Written by Art Lindsley, a contemporary pastor, author and senior fellow at the C.S. Lewis Institute.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones (a Welsh preacher) maintained that almost all our problems come down to an ignorance of God. If we knew who God really is, that awareness would have a deep impact on our lives. Let us consider a specific example: God’s “omniscience.” Is the teaching that God is all-knowing merely a matter of intellectual interest, or does it have profound practical implications? What are the practical benefits of meditating on the nature of God’s knowledge? Do we really want God to know us? God’s exhaustive and constant knowledge of us could be regarded as either a threat or a comfort to us, depending on how you look at it…As we consider the vastness of God’s knowledge, it should lead us to praise him…God not only sees our sins but also the right intentions of our heart…God’s knowledge ought to lead to our humility…We must beware of attempting to usurp God’s omniscience. When someone asked Augustine what God was doing before He created the heavens and earth, he replied, “He was in Himself.” When another asked him the same question, he answered, “He was building hell for such idle, presumptuous, fluttering and inquisitive spirits as you” … The root temptation of Satan in the garden was not only to deity (“You shall be as gods,” Gen. 3:5) but to knowledge. Satan said to Eve that if she ate of the tree, she would “be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:15). Let us by all means seek knowledge, but not into God’s secret counsels. God’s character and knowledge provide the philosophical basis for our knowledge. God is not contradictory, and His universe is knowable. Without this truth we could not trust our reason and science. There is much that is mysterious about God, but there is not contradiction in Him. He cannot be holy and not holy, good and not good, just and not just, and so on…this perhaps will stir us to consider more connections between God’s omniscience and our own personal and public lives, and thus lead us to a deeper knowledge of God and ourselves.
Prayer:
Written by Kristine Brown, a contemporary Christian author and speaker.
Dear Lord, I bow before you in reverence. You are the King of kings and Lord of lords. You have dominion over everything in the heavens and on earth. Yet you still care about even the smallest details of my life. That’s why I want to rejoice in you every day. You are worthy! Omnipotent Father, because of your mercy and grace you sent your son Jesus as a sacrifice for my sins. As a Father you demonstrated a love unlike anything this world has to offer. Because of that love, I will get to spend eternity with you. Lord, thank you for this ultimate gift. Without you I would have no hope. I love you with all my heart, soul, and mind! Thank you for your faithfulness that endures forever. In Jesus name, Amen.
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