The One who knows
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I write my blog post a few days before you read it. So today, I’m imagining the moment this comes to you all on Wednesday morning.
I don’t know what will happen on Tuesday, but you might know who has been elected president for the next four years.
Then again, according to some analysts today, you might not.
Even as I type, I realize what a unique position God holds in the universe.
God always knows what we do not.
Omniscience
The fact that God is all-knowing is called omniscience in theology. God knows who will be the next president, and he knows every other president to come.
God knows what mistakes this president will make and what will be considered his successes.
God knows who will be the last president of these United States. He knows the day he will usher in a new heaven and a new earth.
God knows the future yet allows for our free will. Only God could be strong enough to do that.
God already knows
Do you ever find yourself praying as if you are telling the Lord what he needs to know?
How would our prayers sound if we began them with the realization that God already knows the outcome?
God already knows the right things his people need to do, know, and believe.
We don’t need to tell God when a Christian needs healing. We need to ask God how he wants to use us to bring about his healing, whatever the future holds. He will guide us to help, to pray, to be involved, and to recognize and accept his plan. Sometimes healing is physical, but God’s highest plan is always our spiritual healing.
The prophet Isaiah wrote, “Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:13–14).
We serve a God of miracles, and we are told to pray for them and pray for the ability to recognize them. Sometimes, God’s miracles are what we ask for to bless our temporal, earthly lives. Other times, God’s miracles are for things eternal.
The only thing I know is that God always knows and does what is best. His perfect love can’t ever be imperfect.
I don’t know who will be president as I type these words, but you might know as you read them. Regardless, our duty is the same: God wants us to be good citizens of heaven and earth. Evangelism is our high priority.
Everyone you know needs the One who knows.
What God wants us to know
John Adams was the second president of the United States and a signer of both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He knew something that many in our culture would not agree with today. He said, “Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. . . . What a Eutopia – what a Paradise would this region be!”
The Bible is a miraculous book. There is spiritual power in the words God preserved for us.
Consider the miracle of the Bible. God knows everything, and the words of Scripture are everything he knew we needed to know. The Bible isn’t everything we want to know but everything we need to know. And, the God of the universe wants us to know him.
Moses told his people, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
As I am typing, I don’t know which president will guide our country. But, I know God plans to guide his people. God made certain we would have his word and his wisdom so that we could have access to his will.
The future of this country requires God’s blessings. God said, “If my people who are called by my name . . . (2 Chronicles 7:14).
The most important thing to know
It will be important to know who has been elected president.
In fact, I imagine it is the subject of most of the world’s news today.
But it isn’t the most important information of the day.
The most important thing we need to know today is that we know the One who knows.
If God allows an election, he already has a plan to redeem the next four years for his greater good. His plan includes the lives and energies of “his people” who are called by “his name.”
Our job is to know and walk with the One who knows.
Whoever sits in the White House for the next four years is not who will determine the future. Only God is capable of that. Our goal is to live holy lives. The challenge is remembering that God doesn’t consult with us; we are to consult with him.
God told Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” and then God said, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).
The One who knows holds the future in his hand
As I finish typing this blog post, I have no idea who will be the next president.
You might know as you read these words.
Our knowledge doesn’t change anything about the future. God’s knowledge will change everything.
No matter who governs in the Oval Office, God’s will governs the world.
Everything God does changes the future.
I don’t know who will be president as I finish typing, and it doesn’t matter because I know who is and always will be God.
I know the One who knows.
And that is enough.
Amen?
NOTE: Our Advent devotional for 2020 is now available, and it was such a joy to write and compile Our Christmas Stories: 26 Reflections to Enrich Your Christmas Season.
More than a few of you will find your stories in this book!
And, while each story differs—some may even provide you with new Christmas traditions—they all ultimately celebrate the “good news of great joy” of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:10). Request your copy of Our Christmas Stories today!