God is Omniscient!

Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,” calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. (Psalm 46:8-11 ESV).

Somewhere along the way I stopped putting jigsaw puzzles together. I guess I simply moved on to other things to occupy some of my free time. I do remember the feeling of accomplishment when I finished each “stage” of the puzzles though. Usually I would begin them by separating all the pieces according to shape (whether they were an edge piece or not) and basic color. I would use the picture on the puzzle box as a basic guide to determine where each of the colors would ultimately fit into the puzzle. That may sound like a relatively easy part of the process; however, it usually occupied a significant amount of time and was a satisfying start to the solution. The second phase was finishing the edge. I can remember feeling both satisfied and surprised at the size when I completed this stage. Even though the box always told me what the finished size was, it was always bigger than I imagined. Of course, the next was simply putting groups of pieces together for final insertion into the puzzle. And, of course, when that last piece was put in, it was as if I had triumphed. Recalling those experiences brings me to another characteristic of God that brings me great comfort. It is that God is omniscient. This simply means he knows everything. Life can be compared to a jigsaw puzzle. It often feels as if we are given a box full of pieces, sometimes without a picture to guide us. Sorting them all out cannot be done at once simply because we don’t yet know what it will turn out to be. God does. And, his desire is to make it perfectly fit and ultimately be good (cf. Romans 8:28). A. W. Tozer writes: “God perfectly knows Himself and, being the source and author of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known. And this He knows instantly and with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn.” Because God is all-knowing, we can trust that he knows everything we’re going through today and everything we will go through tomorrow. When we meditate on this truth, especially in light of his other attributes of goodness and love, it makes it easier to trust him with all we have going on in our lives, from the very serious to the silly and mundane. He will put it all together!