Life is full of lessons, and we are never really done learning the lessons life gives us. We are finite creatures with minds of potential infinite capacity — always learning but never arriving at knowing everything. It is impossible for our finite minds to obtain omniscience. Omniscience is possessing universe knowledge. The one with omniscience neither learns nor forgets anything.
David apprehends the divine omniscience that Yahweh possesses, and hr is awestruck with the realization that God knows him even better than he knows himself. He confesses:
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it (Psa. 139:1-6).[1]
All of us can adequately sniff out a ruse. We can pick out the lie snugly hidden between two truths, but we are far from perfect and occasionally get suckered. Not so with the omniscient. Yahweh possesses perfect knowledge of any circumstance. He can perfectly discern truth and error, good and evil, right and wrong. God has perfect knowledge of what is, what was, and what is to come. From the beginning to the end, God knows all.[2] This is what Psalms 139:1-6 tells us: Yahweh is the best judge of the 11th century BC sheepherder who became king because “God knows everything about David’s actions and thoughts—things even David does not know (139:1–6). Yet God still cares for David—a reality that David cannot fathom.”[3]
Omniscience is the divine attribute which can be simultaneously a source of comfort and penitence to everyone. “To the Christian believer,” writes J.I. Packer, “knowledge of God’s omniscience brings the assurance that he has not been forgotten, but is being and will be cared for according to God’s promise (Isa. 40:27–31). To anyone who is not a Christian, however, the truth of God’s universal knowledge must bring dread, for it comes as a reminder that one cannot hide either oneself or one’s sins from God’s view (Pss. 139:7–12; 94:1–11; John 1:1–12).”[4] Nothing comes as a surprise to God. The Lord knows us well enough to direct us in the way that will truly make our joy complete. But we can never hide anything from the one who is omniscient. Sure, there are those who actually “get a way with murder” in so far as human tribunals can deliver justice, but Judgment Day will come about, and then we will give an account to the Lord. Nothing escapes God’s eyes.
Now, Jesus Christ taught us: “When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matt. 6:7-8). If the Father is omniscient, why pray to begin with?
Even parents can know what their children will ask them before the little ones make their request. Yet going through the process kindles and cultivates the love in the relationship. Hank Hanegraaff points out: “It is crucial to recognize that supplication should not be seen as the sole sum and substance of prayers,” and “prayer is a means of pursuing a dynamic relationship with him,” but “our supplications are in and of themselves an acknowledgement of our dependence on him. And that alone is reason enough to pray without ceasing.”[5]
“In prayer we experience God as personal and powerful. He can hear us and act in response” writes R.C. Sproul, who further points out that “the Scripture teaches both the sovereign foreordination of God and the efficacy of prayer. The two are not inconsistent with one another, for God ordains the means as well as the ends for His divine purposes. Prayer is a means God uses to bring His sovereign will to pass.”[vi]
God uses instrumental means to accomplish His will. Michelangelo is great Renaissance artist who sculpted the great statue of David located in Florence, Italy, but the chisel served as an instrument for bringing out the finished masterpiece. In the same way, God uses prayers as an instrumental means of accomplishing His will. Yes, the Lord foreknows whether the prayer is positively or negatively answered, but either way every prayer is the means of accomplishing divine plans and purposes. Every prayer uttered is an active acknowledgment that the Lord’s will be done.
God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows us through and through. He knows our joy and tears, our beauty and ugliness, our strengths and weaknesses. He knows it all. Yet, God pursues a relationship with us, He enters into the stream of history to dwell with us, and that is something to awe and wonder about!
— WGN
Notes:
[1] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
[2] Psalm 139:1-6 is a passage that precludes the possibility of open theism. Open theism maintains “the future is partly open, for it includes possibilities as well as settled realities. Since God is omniscient and knows reality perfectly, God knows the future partly as a domain of possibilities” (Reknew, “God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God,” https://reknew.org/book/god-of-the-possible-a-biblical-introduction-to-the-open-view-of-god/). There are instances wherein the biblical writers tell of God repenting or relenting from a course of action (e.g., Exod. 32:14; Jer. 26:13, 19; Am. 7:1-9), and occasions wherein God offers potential outcomes for decision made by free agents (Exod. 4:1-9; Deut. 11:26-32; 27:1-28:68). However, God still knows what His free creatures will do and His knowledge of future events is more than just understanding the possibilities but He definitely knows the outcomes. The Lord knows and controls all things (Rm.8:28-30; Eph. 1:3-14). God is like the captain of a cruise ship of which we are the passengers, and while we are free to move about the ship, the Lord is piloting us onward to the port of eternity. For further related reading, cf. Hank Hanegraaff, The Complete Bible Answer Book: Collector’s Edition Revised and Updated (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008, 2016), 55-58/ Access at https://www.equip.org/bible_answers/does-god-know-the-future-2/ and https://www.equip.org/bible_answers/does-god-repent-/; Francis Beckwith, “God Knows? A Book Review of God of the Possible,” Christian Research Journal, 22, 4 [2000]: https://www.equip.org/articles/god-of-the-possible/; Norman Geisler, “Neotheism: The Dangers of Making God in Our Image,” Christian Research Journal, 20, 4 [1998]: https://www.equip.org/articles/neotheism/ Thanks for sticking with this semi-digression for this post.
[3] Barry C. Davis, The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary, ed. Gary M. Burge and Andrew E. Hill (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012), 532–533.
[4] J. I. Packer, Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1993), 32.
[5] Hank Hanegraaff, The Complete Bible Answer Book: Collector’s Edition Revised and Updated (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008, 2016), 27-28. Access at https://www.equip.org/bible_answers/why-pray-if-god-already-knows-what-we-need/ For further insights on Matthew 6:31, cf. Hank Hanegraaff, The Prayer of Jesus (Nashville: Word Publishing, 2001), 17-30.
[6] R. C. Sproul, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992), 251.
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