Word of Encouragement (4/10/2020)

Today, let us praise God for His omniscience.

Omniscience is God’s infinite Being applied to knowledge: He knows all things—of Himself, of all things that have ever existed and exist and will ever exist, as well as all thing that are possible. He doesn’t acquire knowledge through observation, reflection, examination, and experience over time (as an eternal God, He is not subject to time or sequence of time, remember?). He knows all things all at once. Nothing ever happens in this universe, which did not already exist in the omniscient mind of God. No movement of a subatomic particle, no movement of our thought is outside of God’s omniscience. How great is His infinite, divine mind!

So then, God is never caught off guard by anything. He is in absolute, full control of all things, including all the affairs of the world (like this COVID 19 pandemic we are going through) as well as all the affairs of our individual lives. How comforting it is to know this! We don’t know all that is going to happen tomorrow, or even a few hours from now. And if we knew, we might not want to go on. But God knows all our tomorrows. He knows how all things will be in the end because He decreed all things:

“I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’…” (Isa. 46:9-10).

And God assures His people,

“I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you” (Jer. 29:11-12).

The amazing thing is that these words were given to the Jews in Babylon, exiled there for the punishment of their many generations of unfaithfulness and idolatry. If so, how much better His plans must be for us, who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for our eternal salvation! And to think that Jesus sacrificed His life for us, fully knowing all our shortcomings and failures, all our sins and all the wickedness we are capable of!

We don’t know many things. We don’t know about tomorrow, what our future holds. But we know who holds our future in His mighty, nailed-pierced hands! When we find our hearts churned and thrashed by fear and all the cares of the world, we can say to ourselves, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God!” (Ps. 42:5) and direct our prayers to Him in hope, casting all our cares upon Him because He cares for us (1 Pet. 5:9).

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