Doesn’t it make you feel happy and comforted to know that God sees, hears and knows everything? That nothing absolutely is hidden from him? That God is not deaf or blind, he cannot be bribed, cannot be manipulated and cannot be fooled? Well, only when we fully grasp and understand that fact will we be able to rest in peace or be able to stand still and allow God to have his way in the affairs of our lives and that of the world.
God does not operate like man. His thoughts and ways surpass that of man. They are way higher. He allows things to happen for a time and for a purpose. He knows what he is doing at all times. God knows all things, past, present and future, real and potential, and he knows them all at the same time. He not only knows what was, and what is, he also knows what will be. More than that, he knows everything that could be but is not.
God does things to teach us lessons. He allows things to happen in order to demonstrate who He is and to show us who people really are. If God doesn’t do that we won’t believe or learn. He knows that sometimes for us to learn we have to feel, and for us to believe we have to see for ourselves. You see, people are like books. We have to look inside of them to know what is really there. It’s important for us to try to really get to know other people, because that is what God does. The Bible says that God searches the hearts of men (Romans 8:27). That means that God looks deep inside human beings instead of evaluating us by the way we look on the surface. God knows every thought of ours. God knows us the way we truly are, not just the way we seem to be. The scriptures illustrate that to us over and over again.
God knows us inside and out. That is a thought that can be a bit frightening or it can be comforting, depending on our perspective. He has access to every thought, every action, and every mistake in our lives. God sees everything there is to know about us, even what we are thinking and our motives. God knows our habits, our strengths, our weaknesses. He knows our very words before they roll off our tongues. He knows all our business.
In Matthew 10:30, Jesus said, the very hairs of our head are numbered. That is amazing. God is all-knowing, he is aware of everything about us, everything we do and everything we think. He knows what goes on in private as well as in public. He knows more about us than we want him to know. Truth be told! We simply cannot hide anything from him. There is nothing that stops his vision. Night won’t help and hiding won’t help. We cannot escape him. That should be a sobering thought for us, one that we will do well to remember at all times.
He knows our prayers before we pray (Matthew 6:8). He knows when we get up in the morning and when we go to bed at night (Psalm 139:2-3). He knows everything we are going to do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and every moment of everyday until the moment of our death (Psalm 139:16). He records every word we say and will someday call us to account for every careless, thoughtless, unkind comment (Matthew 12:36). “The Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts” (1 Chronicles 28:9). “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). He sees what is behind and what is ahead, all the threats, all the dangers.
“God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). I Corinthians 4:5 also admonishes us, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.” Those things should bring comfort to our hearts. All these truths should encourage us to pause the next time we are tempted to think that no one can hear what we are saying or no one knows what we are thinking or doing or have done. Before we speak, we should take time to think. Before we think, we should take time to remember God sees, hears and knows all things and this should have implications for all of our actions and the way in which we treat others.
As we travel along life’s journey, we need to remember that every situation we face has a purpose. He declares, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” (Isaiah 46:10). It holds then, if God truly knows all things and if he ordains all things, then everything that happens to us must happen as part of his plan. F. B. Meyer wrote, “It is in proportion as we see God’s will in the various events of life and surrender ourselves either to bear it or do it, that we shall find earth’s bitter circumstances becoming sweet and its hard things easy.” God holds us in the palm of His hands and He is directing every situation we face to its own end and to His glory. We need to rest our faith on the fact of God’s sovereignty over the details of our lives. He knows what He is doing and He is doing it.
God works in, with, through and sometimes in spite of our decisions to accomplish His will for our lives. He controls both the circumstances, the environment, and the thoughts of our hearts. Everything that happens to us is part of his plan for our lives. There are no accidents or mistakes with God. His ‘divine will’ will always be done. Always remember the story of Joseph. His brothers did everything they could hoping to destroy him. Little did they know or realize that even then God was at work to bring about his purpose, to accomplish his plan. That’s why Joseph could say, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20, KJV). When they crucified Jesus and placed a huge stone to seal the tomb, that was not the end of his story – resurrection day was afoot. All glory and praise be to God! Even the evil that men do serves God’s purposes, often in ways we cannot see and would not understand even if God told us.
So when people plot and scheme all manner of evil against you, hoping to retard your progress or to destroy you, stop worrying about it. Take comfort, God sees, hears and knows everything. He knows your enemies, and the trials they will put in your path. Most of all, He knows His plans for you. He knows the path by which He will lead you, and how He will work all these trials together for your good and His glory. It just might be God’s way of setting you up. He is using them to bring about or to fulfil his purpose for your life.
Read Joseph’s story. Being thrown in the pit was not the end of his story. It was only the beginning of his story. Just read the end of it and you will see. When Pharaoh inflicted great difficulty on the children of Israel after God instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh to let them go, it was not the end of the story – it was just the beginning. It was God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart. It was a part of his plan. God knew what he was doing and he knows what he is doing now also. His ways are mysterious my friends. Our small minds simply cannot fathom the ways in which he works. God works through the good that people do as well as the evil they do. However, the evil usually stretches the mind and challenges the heart. Yet both sides are true and both must be believed if we are to be truly biblical in our thinking.
God knows everything we do. He is constantly looking down and seeing what we do and He keeps a record constantly of even the innermost secrets of our hearts. So we need to be mindful of that. Right now the country seems to be in turmoil but God is still in control. He usually provides a way through the opposition and the problems. We need to remember that nothing takes God by surprise. He foresees everything that will happen. He knew long before it took place it would be like this. Had he told us perhaps we would not have believed so he is allowing us to both feel and see. You know the story of doubting Thomas. He had to see and touch the holes in the Master’s sides, hands and feet for him to believe. That is the only way some of us will believe. Some of us have to walk through it to fully understand. Noah warned the people about the flood but they laughed at him until they saw it for themselves. But it was too late. Sometimes we pray for things and only when we receive them we realize it is not good for us. There are lessons to learn in every facet of our lives.
God’s will can be fulfilled in us: even when we are in the middle of stressful and worrying situations; even when we are in the midst of difficulty and hardship; even when things seem to be going the wrong way. In such circumstances, God can be working his purpose out in our lives. Whether it’s financial worries, redundancy, illness or other uncertainty, as it might be for us today, God’s master-plan can still be unfolding in a way that we might never be able to comprehend until we look back, be it from some point in our future.
As the hymn writer Arthur Campbell Ainger aptly says it……
God is working his purpose out, as year succeeds to year,
God is working his purpose out, and the time is drawing near;
nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.
From utmost east to utmost west, wherever feet have trod,
by the mouth of many messengers goes forth the voice of God,
‘Give ear to me, ye continents, ye isles, give ear to me,
that the earth may be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.’
What can we do to work God’s work, to prosper and increase
the love of God in all mankind, the reign of the Prince of peace?
What can we do to hasten the time, the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea?
March we forth in the strength of God, with the banner of Christ unfurled,
that the light of the glorious gospel of truth may shine throughout the world;
fight we the fight with sorrow and sin, to set their captives free,
that the earth may be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.
All we can do is nothing worth unless God blesses the deed;
vainly we hope for the harvest-tide till God gives life to the seed;
yet nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.
About the Author: Mrs. Marilyn Hodge owns and operates the Wellness Centre in the Farrington, Anguilla. The Centre offers Counselling Services by Appointment Only and has now published Positive Living Volume 2. Contact information: 476-3517 or email: marilynb@anguillanet.com. www.facebook.com/axawellnesscentre
