God has known the end from the beginning.

This statement, this truth, is evident all throughout scripture. 

The Almighty triune God of the Bible is known to be omniscient amongst many other things that we cannot even begin to fathom or even understand on the most rudimentary of levels. This is not just known in scripture, but also by all who follow him. 

Here are a few Bible verses that demonstrate this fact.

1. Psalm 139:1–6

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

     you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down

     and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

     behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before,

     and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

     it is high; I cannot attain it. 

2. Proverbs 15:3

The eyes of the LORD are in every place,

     keeping watch on the evil and the good. 

3. Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

4. Romans 11:33–34

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,

     or who has been his counselor?” 

5. Acts 2:23

this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 

The Lord, our God created each and every one of us for a purpose. He knew how our lives would go before we ever drew breath. 

How? 

Not only is he all-knowing, but he wrote it all out. 

He understands us so completely because he created us and set us on the path of life that he himself wrote out for us.

Every triumph, every defeat, every hill, every mountain, every ditch, every valley… he knows them all. 

He knew when we would be born and he knows when and how we will die. He doesn’t just know those two things, but he knows everything in between, as well. 

“But why does he allow us to suffer? Why does he allow evil?”

Consider for a moment Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Many people don’t like to hear the answer to this question, but suffering, evil, sadness, sickness, pain and death are all consequences of the decision that both Adam and Eve made. 

They are not punishments, as many would you believe but instead, natural results from the choice they made.

And not just them but those around us, those who came before or after us. Our neighbours, our grandparents, our kids, even. The decisions of all these people has already led to or does lead to results that will or may linger in this earthly existence until our Lord comes again. 

Everything that God allows to happen in our lives is something he has a use for. We do not need to understand his reasons and he has no obligation to give them to us. We need only to choose him, trust him and abide in him. 

“OK, that’s all well and good but why? Why do we suffer during our lives?”

It’s important to note that Jesus never said that we wouldn’t suffer in our lives here on earth. In fact, he says the opposite.

Consider for another moment both John 16:33 and Isaiah 48:10

John 16:33:  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Isaiah 48:10: “See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.”

As you just read in John 16:33 he tells his disciples and by extension us that we will have trouble on earth. 

Many churches of today try to paint the life of a Christian as a vacation, sailing on calm Waters in a luxurious cruise ship. 

This is falsehood, this is false teaching. Jesus himself tries to prepare us for a life that is more akin to time on a battleship during World War II. 

There is a purpose for our suffering, as reflected in Isaiah 48:10. It is so that we may be formed into the people that we are meant to be. 

The tests, trials, and tribulations of life are referred to as the refiners fire. This is because God uses these things to burn away the ungodly and non christlike qualities in us. This process ends up giving us the greatest of gifts, the greatest of good. It ends up giving us eternity in heaven with our loving creator, our heavenly father.

Take a piece of coal, for example. 

It’s filthy, hidden in darkness, and though it has a purpose as it is, it can reach a greater height of value if it goes through the intense heat and pressure required to turn it into a diamond. 

A lump of coal can be an almost 1 to 1 indistinguishable representation of the human soul. 

We are tainted by original sin, we are dirty and for most of our lives, we are hidden in darkness. It is through the refiner’s fire via the immense pressures of life, that God purifies us and turns us into beautiful diamonds that he will keep for himself.  

This process is unavoidable and inescapable for those of us who truly want to spend eternity with our Lord, Master, Savior, and Creator. The filth of life, the impurities of the human condition must be burned away. Though this process is painful, the Lord uses the pain for the good of those who love him. We may not end up rich in the materialistic earthly sense, but we will be given riches far greater in the form of eternal life with our God.

As shown above, God knows everything we will go through in our lives. He also knows how we will react. Does this mean we don’t have the free will to choose like he says? No. 

Consider an earthly father for a moment. He knows his kids very well. He knows their personalities, he knows how they think, he knows what they want and he knows exactly what they’ll do to get it. He knows all of these things so well that oftentimes he can predict what his children will do and how they will act when certain situations arise. 

If a human father can do that, if a human parent can do that… Imagine what the creator of all things knows about you and what he can do with it. 

He knows how you will act in every situation. You have freedom to choose but the fact is he knows what you will choose before you do. Not because he made your choice for you but because he knows you so completely, more completely than anyone on earth, including yourself, could ever know you.  

Even knowing this, every day, he calls out to you. 

Whether you realize it or not, he is communicating through your circumstances and trying to show you what it is that must change both in your life and in you. This is shown clearly in Deuteronomy 30:19. “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” 

In this verse, he clearly bids the people of Israel to choose life. He is telling them exactly what he wants them to do and it’s their choice if they will obey. This verse carries over to the New Testament as well where Jesus says the following. “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.” John 14:6. 

Some people may not draw this line in scripture, but I certainly do. If you take the statement in Deuteronomy 30:19 and draw a line between that and John 14:6… the sentiment is “choose Jesus because he is life.” God knows what we will choose in the end, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to show us the right path and the correct choice to make. 

In the end, we are all filthy lumps of coal that have the opportunity to become beautiful diamonds; we are all lost children who have the opportunity to come back home. 

God knows us. 

God knows our hearts… 

All we  EVER have to do is choose him.