All-knowing and Unchanging

As I sat down to pray this morning I was reminded of a discussion several of us had last night about God.  We were discussing the following verses from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 1:3-4 NIV:

[3] “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. [4] For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

In our conversation we were thinking through the ramifications of God living outside of time and effectively knowing us from that vantage point.  One of our friends was looking at a commentary that brought up the fact that as our Omniscient God, He never learns anything new, because He is all-knowing. I had never really thought about that before and it definitely caused me to think more about our Omniscient God.

He knows everything.  

There is nothing that He doesn’t know, otherwise He wouldn't be all knowing.

Nothing we do surprises Him or catches Him unaware.

Every day of our life is already written in His book (Ps 139:16)

I was just re-reading the beginning of Psalm 139, and David is reflecting on these same things and somewhat overwhelmed by the thought of a God who is so all-knowing.  Here are the first few verses - Psalm 139:1-6 NIV:

[1] “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. 

[2] You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 

[3] You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 

[4] Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. 

[5] You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 

[6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

God not only knows everything we have done, He knows everything we are going to do, He knows every thought, every pondering, every wish and desire!  He knows all our ways!

That is actually a scary thought!

And yet He loves us!  He longs for us!  He desires relationship with us!  

We have a saying “familiarity breeds contempt”and this is the exact opposite.  God’s love for us, and familiarity with us is founded in love and ends in love, for He is unchanging!  

Nothing I could ever do will change His love for me, because His love for me is eternal, outside of time, and He already has seen everything I am going to do, or think of doing, and has still determined that He loves me!  

I could keep on writing, and keep on reflecting upon this mystery and I would surely never get to the end of it, but as David says, “such knowledge is too wonderful for me”.

This morning I am encouraged by God’s all-surpassing knowledge and love!  He loves me!  He will never change His mind about His love for me!  As He says in Malachi 3:6 NIV:  “I the LORD do not change…”

Thank You Lord!  Thank You for Your unchanging ways, Your unending love!

Amen!