Sunday, February 19, 2017

GOD KNOWS ALL THINGS (Knowing God- Part V)

GOD KNOWS ALL THINGS
“Knowing God-  Part V” Isaiah 40:21-27

Introduction:  Have you ever looked up to the sky on a full moon, star light night and wondered at the stars?  Have you ever tried to count the number of stars? Well the astronomers make that job easy for us. Galaxies are sprawling space systems composed of dust, gas, and countless stars. The number of galaxies cannot be counted—the observable universe alone may contain 100 billion. Some of these distant systems are similar to our own Milky Way galaxy, while others are quite different. Galaxies with less than a billion stars are considered "small galaxies." In our own galaxy, the sun is just one of about 100 billion stars.[1]
            How many galaxies are there in the unobservable part of the universe? How many total number of stars might be in all those galaxies? Another estimation was, 10 trillion galaxies in the universe. Multiplying that by the Milky Way's estimated 100 billion stars results in a large number indeed: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars, or a "1" with 24 zeros after it. This number is likely a gross underestimation, the universe may contain more galaxies. Who knows?
            Is your head spinning, trying to wrap your mind around these staggering number of stars in the universe? The Astronomers couldn’t come up with accurate numbers, let alone giving each of the star a name. But for someone this is nothing, because he created them, he not only counts them, but calls them by name and the best part is that all these trillions of stars come out marching as they receive the orders. The Psalmist marveled at this mysterious wonder of God in creation. The prophet Isaiah was amazed at the enormous power of God, his immense depth of knowledge over the universe, precision to details and his close involvement with people he has created for a relationship. We have read about it in Isaiah 40:21-27
            We have been on a journey of Knowing God. Last week we learned that God is all powerful. Today we will learn that GOD KNOWS ALL THINGS. Before we go further let me explain this difficult word “Omniscience” It comes from two medieval Latin roots omnis (meaning "all") and scientia (meaning "knowledge"), you'll get omniscient, meaning "knowledge of all." The Webster Dictionary meaning is: “having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight.” Based on these definitions the word omniscience of God is the principle that God is all-knowing; that He encompasses all knowledge of the universe both the past, present, and the future.  God’s understanding has no limits.
           
            The scriptures rightly begin with these three Hebrew words, “Bereshith, Bara, Elohim” In the beginning, the Almighty God created the heavens and the earth.  As we know in the garden there were two trees, one was the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the other was the tree of life. The tree of knowledge was designed as a test of obedience. Our first parents were to choose whether to obey God or break His commandments. When they actually ate from the forbidden tree the consequences of their actions became self-evident. Coming back to our study at first look, the idea of the omniscience of God may seem to be a simple concept—God knows everything. But the more we study the Bible, the more we come to understand what an incredible truth it is.   

I. GOD’S KNOWLEDGE IS PERFECT
             Last week we looked into Elihu’s discourse with Job. He closed his argument by asking Job, a few questions. Job 37:15-16, “Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?” If Elihu were to ask you the same question, do you know the wonders of the one who has perfect knowledge, what would be your answer?
            The God of the Bible is portrayed as the God of all knowledge.  The Hebrew noun Daath means: knowledge, insight, intelligence, understanding, and wisdom. It occurs 93 times in the Hebrew OT. Consider these scriptures that speak of God’s knowledge: Hannah after receiving the gift of a child in Samuel, gave thanks to God. Her prayer included these words, “Boast no more so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and with Him actions are weighed.” I Samuel 2:3
            Job in his response to one of his friend’s argument about how fleeting is the triumph of the wicked this is what he had to say, “Can anyone teach God knowledge, in that He judges those on high?  Job 21:22, (NASB) In the Message Bible, it reads, “But who are we to tell God how to run his affairs? He’s dealing with matters that are way over our heads. (The Message)
            The Psalmist wondered about how bare and exposed his life has become before the God who knows everything about him. “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, you know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.” Psalm 139:1-6
             Can you imagine what would be the implications of this scripture? When we know, that He knows how we spend our time, money, our thoughts, words and actions, what should that do to us? It should certainly put some fear of God in our hearts, isn’t it? This scripture also gives us a reason to come out before God honestly and acknowledging our sins, and seeking his mercy and forgiveness since he knows our sins anyway. Is there anything we can hide from God?
            Let’s see what we can find from the passage we read from Isaiah.  A bit of background here would be helpful. Prophet Isaiah began his prophetic career during a time of relative peace and prosperity under Judah’s kings Uzaiah, and Jotham, but before long, conditions deteriorated, especially on the international scene. Assyria became a superpower and deported Judah’s sister kingdom Israel later on ravaged the Judean country side, and Jerusalem itself almost fell. 
            During such turmoil and unrest Isaiah preached a message of hope for a repentant Judah who would trust in the LORD. Isaiah chapters 1-39 deals primarily with events during his lifetime but the later part of the book is all concerned with the future.  Isaiah 40 begins a major section that looks ahead to Judah’s return from Babylonian exile in the sixth century B.C.
            In this passage, Isaiah describes the immense power and the in-depth knowledge of God over nature and his people. In Vs 22, we read about the vantage point of God and what should be the proper perspective of man. “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.” Let me illustrate, during my air travels I used to be fascinated by the take offs and landings of the Airplanes. I would be amazed by the disappearing sights of cars, people, buildings, and mountains as my Airplane was lifted off defying gravity and tearing through the clouds.  All of a sudden I find myself above the ground and above the clouds.
            From that hight I would look down and hardly see anything except the mountains and clouds. It was a great place to be in. All of a sudden, all those people who used to trouble me were out of my sight. Nothing troubled me anymore. I seemed to be floating above all the earthly pressures and problems. I felt like I was on top of the world. During those moments, my heart was filled with gratitude and I felt deeply connected with God. It was a wonderful, once in a while experience, that came with a heavy price tag. It’s been a while since I flew last time!
            But you know what, you can have that experience daily, 24X7, and the best part is that it is free, you don’t have to pay for it. I love the heavenly perspective the Apostle Paul was giving to the Ephesian believers.  Ephesians, 2:4-7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together  with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
            God is freely inviting us to come and sit with him where he is seated.  From that place, sitting next to him now he wants us to look down upon the earth and all our problems, all of a sudden you will have a right perspective of how Great, Powerful and Knowledgeable our God is and how small everything else is. Coming back to our passage here we see God’s challenge to man. He is challenging us to lift up our eyes and see the starry hosts, the display of his power and the scope of his knowledge.  He counts the stars, he calls each of them by name, he leads them by number and he keeps them together. He further challenges us with these words, Vs 25“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.”
            In the passage, after the display of God’s depth of knowledge, he kind of rebukes his people for their lack of understanding and perception. Vs, 27 “Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, my way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Let me bring this to our context. Just like Judah and Israel, it is natural for us to forget the greatness, the power and the knowledge of God when we are steeped in problems. They seem to be like huge mountains trying to drown our heavenly perspective. We grumble and complain to God saying, God, do you really know my situation? Can you see my problems?
            Do you even care what I am going through? and so on. God’s response to us is, what do you mean I don’t care? What do you mean I don’t know your situation and see your problems? Of course, I do! But do you know, that I have the perfect knowledge of your situation? Do you know that I have all the power to get you out of your trouble? That is the real challenge. Do you remember, what God said to Job when first confronted him? We read it in Job 38:1-2, “Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said, “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Then he goes on to bombard him with “do you know questions” At the end of the grueling questioning, Job had nothing else to say except this.
            Job 42: 1-6 “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore, I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore, I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”
             I want to conclude with the following statements: No matter whatever problems you might be going through, be assured that God has perfect knowledge of your situation. If you are given to complaining, grumbling and questioning God without knowledge, like the children of Israel and Job, you need to stop, repent and ask God forgiveness. God knows all your struggles, your fears, and your overwhelming challenges, and he wants you to know that he deeply loves you and cares for you. Finally, God is inviting you and I to come and be seated next to Him in the heavenly places and work with him, taking his wise counsel to overcome our troubles. My prayer for all of us is that we will run to our God by faith and find refuge in Him. Amen



           


           




[1] http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/galaxies-article/