Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure. (Ps. 147:5)
There’s a TV show in the UK called University Challenge. It’s a quiz show in which two teams, selected from various universities, compete against each other by answering questions on a variety of topics. My wife and I regularly watch this show but come away each time asking two things: How do we know so little? How do these teams know so much?
Knowledge is a unique human quality, and for some reason, some people possess more than others. But no matter how much knowledge we have, it is not exhaustive; there is always a limit to what even a genius knows.
God’s knowledge is one of His communicable attributes. This means knowledge is something that both God and man possess. But whereas our knowledge is limited, His is not; He is omniscient. Simply put, He knows everything about everything.
This means that God is aware of every event that has ever taken place in the universe. Nothing escapes His attention. He knows when every sparrow falls to the ground anywhere in the world. He knows about the smallest subatomic particle and the most gigantic star in the farthest reaches of the universe.
But God’s knowledge is not limited to content or bare information. As the ultimate source of all things, He knows the cause behind the effect. I can know that my eye is the organ through which I see the world around me, but I don’t know how it works. Furthermore, I don’t know how it was created or the process by which God put it together. But God’s knowledge and His creative genius are related to one another. He not only knows everything but He understands it all.
Here’s an interesting thought: God’s wisdom and His knowledge are linked. He has determined that humans have two hands. But He could equally have designed us with four or six. He knows how we would have functioned with different faculties, such as wings, but He has decided, in His wisdom and omniscience, to make us as we are.
Here’s another thought: God’s knowledge extends to the “what-ifs.” He knows what would have happened under different circumstances if events had gone in other ways. He knows not* what might* have happened if I had married that other girl I dated in high school, but what would have happened (1 Sam. 23:10–12). For that reason, I can be content in the assurance that my times are in His hands.
And here is a slightly more complex truth: God’s knowledge is also linked to His will or purpose. He doesn’t just know what will happen in the future, as if it is randomly inevitable or the outcome of unpredictable forces or arbitrary cause and effect. There is such order, even in a seemingly chaotic world, that He knows not only the what but the why, and He has foreordained everything that comes to pass.
Which, of course, leads us to ask: How does this fit with human freedom? If God knows and indeed has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, does that leave us with freedom to make choices? Yet foreordination does not remove our responsibility. We are responsible for the choices we make, but even the freedom we have falls within His purpose and knowledge.
God’s knowledge is also connected to His power (omnipotence). I have always wanted to drive a semitruck. I think I know how to drive it in theory, but if I was to climb into the cab, I’d probably crash it within minutes because I haven’t been trained. So, while my knowledge and ability do not always match, God’s knowledge and His ability always do. When He said, “Let there be light,” He not only knew what light was but how to create it instantly from nothing (Gen. 1:3).
There is an aspect of God’s knowledge that is particularly focused on humankind: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me” (Ps. 139:1). As God’s image bearers, we are fully seen and known by Him. Furthermore, as the gospel unfolds in the New Testament, we discover that our salvation in Christ is rooted in God’s knowledge and His predestining love: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29).
So how do we respond to this awesome truth? First, God’s extensive knowledge is a profound comfort to His people, particularly in perplexing times when the unexpected happens. To know that nothing happens outside of His sovereign will is a reassurance that God has always been in the place of ultimate authority and is able to make “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
Therefore, God’s omniscience (like all of His qualities) ought to drive us to our knees in the kind of humble adoration expressed by the Apostle Paul:
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. (Rom. 11:33–36)
Ligonier Ministries