The Need to Know

Unknowns are fine in mathematics, but I don't like them in real life. I feel much more secure knowing where my car keys are and what is going to happen today, tomorrow, and the day after that. Mentally keeping tabs on as much as possible gives me a sense of control, which is a comforting feeling even if it doesn't last very long. But in reality, there are too many factors outside of my control for me to be in control, and I don't like it.

Recently I was fretting over a very minor incident in the grand scheme of things. I was replaying the situation over and over in my mind and praying that I would stop worrying, when I asked myself,

"Is it enough that God knows even if I don't?" 

I can quickly rattle off the names of God's "omni" attributes. My pastor just finished preaching a series on the doctrine of God, but here I was denying with my mind what I would quickly affirm with my lips. I was denying God's omniscience because I pretty much assumed that if I didn't know what was going on, then He didn't either. If I was flustered, He was flustered, too. In short, I was breaking the 2nd commandment because I was imagining God to be something He was not, and I was convicted.

While it is good to be responsible and use wisdom and common sense, all the mental tracking in the world cannot protect me and my loved ones from the unknowns that are lurking ahead. But rather than expending my energies on a futile exercise, there is something or rather Someone I can know. By God's saving grace, through His Word, and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit, I am able to know the One who knows the end from the beginning and everything in between. God's unchanging attributes can steady me when worry would confuse and cloud my mind. Letting these truths sink deep in my soul will also transform my thinking, so when an unknown strikes, I will remember who He is rather than imagine who He is not.

So it is enough that God knows even if I don't, but it doesn't end there. I can know Him.

“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,’ Isaiah 46:8-10

The infinite knowledge of God should fill us with amazement. How far exalted above the wisest man is the Lord! None of us knows what a day may bring forth, but all futurity is open to His omniscient gaze. The infinite knowledge of God ought to fill us with holy awe. Nothing we do, say, or even think, escapes the cognizance of Him with whom we have to do: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Prov. 15:3). What a curb this would be unto us, did we but meditate upon it more frequently! Instead of acting recklessly, we should say with Hagar, "Thou God seest me" (Gen. 16:13). The apprehension of God’s infinite knowledge should fill the Christian with adoration. The whole of my life stood open to His view from the beginning. He foresaw my every fall, my every sin, my every backsliding; yet, nevertheless, fixed His heart upon me. Oh, how the realization of this should bow me in wonder and worship before Him!

The Attributes of God, A.W. Pink, Baker Book House, 1975, pp. 20-21. An online version is available here.