day. I want to know their school or work schedules. I always had their school schedules posted in my office.
Well, 2 weeks ago the younger one went away for a few days with some friends. He was supposed to go on a mission trip which was cancelled due to covid. I said, let us know how the drive is and when you arrive. It was about a 6.5 hour drive. Which if you drive with me, means - we will arrive in 6 hours! No stopping for sight seeing, no bathroom breaks unless we need gas! You feel for Debbie don’t you?!
Well, it’s 9 and nothing --- 9:30 - 10 - 10:30 - 11. NOTHING!! Do I drive to Tennessee? Do I call the police? I’m worried and admittedly . . . angry!
Finally, he calls telling us he’s there! It’s a really bad connection, and we lose him 4 or 5 times. Later he tells us he texted us at 9:30, but they had no cell service and he didn’t know that. But, he emails me, writing - - - we have WI-FI, but no cell service, do you know what that means?
Really!?!?! I’m getting older but I get it. My point is this . . . I want to know where my kids are. I don’t care if they are 30, I want to know where they are and that they are well. PERIOD!
Well, that’s kind of a long story, but I thought appropriate as we continue to look at the attributes of God. I really believe in our world it is so important to know and understand who God is.
For the past 2 weeks, we’ve looked at the fact that God is eternal, infinite and omnipotent (all powerful). Today, with that story in mind, we were going to look at the 2 omnis about God, that God is omniscient and omnipresent. But after talking to my friend Tim, who’s a pastor in Iowa, he said just stick with one per week. So, you can get to lunch about 25 minutes earlier than you would have if I combined them both.
We’re going to start with where I was struggling the other week. It was the fact that I’m not omniscient. Omniscient comes from 2 words . . . OMNI = all and if you took the original meaning of SCIENCE from the Latin, it means “to know.” So, omniscience is about God being all-knowing.
I think many of us would like to be all knowing. We have some acquaintances who might say are “know it all.” But we would like that trait. It would be a blessing and a curse. If someone was lying to us we’d know. Haven’t you ever had someone tell you something and you really wondered if they were being honest or if they were stretching the truth. We would know it. We could call them on it. But the bad side is we would know it. We might not be too happy about someone we love lying to us. I’ve had lots of people tell me things, and sometimes you learn the truth, and sometimes you know they are full of hot air anyways.
In classical theology the doctrine of God’s omniscience means God knows all things - - - past, present and future, real and potential, and He knows them all at the same time. He not only knows what was, He knows what is, He also knows what will be.
If we were to look for instances of God’s omniscience in the Bible, it’s not really hard to find many scriptures.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. - Psalm 147:5
For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. - 1 John 3:20
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. - Hebrews 4:13
5 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 1:5
“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. - 1 Chronicles 28:9
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. - Psalm 139
I want to comment on Psalm 139 for a moment, then move on from there.
If you go back through these verses, God knows when we sit down and when we stand up. He knows when we plop into the lazy boy and when we go into the kitchen for another snack. Sitting and rising up in some ways represents our actions throughout the day. God knows every move we make.
David then added, God knows and discerns our thoughts. UGH! That’s not always a good one. You know what I mean? Anyone with me on this? How many times have you asked someone what they were thinking - - or a penny for your thoughts?
God doesn’t have to ask, He knows. And in spite of knowing our thoughts, He still love you so much that He was willing to send His Son for you.
Jeremiah tells us this -
10 I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. - Jeremiah 17:10
In verse 3 David tells us that God knows where we go. God knows where we go, because He can see everything, and can discern everything.
God knows what we say before we even say it. If you’re at all like me, you often don’t know what’s going to come out of your mouth until you say it. God not only hears everything we say, He knows what we’re going to say, even before the thought or words come flying out.
And lastly, God knows what we need before we need it. And I love how David concludes this part, because we are going to look more at Psalm 139 next week.
In verse 6 David says this -
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. - Psalm 139
As David considers the fact that God knows him completely, he is so totally blown away by that realization. He says this knowledge is too wonderful for me. It’s too lofty that I can’t fully grasp it.
He can’t even begin to understand, much less describe, the depth of God’s personal knowledge of his every action, of his every thought, of his every trip, of his every word, and of his every need.
Isn’t that great what David is telling us about God’s knowledge? These are really only scratching the surface. Think about the following images from other passages--
God numbers the hairs on your head and knows how many you have. - Luke 12:7
He knows your words and thoughts before you speak them. - Psalm 139:4
He knows your thoughts before you think them. - Psalm 139:2
He knows your prayers before you pray them. - Matthew 6:8
He knows when you get up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. - Psalm 139:2-3
He knows everything you are going to do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and every moment of every day until the moment of your death. - Psalm 139:16
He knows every word you say and we will have to give account for every careless comment. - Matthew 12:36
He sees everything you do in secret—both the good and the bad. - Matthew 6:4
He hears every whispered word and will shout them from the rooftops. Luke 12:3
No wonder David exclaimed as he thought about how much God knew about him, saying, “You hem me in — behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.” - Psalm 139:5
As we consider God’s knowledge and ours, there are some important contrasts we need to think about. First, God’s knowledge is independent, ours is dependent. No one has ever taught God anything because His knowledge is complete from the beginning. There was never a day God was without complete and full knowledge. But our knowledge is dependent in that we must learn what we know.
Second, God’s knowledge is infinite, ours is finite or partial. God knows everything that could be known, we know a tiny fragment of what could be known. Think about it this way . . . have you ever had a new revelation or idea about something in life? Maybe it was personal, work or school related. Maybe it was something spiritual. Whatever it was, that doesn’t happen to God. Think about it this way - - - nothing new has ever occurred to God. Isn’t that crazy and great at the same time.
That may sound kind of strange, because things pop in our minds all the time. But, it’s true, nothing has ever “just occurred” to God. He never wakes up and says, “Hey, I’ve got a great idea!” Understand, He never sleeps, therefore He never wakes up. And God knows all the great ideas all the time from the beginning of time. Nothing creeps up on God and catches Him off guard.
Have you ever walked into a room and wondered why you walked in there in the first place. We retrace our steps to figure out why we came in there, if we remember. That doesn’t happen to God. He is all wise and never forgets.
Also, God knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows our hearts and spirits and minds. That’s why later in Psalm 139, David prayed - 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart. - Psalm 139:23
God knows things about us we don’t know about ourselves.
Writing over 100 years ago, the great preacher Charles Spurgeon used a powerful word to describe God’s knowledge of our hearts. He said that everything in the heart is “transparent” to God. Nothing is hidden, everything is clearly seen. That goes back to Hebrews 4, where the writer tells us God can see into our hearts and spirits.
Again, consider the words in 1 Chronicles - of God --
9 The Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts - 1 Chronicles 28:9
3 The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good - Proverbs 15:3
The tough part on all of this is that the next time we are tempted to think that no one can hear what we’re saying or no one knows what we’re thinking - - we’re wrong. One day we will give an account for every careless word and unspoken thoughts.
God’s omniscience can be comforting for us. If God truly knows all things, then whatever I’m going through, good or bad, is not a surprise to God. He has it all under control, even if I don’t. That’s a huge comfort to me.
Don’t worry about 2 or 3 weeks from now, because God has already been there. God knew what would happen in our country. The past year totally caught us off guard. We were caught by surprise. The virus caught us, the social justice issues caught us, the election caught us. But not one moment of 2020 surprised God. He knew, He was there and He will continue to be here. And nothing in this year will be a surprise to God.
Jeremiah reminds us that nothing is hidden from God. He tells us --
17 For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. - Jeremiah 16:17
And if you don’t have anything to fear . . . then my friends that is great news. If you do have something to fear. If you need to repent and come to God, then today is a great day to make it happen. All you have to do is say YES to Jesus.
In the end, we trust that God can be everywhere, at the same time. Psalm 121 reminds us that God never sleeps or slumbers. There’s no nap time for God. He's aware every moment of every day, exactly what we're up against. He knows our way, and is always with us. There's no place on this earth we can go that He doesn't see us and know what we’re doing.
Because God is all-knowing, we can trust that He knows everything we’re going through today and everything we will go through tomorrow. When we meditate on this truth, especially in light of His other attributes, it makes it easier to trust Him with all we have going on in our lives, from the very serious to the silly and mundane. God is aware of all we go through.
J.I. Packer wrote - - “I am never out of God’s mind. There is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted from me, no moment when His care falters … There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself.”
Because He knows us perfectly, thinks of us constantly, and searches us completely, we don’t feel spied on; we feel watched over. We feel secure. Having placed our confidence in Christ, no skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to expose our past and no character flaw can come to light that would make God turn away from us. He already knows everything about us - and still loves us!
