All knowing. All powerful. Always present in all places. That’s our Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent God.
We love superheroes; it’s awesome that someone could have extreme powers or abilities far beyond average. The impossible idea that someone could travel through time fascinates people. To journey into the future, or the past, or even another dimension is crazy to imagine.
But, all-knowing? Maybe that’s the most outrageous of them all. An all-knowing God formed us, and knew us long before we took our first breath. The Lord told Jeremiah the prophet: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Only an all-knowing God could make such a claim.
In Genesis 16, Abram listened to his wife Sarai’s “great idea” to sleep with her maidservant Hagar in order to “help God” a little bit, and bring the promised child into the world. When Hagar became pregnant, Sarai, out of bitter jealousy, mistreated her badly, and Hagar fled from Sarai:
“The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, ‘Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’ ‘I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,’ she answered.” Genesis 16:7-8 (NIV)
The LORD asks Hagar two questions. Yahweh God, who created the heavens, the Earth and everything in them, who knew Hagar from before she was born, asks her where she came from and where she’s going. Why did all-knowing God ask questions? It wasn’t because He did not know.
God created Hagar and every other living soul to be in relationship with him. One of the best ways to deepen a relationship with somebody is to ask questions and allow them to share with you—as honest and confiding as they wish to be. What they share with you reveals how much they trust you.
Without hesitation, Hagar trusted the LORD with truth. He knew she was running. He knew every why—all the before, all the after. But He asked her anyway because He wanted her to know that He saw her, loved her and cared about her comings, her goings and everything else.
If the LORD asked those questions today, how would you answer? What in your past is painful? What about the future scares you? Will you be honest with God and follow His leading?
Donielle Winter
EFCC Member