The Omniscience of God

(Article for publication week of 6-30-2010 AD)

"Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord Thou knowest it altogether" (Psalm 139: 3-4).

The omniscience of God means that He knows everything. The Psalmist here in our text declares that God knows every word that he has ever spoken and every word that he will ever speak. God knows every fact that can be known. He knows everything that has ever been done and everything that ever will be done. He knows every thought that every person has ever thought. He knows where every animal is in the forest and where every fish is in every ocean, river and lake. He knows where every germ is. And this He knows at once. Right now He knows what every person on earth is doing and what everyone will do tomorrow. He knows everything past, present and future. God has never learned anything, for He knew the end from the beginning and He has never been surprised by anything. Well would the Psalmist go on in Psalm 139 and say, "such knowledge is too wonderful for me”!

God knows what you are thinking right now. He knows everything you have ever said. He knows everything you have ever done. He knows everywhere you have ever been. He knows every website you have ever visited. Sinners may hide their sins from their parents or from the sheriff or from the pastor, but you have never hidden anything from God. The eye of the Lord is in every place beholding the good and the evil. Poor sinner, does it not strike fear and terror into your trembling heart to know that God has beheld all your sins? When you stand before Him on the Day of Judgment, He will know all about you and all your transgressions against Him. What an awful thought! The omniscience of God should provoke you to repent of your sins and cry out to Him for mercy before it is everlastingly too late!

But, on the other hand, the omniscience of God is a glorious comfort for the children of God. Job said in Job 23:10, "He knoweth the way that I take." God knew His people before they ever had a being in themselves. He knew every trial we would ever go through. He knew every sorrow we would ever have. He knew our desperate condition when we were lost in our sins. And He knew everything that He would do for our salvation. God knows our every need, and He knows what we need before we ask and what is for our eternal good. He knows what we will pray, before it enters into our minds to pray. Our great and good God knows everything about us.

And not only does He know, but He cares. God cared for us in eternity past when He marked us out for His Own and ordered our salvation and made it sure in His Eternal Son. He cared for us when He showed us what sinful wretches we are, and He cared for us when we cried for mercy. And He will continue to care for the objects of His everlasting love. God in His omnipotence and His omniscience is working all things out for our eternal and spiritual good (Romans 8:28). God knows all things, because He has decreed all things for His Own glory and the good of His people. Let us worship the omniscient God of heaven and earth.