God Knows All

Two aspects of God’s nature which cannot be examined separately are His knowledge and His wisdom. I link these two characteristics together because really it is almost impossible to consider one without considering the other.

The difference between knowledge and wisdom has been described like this: “Knowledge is what we know; wisdom is the right application of what we know.” God, of course, knows everything: everything possible, everything actual. He is perfectly acquainted with every detail in the life of every being in heaven, in earth, and in hell. Daniel said of Him: “He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him” (Dn 2:22). Nothing escapes His notice, nothing can be hidden from Him, and nothing can be forgotten by Him.

Many Christians, when referring to their conversion, say that God has forgotten their sins, but strictly speaking that is not so. God never forgets anything. What He promises to do with our sins is “never again remember” (Jr 31:34). There is a great difference between forgetting something and deciding not to remember it. Realizing, then, as we do, that God knows everything ought to strengthen our faith and cause us to bow in adoration before Him. The hymnist put it effectively when he wrote these words:

The knowledge of this life is small,

The eye of faith is dim,

But ’tis enough that God knows all

And I shall be with Him.

Further Study

Job 31:1-4; 34:21-25; Ps 147:5; Ezk 11:5

What was Job’s question?

What was Elihu’s response?