the knowledge of the holy....or, a second post?!

Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising and art acquainted with all my ways. I can inform Thee of nothing and it is vain to try to hide anything from Thee. In the light of Thy perfect knowledge I would be as artless as a little child. Help me to put away all care, for Thou knowest the way that I take and when Thou hast tried me I shall come forth as gold. Amen.

This is the prayer that opens chapter 10 (entitled The Divine Omniscience) of Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy. I’ve been reading this classic for awhile now, one divine attribute at a time. It has been immeasurably helpful to me in the past few weeks, encouraging more contemplation on the character of God and less contemplation on myself. And in the midst of my own swirling confusions and restless questions, how fortifying it is to be reminded of the absolute knowledge of my Lord.

“God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell.” (pg.56)

Now read that again. Out loud.

“…how unutterably sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely…no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us.” (pg.57)

It’s one of those bulldozing kinds of truths for me, something that can knock me right over. It can be overwhelming, terrifying, and most certainly humbling. But it is comforting as well, because I know His work doesn’t end with demolition…He is also an Architect, and He has plans to build me anew. And the foundation is formed with the very truths that devastated me. Truths like these…(Tozer’s list, kind of)… God is Self-existent… He is Self-sufficient… Eternal… Infinite… Immutable… Omniscient… Wise… Omnipotent… Transcendent… Omnipresent… Faithful… Good… Just… Merciful… Abounding in Grace… Loving… Holy… and Sovereign. If you’ve never done a study solely on the attributes of God, I urge you to do so. It will surely be profitable, to put it rather mildly. [I’m nearly positive that I’m preaching to the choir on this, Faithful Readers. But if not, I can recommend the Precepts study as well as Tozer. ;-)]

May you, too, be forged by the awesome truths of God, and come forth as gold.