Questions 14 & 15

The scriptures* tell us in many places that God is in control.[1] If God is in control of all things, two things must be true. God must know all things. And God must have power that has no limit. The scriptures tell us that he has both.

 

 

 

1. 1. God knows all things.

 

 

God knows everything.[2] There is not one thing that God does not know. He knows all that has happened in the past. He knows all things that are happening now. He knows all things that will happen in the future.[3] He knows all things, great and small. He knows what is happening in the heart* of the king. He knows when a small bird falls to the ground. He knows the number of hairs on your head.[4]

 

God also knows about each person in a personal way. God saw us before we were born. He knew us when we were still growing in our mother’s body. God knows everything about us. He knows every thought that we are thinking. He knows what our hearts and minds imagine. He even knows the things that we have done wrong that we thought were secret.[5]

 

The scriptures say it this way:

 

‘You know when I sit down and when I get up.

 

You know my thoughts from far away.

 

You know where I go and where I lie down.

 

You know everything I do.

 

Lord*, you know what I want to say,

 

even before the words leave my mouth.’ (Psalm 139:2-4)

 

Because God knows all things, he is a perfect judge. A judge must listen to what people say. He must decide who is telling the truth. He must try to understand why a person did something. And he must make a wise choice to reward them or to punish them.  God knows all things. He knows our thoughts. He knows why we do the things that we do. He knows the whole truth. So he will be wise when he judges.[6]

 

 

2. 2. God has all power.

 

 

 

Sometimes, the scriptures speak about what God knows and what God can do in the same verse.[7]

 

‘It is God who made the earth by his power. He made the world by his wisdom. By his understanding, he has spread out the heavens.’ [8]

 

God ‘built the earth by his wisdom’.  So, when he made all things, he knew how he wanted the world to become. When he saw what he had made, it was good. It was just as he had planned it to be. He made it all from nothing.[9] He needed no tools. He needed no help. He spoke, and it was so. He made the seas. He made the stars. He made the mountains. He made all things with the power of a word,[10] by the breath of his mouth.[11] And God did not leave the world alone after he made it. He now holds the world together.[12] He causes it to continue. One day follows the next. He keeps the seas in their places. He gives rain to the earth. He makes food grow to feed the animals.

 

God does as he pleases.[13] No enemy can defeat the God of heaven.*[14]No one can keep him from doing what he has decided to do. The nations and their armies are nothing to him. They are like a drop of water in a bucket. They are like dust.  And nothing is too hard for God.[15]He can make the world with his words. He can make the sun stand still in the sky. He can give a son to a woman who could not have children.  He can raise a man and make him alive after he had died. There is nothing too hard for God.

 

But there are some things that God cannot do. He cannot lie. He cannot sin.* He cannot make a promise and then fail to do what he promised. God cannot do these things. But it is not because God is weak. He cannot do these things because he is good. God is holy. All that he does is holy and just, pure and true. There is no weakness in God. He can do every holy thing that he wants to do.

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[1] Isaiah 14:26; Isaiah 46:10
[2] 1 John 3:20
[3] Isaiah 46:9-10
[4] Proverbs 21:1; Matthew 10:29-30
[5] Psalm 90:9; Ezekiel 8:12
[6] Jeremiah 17:10; 1 Samuel 2:3
[7] Psalm 147:5
[8] Jeremiah 10:12
[9] Hebrews 11:3
[10] Hebrews 1:3
[11] Psalm 33:6
[12] Colossians 1:3
[13] Job 23:13; Psalm 115:3
[14] Psalm 24:7-8
[15] Genesis 18:14; Luke 1:37