Isaiah
46:8-10 “Remember this, and be assured; Recall
it to mind, you transgressors. “Remember the former things long
past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from
the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying,
‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish
all My good pleasure.”
We are in week
three of our Friday evening small group home Bible study on the topic of
“knowing God”, our all-powerful, all-knowing and everywhere present Lord, all
the time. What peace, confidence and courage in our heavenly Father brings. In Daniel
4:34-35, Nebuchadnezzar blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion
is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. “All the inhabitants of the earth are
accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the
host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What
have You done?’” We are accountable to our Maker? There
is a purpose for everything that our sovereign God does, even if we don’t know
it or its beyond our limited comprehension. There is a Divine plan and purpose
at work in this world and in our lives. God knows what He is doing. Yet people do
question God, don’t they? So often
people judge God (His person, His ability, His activity of lack of action)
based on how they would handle things if they were running the world. Does
mankind created in God’s image, create in their mind a god in theirs?
Isaiah 29:16 You turn things upside down, as if the
potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who
formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot
say of the potter, “He knows nothing”?
In an effort to
help people know God, to understand the attributed qualities that make Him God,
theologians have used various words to describe His attributes; among them are
the terms omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. Omni (meaning “all”) is
combined with the three different words, (1) “science” (meaning knowledge) –
God is all-knowing. There is nothing that God does not know. (2) “potence”
(meaning “powerful”). No one and nothing is more powerful than God. His power
is inherent, part of His being as God. (3) “presence” (meaning “present here
and now”). There is no place where God is not present. Absolutely nothing is
beyond God’s reach. TO be clear, this is not saying that God is “in everything;
that is “pantheism”, a false belief, which is contrary to the Word of God in
its totality and context.
Psalm
139:7-8 explains: “I can
never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go
down to the grave, you are there.” Verses 15-16 continue,
“You watched me as I was being formed in
utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every
day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day
had passed.” Our all-powerful Creator God is
all-seeing and all-knowing because He is ever-present as Spirit. Do we live
this truth out in our daily lives? We are incomplete. It is God who completes
us and our times are in his hands.
Psalm 139:23-24 comes to this concluding prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead
me in the way everlasting."
These omni-attributes of God mean that the child of God is never alone
and never without help. Knowing who Almighty God is, and that He covers our every
need with His presence from conception to and through physical death, ought to
bring us such great comfort, confidence and joy. Let’s shape our lives around
this Omni-God.
In Christ, Brian
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