And the beauty of God's omniscience? Although we only see Him through a mirror dimly lit, He sees us and knows us far better than we know ourselves! The cries of our hearts, He hears! The pangs of our passion, He feels! The zeal and love that going before the throne brings, He authors! And, O what beauty resides in that place before the throne! Yet, we do not even know the beginnings of such beauty.
The interesting thing about this Character of His omniscience resides in the cultivation of our lives. Although He knows every word that will come from our mouths before we even think it, He still beckons us to build that relationship with Him. He knows what we will pray, at what time, and where, yet He still exclaims, "Cry out!", and longs for us to go to Him with our whole hearts. O how He paints His love for us on the canvas of our hearts through His fellowship! Although He knows, He listens. And for us to doubt that fact would then mean that we ourselves have doubted the character of God. For He is the Father that continually leads us and loves us. Circumstances of darkness cannot alter the blunt fact that He will never leave His children. How can such a Father, who came also in the Son and took on our sins while we yet were even born, abandon His children? He Himself has comforted us: "Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you" (Isaiah 49:15).
This omniscience, that He knows every bit of us, means that He knows when we will wander from the path and when we will fall short as His child. Yet even in the Isaiah passage, He takes the most sincere and unforgettable type of love that we can picture (e.g. the mother with her nursing child) and says that even that love will forget, but He will not and cannot forget. His love never fails. "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me" (Isaiah 49:16). Although He knows us, He inscribes us on His palms! He knows us like the palm of His hand because we are on the palm of His hand!
O, woe is me, for I am unclean! You know everything about me, Father, for You formed me. You know my failures of today, and tomorrow, yet You still choose to cover me in Your blood, forgiving me, and to lead me in Your paths, ravishing my heart all along the way. Please flavor this food, Spirit, in such a way that we may allow you to ravish our hearts by it and that we fall deeper and deeper still in love with You as we fall deeper and deeper still into the wellspring of the knowledge of who You are.
What other way can we respond to the throne of God? "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts" (Isaiah's response to the beauty before the throne in Isaiah 6:5). But praise be to the Omniscient, the God of Covenant, who replies by touching us with a coal from the altar, cleansing us from our own destruction, purging us of our sin.
"Here am I! Send me" (Isaiah 6:8). And why would we not say this? God knows every move we make and loves us all the same; therefore, if we are seeking God's face and leaning upon His will and bosom, what can come against us? If He stands, as our Covenant, ready to defend and protect us from all sides, who can stand against the God who knows all, sees all, and created all? O, the depths of the character of God and the gorgeous aspect of His omniscience!
O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my though afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You....Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
-Psalm 139:1-18, 23-24
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