The Father Knows Best
May 27, 2015
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My dad is my hero. He is the greatest preacher I have ever known. He has been a faithful husband, father, brother, son, and minister for more than five decades. When I was growing up, my dad had the uncanny ability of knowing everything. Maybe your mother or father was the same way. You’ve heard a parent or teacher say he or she had eyes in the back of his or her head, right? Well, I’m certain my dad had two sets of eyes in the back of his head because he always knew exactly what was going on among my four siblings and me.
One day, my youngest brother, Deano, and I were playing basketball outside in the front driveway with a couple of friends. We used to play every day before and after school, and we usually spent more time arguing about the other person’s biased calls than actually shooting the ball.
On this particular day, I decided that I was going to wear my dad’s brand-new Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers while Deano and I played basketball. Those shoes were sweet—a vanilla-colored canvas with bright-white rubber toes, sidewalls, and laces. I was wearing them without my dad’s permission of course, but he was never going to find out. You see, I put on three or four pairs of socks so that if my feet became sweaty, the moisture wouldn’t leave a stain. Then I swept off the driveway perfectly. I eliminated every grain of sand, pebble, and twig because I didn’t want the sneakers to get scuffed. Let me tell you, I had never looked so cool walking onto that pristine driveway with those brand-new Chuck Taylors laced up.
[Photo credit: Schröder+Schömbs PR https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/]
So my brother and I were in the middle of our basketball game, and we started fighting as usual. I don’t remember what I said or did, but he got really angry and stormed into the open garage. I continued playing with my other buddies, and the next thing I knew, someone yelled, “Look out!” Deano threw something at me. As it hurled through the air, I could see from the corner of my eye that the thrown object was large and shiny. It looked heavy, like a piece of equipment of some kind. The mysterious item landed two or three feet in front of me. He missed. Phew! Crisis averted . . . or so I thought. It was a can of paint, and when it hit the ground, the lid popped off—spraying black paint everywhere.
I looked down at my feet, and one of my dad’s shoes was covered in solid black paint. I knew at that moment I was a dead man.
I looked down at my feet, and one of my dad’s shoes was covered in solid black paint. I knew at that moment I was a dead man. When my dad came home later that evening, you better believe I received a well-deserved consequence. Dad would always find out what we were up to, whether it was easy to cover up, or not so easy to hide…like black paint all over his brand new white sneaker.
As much as I believed my dad knew everything when I was a child, I know now as an adult that our human knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are completely inadequate when compared to God’s omniscience. The Lord alone knows all things. He knows the measurements of the universe, the lifespan of each star, the rotation of the planets. He knows the temperature in Minnesota, the temperature in the earth’s core, and the temperature on the moon. He knows the price of tea in China. He knows the number of hairs on your head—even if that number is zero like mine. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight,” attests Hebrews 4:13. “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
[Photo credit: Gilzpics https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/]
God knows concepts and information that our limited human minds could never grasp, things that are impossible for me to write about. And beyond all that knowledge, He is wise. There’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Beyond having an acquaintance with facts and principles (knowledge), God is the supreme authority in discerning what is true and right (wisdom). He knows what will bring fruitfulness and what will bring destruction.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! Romans 11:33
Our Heavenly Father knows what will bring success and what will bring failure. And He has shared much of this wisdom with us in His Word, the Bible. God’s wisdom is freely available to us within those sacred pages, which is why we need to have our noses in the Word every single day—especially when we are experiencing difficult times.
In His omniscience, God knows the ins and outs of the wall you’re up against and how to bring it down. This truth leads you to trust not only in His knowledge and wisdom but also in the strategy He has already prescribed for your victory. How awesome that we serve an omniscient God who is willing to share His knowledge with us so that we can conquer the impossible obstacles in our lives!
