God's omniscience is not to be confused with his foreknowledge. Foreknowledge is an act of God's eternal will. Omniscience is an attribute of his Being. Foreknowledge is something God has done and something he possesses. Omniscience is something God is, an essential part of his character as God. Omniscience is God's perfect, infinite, universal knowledge, the knowledge of all things which he possesses from eternity. Every attribute of God's glorious Being should inspire our hearts with praise and honor to his great name. And as we begin to apprehend something of his omniscience, it should cause us to bow before him with reverence and adoration.

HERE IS A SOLEMN FACT - GOD IS OMNISCIENT. "Thus saith the LORD, I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them" (Ezek. 11:5; See John 2:24; Heb. 4:12). Nothing is or can be concealed from God. He knows everything. God knows all that we do. But he knows much more. He knows our secret thoughts, motives, and desires. "The Lord looketh on the heart." God is invisible to us. But we are not invisible to God. Neither the darkness of night, nor the secrecy of the closet, nor the most remote place in the world can hide us from God. The trees of the Garden could not conceal Adam and Eve from the eye of God when they had fallen. No human eye witnessed Cain when he murdered his brother, Abel. But God saw the deed. Sarah laughed in unbelief when God promised Abraham a son. She was in her tent. Abraham did not hear her laugh. Hagar did not hear her laugh. But God heard the laughter of her unbelief. When Achan stole the wedge of gold, he carefully hid it in the earth. But God found it and brought it to light before all Israel. David took great care to cover his sin in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba. But nothing was hidden from the Lord. If we kept this fact ever before our hearts, how it would alter our lives. Nothing is concealed from God! God knows everything. God sees everything. God observes everything. He sees right through hypocrisy. He sees the thoughts and intents of the heart. He sees every word and deed. Nothing is more disturbing to the hypocrite than God's omniscience. Every hypocrite would strip God of his omniscience if he could. They seek to banish it from their minds. God says, "They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness" (Hos. 7:2). God knows all the sins of all men (Psa. 90:8). If he charges sin against you, you cannot stand before him (Psa. 130:3). But we rejoice to know that God does forgive sin through the blood of Christ (Psa. 130:4; I John 1:9).

HERE IS A WORD OF COMFORT FOR EVERY BELIEVER - GOD IS OMNISCIENT. If we could but remember in all our times that our heavenly Father knows all things, it would greatly reduce both our fears and our murmurings against him. When Hagar was cast out of Abraham's house and her son Ishmael was about to die, the Lord came to her rescue and taught her a lesson I wish I could always remember. The lesson she learned is this - "Thou God seest me" (Gen. 16:13). If my heavenly Father, the One who loves me, chose me by his grace, redeemed me by the blood of Christ, and called me to life and faith in him always sees me and knows all things concerning me, that is enough to comfort my soul in all times. I may be in trouble, but with Job I say, "He knoweth the way that I take" (Job 23:10). My troubles may be perplexing and mysterious to me. And my friends may be incapable of understanding them. But I am satisfied to know that, "He knoweth!" Though I am often weak and weary, my soul is comforted by the fact that, "He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust" (Psa. 103:14). Sometimes I stand in doubt of my motives and hold my own heart in suspicion. Even then I appeal to God's omniscience and seek comfort in it, saying, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me (See if I am yet in the way of wickedness), and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psa. 139:23-24). In times of sad failure and open sin, when my actions repudiate my profession and my deeds contradict my devotion, when my Lord comes to me and says, "Lovest thou me?", my heart appeals to his omniscience - "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee" (John 21:17). For the believer, omniscience is not a terror, but a comfort. God knows my personal weaknesses and sins. But he also knows the righteous obedience and blood atonement of Christ, my Representative. And he knows what I truly am by his own grace. Others may not know, but he knows my faith in Christ, my love for Christ, and my desire to honor Christ. Is that not enough for you?

HERE IS AN ENCOURAGEMENT IN PRAYER - GOD IS OMNISCIENT. God's omniscience, like his goodness, grace, and eternal sovereignty, encourages his saints to pour out their hearts to him in prayer. God whose knowledge is infinite is able to attend to all the needs of his people. We have no reason to fear that our petitions will not be heard, or that our cries will escape the knowledge of God. He knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts. There is no danger that you might be overlooked in the midst of all the millions who supplicate God's throne at once. His infinite mind is capable of hearing all the cries of all his saints at one time and give the same attention to all as if there were only one seeking his attention. God's knowledge is so great that he hears our prayers, even when we cannot express them in words. He hears not the language of our lips, but the longings of our hearts. We may use inappropriate language. We usually do. What language is appropriate for the ears of God? But our inability to speak as we should is no hindrance to our prayers. Listen to this promise from our omniscient God and rejoice, "It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear" (Isa. 65:24). "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16).

HERE IS A CAUSE FOR WORSHIP - GOD IS OMNISCIENT. "Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite" (Psa. 147:5). God knows everything that has happened in the past, throughout all the universe. He knows everything that is now happening. And his knowledge of all things is so infinitely great that he knows and understands everything that shall come to pass in the future. His knowledge of the future is as complete and perfect as his knowledge of the past and the present, because everything future is entirely dependent upon him. Were it possible for something to come to pass apart from his direct agency or his deliberate permission, then something would be independent of God, and he would cease to be supreme. This is not a mere abstraction, or speculative point of theology. God's complete knowledge of all the future is inseparably connected with his Godhead and with his eternal purpose of grace. God purposed all that shall be. And what he purposed must be. His Word declares, God "doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand" (Dan. 4:35). "The counsel of the Lord, that shall stand" (Prov. 19:21). Because God is infinite in wisdom and power, all that he has purposed must be accomplished. It is no more possible for God to purpose something that he does not actually accomplish than it is for him to lie. We know, trust, love, and worship One who is God, omniscient and omnipotent, all-knowing and almighty.

We know that nothing relating to the future is uncertain. Nothing in the universe is left to chance. Nothing ever has, does, or shall happen by accident. The counsels and decrees of the omniscient God must be precisely fulfilled. None of God's purposes and decrees are contingent upon the acts of his creatures or upon secondary causes. God's decrees include the secondary causes! There is no future event which is a mere possibility, something which may or may not come to pass. It is written, "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning" (Acts 15:18). That which God knows, he has decreed. And that which God has decreed is absolutely certain. He is without variableness or shadow of turning (James 1:17). He changes not in Person, in purpose, or in knowledge. Therefore, he is able to declare that future things are "things which must shortly come to pass" (Rev. 1:1).

God's perfect knowledge of all things, even future things, is clearly exemplified throughout the Scriptures. All the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the nation of Israel display his omnipotence (400 years in Egypt, 70 years of Babylonian captivity, etc.). All the prophecies concerning Christ's life, death, and resurrection (Isa. 52:13-53:10) reveal his omnipotence. All the promises and prophecies of the New Testament regarding eternity attest to our God's omniscience (Christ's second coming, the salvation of God's elect, the resurrection of the dead, the new creation, and eternity). No prophecy of Scripture can be believed apart from the omniscience of God. And the omniscience of God cannot be believed apart from the sovereign decrees and power of God. Indeed, apart from these things we cannot believe one promise of God, one Word from God, or even in God himself!

Yet, God's omniscience, his knowledge of all things, is not the cause of all things. Nothing ever comes to pass because God knows that it shall come to pass. The cause of all things is the will of God. Anyone who believes the Bible knows that Spring must follow Winter, Summer must follow Spring, Fall must follow Summer, and Winter must follow Fall as long as the world stands (Gen. 8:22). But our knowledge of these facts has nothing to do with causing the seasons of the year. Even so, God's knowledge does not cause things to happen. God's will, his decree, his predestination causes things to happen. And his knowledge is unchangeable, because his will is unchangeable. For example, God knew of Christ's death upon the cross as the sinner's Substitute, and predicted it hundreds of years before his incarnation, because in his eternal purpose Christ was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Therefore, he was delivered into the hands of wicked men and slain "by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23).

God is omniscient. "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Prov. 15:3). This knowledge of God's omniscience should fill our hearts with wonder, cause us to walk before God with great awe, inspire us with confident faith in our Lord, and fill every redeemed sinner with adoration. Here is the wonder of it: Our entire existence was known to God from the beginning. He knew from eternity everything about us, the corruption of our nature, our every sin, our every fall, and every evil thought of our hearts. Yet, from eternity he set his heart upon us! He chose us! He redeemed us! He called us! He keeps us! He even uses us for the praise of his glory!