Weekly Newsletter
Pastor David’s Weekly Devotional
Imagine how powerful you would be if you knew only 24-hours into the future. Not only could you win the lottery – every time! – but avoid many of life’s painful experiences and even be able to save and destroy lives. With only a day’s worth of foresight you could change the world as you know it, and rather easily change the course of human history. The power and influence you could possess, with even just a few hours of foreknowledge, is staggering.
Now imagine knowing everything – from eternity future to eternity past and everything in-between – every decision and indecision, action and inaction, thought and imagination. To be sure, that is quite a bit harder to imagine let alone comprehend. This is because as finite and moral creatures, we cannot fully grasp the attributes of the infinite and immortal God. Only God is omniscient. Which means only God has perfect, exhaustive, and infinite knowledge of all things (and God always uses His foreknowledge for good).
God’s knowledge is absolutely comprehensive, and utterly incomprehensible to us. Scripture repeatedly affirms both of these truths. The Psalmist declared, “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Ps.147:5; cf. Ps.139:1-6). In similar fashion, the apostle Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom.11:33-36). John put it succinctly, “[God] knows everything” (1Jn.3:20).
In his typical brilliance, A.W. Tozer defined God’s omniscience this way:
The fact that God is omniscient should be a great comfort to every believer, and a great terror to every unbeliever. For the unbeliever must realize they cannot hide from God, and God is not fooled by any duplicity or hypocrisy. The believer, on the other hand, can be assured that God knows everything about them, and with that perfect and exhaustive knowledge God sovereignly determined to forgive them of all their sins and has declared His sovereign love for them in Christ Jesus.
Together in and for Christ,
Pastor David
Scripture Readings for the Week (Monday – Sunday ~ Week #21):
Exodus 29-32; 2 Samuel 20-24; Psalm 60-62; Job 41-42; Jeremiah 42-46; Luke 5-6; 2 Corinthians 11-13
Recommended Reading:
“The Pursuit of God” by A.W. Tozer
Imagine how powerful you would be if you knew only 24-hours into the future. Not only could you win the lottery – every time! – but avoid many of life’s painful experiences and even be able to save and destroy lives. With only a day’s worth of foresight you could change the world as you know it, and rather easily change the course of human history. The power and influence you could possess, with even just a few hours of foreknowledge, is staggering.
Now imagine knowing everything – from eternity future to eternity past and everything in-between – every decision and indecision, action and inaction, thought and imagination. To be sure, that is quite a bit harder to imagine let alone comprehend. This is because as finite and moral creatures, we cannot fully grasp the attributes of the infinite and immortal God. Only God is omniscient. Which means only God has perfect, exhaustive, and infinite knowledge of all things (and God always uses His foreknowledge for good).
God’s knowledge is absolutely comprehensive, and utterly incomprehensible to us. Scripture repeatedly affirms both of these truths. The Psalmist declared, “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Ps.147:5; cf. Ps.139:1-6). In similar fashion, the apostle Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom.11:33-36). John put it succinctly, “[God] knows everything” (1Jn.3:20).
In his typical brilliance, A.W. Tozer defined God’s omniscience this way:
“…He knows all that can be known. And this He knows instantly and with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn.
God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell.
Because God knows all things perfectly, He 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 (except when drawing men out for their own good) does He seek information or ask questions” (p.56).
The fact that God is omniscient should be a great comfort to every believer, and a great terror to every unbeliever. For the unbeliever must realize they cannot hide from God, and God is not fooled by any duplicity or hypocrisy. The believer, on the other hand, can be assured that God knows everything about them, and with that perfect and exhaustive knowledge God sovereignly determined to forgive them of all their sins and has declared His sovereign love for them in Christ Jesus.
Together in and for Christ,
Pastor David
Scripture Readings for the Week (Monday – Sunday ~ Week #21):
Exodus 29-32; 2 Samuel 20-24; Psalm 60-62; Job 41-42; Jeremiah 42-46; Luke 5-6; 2 Corinthians 11-13
Recommended Reading:
“The Pursuit of God” by A.W. Tozer
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