Faith in God's Omniscience

When Jesus taught his apostles on the final night of his ministry, He told them, “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me.”  This confused the apostles and they said among themselves, “What is this that he saith unto us?” (John 14:16-17).  Jesus knew their thoughts and revealed it unto them, giving a clearer explanation of what He meant.  Because He understood their thoughts, the disciples said this: “Now we are sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee” (John 16:30).  Here they were, three years into His ministry and having seen miracle after miracle, and yet they suggest that this little event was what convinced them of his omniscience.  Jesus responded with this piercing question: “Do ye now believe?”  I think His message was that they didn’t, or at least that their faith was still weak when it came to believing that Christ really knew everything.  Part of our faith should be that God is all-knowing and can see past, present, and future perfectly.  But do we really believe that?  Here are a few scriptures which testify of this fact:

·         “The Lord knoweth all things from the beginning” (1 Nephi 9:6)

·         “All things are present with me, for I know them all” (Moses 1:6)

·         “All things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them” (Moses 1:35)

·         “The Lord knoweth all things which are to come” (Words of Mormon 1:7)

·         “The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts” (1 Chronicles 28:9)

·         “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite” (Psalms 147:5)

·         “He has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth” (Mosiah 4:9)

I think the necessary implication for all of these scriptures, if we believe them, is that we will do what He asks of us because He knows all things.  As we think about our own faith, part of that is a trust in God’s power to help us overcome challenges.  I think that the disciples saw this over and over and over through Christ’s miracles, and probably had great faith in Christ’s power and His ability to do something for us.  But He also requires faith in His knowledge, and when He asks us to do something for Him we are more prone to falter in our conviction that it is indeed the right course.  Trusting Him enough to ask for His help is good, but we must also trust Him enough to ask His will and then do it.