Are You Content?

"“Your Father knows that you need these things” "¹ - Luke 12:30

"You can begin by realizing God’s goodness and believing that He will take care of you since you are one of His children." - Of course, one of the great markers of the difference between a true believer a mere professor of Christianity is what their mind and their prayers dwell upon. The one who is consumed with self and the flesh dwells upon that, the self. They are concerned with those things that affect comfort and convenience. Because of their perspective and their doctrine, they believe God to be primarily concerned with those things as well.

The spiritual man, on the other hand, understands that all is in God's hand and has been since before the world began. Sure, that does not mean that it is of no co concern to him at all - of course it is - but he balances that concern with his knowledge of the nature and power the God he serves. The result is that his mind is less occupied with things and needs than it is with God Himself; with His person and with His Person and attributes. His prayers are not a long list of wants and needs, though those things are surely a part of his supplication. The largest part of his prayer life is worship, adoration and thanksgiving, praise for the great God of heaven Who has done such a great and merciful, gracious thing in his life. This is the key to contentment.

"He knows all things and all your personal needs". - This is the "immediate" part of our wrestling with the contentment issue.  God knows all things in a real and immediate sense.  He has known them from eternity past. 

The word omniscience means “to have all (omni) knowledge (science).” It is a term that is properly applied to God alone. Only a being that is infinite and eternal is capable of knowing everything. The knowledge of a finite creature is always limited by a finite being.

God, being infinite, is able to be aware of all things, to understand all things, and to comprehend all things. He never learns anything or acquires new knowledge. The future as well as the past and present are completely known by Him. He is surprised by nothing.

God’s superior knowledge allows Him to be able to resolve mysteries that baffle us. But that points to a difference of degree in God’s knowledge, not a difference in the kind of logic He uses. Because God is rational, even He cannot reconcile contradictions.

God’s omniscience also grows out of His omnipotence. God is not all-knowing simply because He has applied His superior intellect to a sober study of the universe and all its contents. Rather, God knows all because He created all and He has willed all. As sovereign Ruler over the universe, God controls the universe. Though some theologians have tried to separate the two, it is impossible for God to know all without controlling all, and it is impossible for Him to control all without knowing all. Like all attributes of God, they are codependent, two necessary parts of the whole.

More Next Time…

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[1] This year I am often using MacArthur’s devotional “Strength for Today” as a starting point for my comments. Quotes from MacArthur’s Devotional are in boldface.