God Is

Day 30

Remember the Duck

Spotlight Verse:

For a man’s ways are in full view of the Lord, and He examines all his paths.Proverbs 5:21

Imagine if every single thought you had hovered above your head like the text balloons in comic strips. Would you have a single friend left by the end of one day?!

Yet David says in Psalm 139 that God knows every one of those thoughts. I don’t know about you, but at first this makes me not worshipful but… uncomfortable… awkward… queasy. God knows the ugliness in my heart?

How is it good news to me that God knows everything?

I love the story of the boy and girl visiting their grandparents on their farm. On the first day there, the little boy, Johnny, gets a slingshot to play with, but he’s never able to hit anything he aims at. Getting a little discouraged, he heads back to the house for lunch.

It’s then that he sees his grandma’s pet duck. On an impulse, Johnny lets a pebble fly, and hits the duck — and kills it instantly. He’s shocked. In a panic, he hides the dead duck in a woodpile, thinking no one will ever know! But then he looks up to see his big sister watching. Lisa had seen it all. But she says nothing. She just nods and quietly goes into the house for dinner.

After dinner Grandma says, “Kids, let’s wash the dishes.” But Lisa replies, “Grandma, Johnny told me he wants to help in the kitchen today alone, didn’t you Johnny?” And then she whispers to him, “Remember the duck.” So Johnny does the dishes.

Later, Grandpa asks if the kids want to go to the park, and Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Lisa to help with dinner since Johnny did the lunch clean-up.” But Lisa smiles and said, “Well, that’s all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help you again.” And she leans over and whispers to him, “Remember the duck.” So Lisa goes outside to play and Johnny stays home.

After a full day of Johnny doing both his chores and Lisa’s, he finally can’t stand it any more. He confesses through tears to Grandma that he killed her duck.

She kneels down, gives him a big hug, and says, “Sweetheart, I know that. I saw you from the kitchen window. Because I love you, I already forgave you. I wondered just how long you’d let Lisa make a slave of you.”

No Need to Hide

Okay, that story creeps me out a little about Lisa. But it also reminds me of my own life!

Sometimes I think I have to hide my sin, or even my sinful longings, from God. The truth is, I am encouraged to do so by an evil spiritual force. The Bible has an interesting name for the devil: The Accuser. That’s the condemning voice that whispers, “Why do you think you could ever hope to get close to God? He can’t stand you. Look at you. Think of all you’ve done. Remember the duck!”

Yet there is no need to let the Accuser frighten you away from a full confession to God. He’s just trying to make a slave of you.

God’s omniscience means that when I fall, I can avoid the common trap of denial and hiding, since nothing is hidden from God anyway. I can go skip those steps and go straight to admitting my sin before Him.

God’s omniscience means my confession doesn’t surprise Him. He never says, “You did WHAT?!” God is not shocked by my sin. He saw it coming. You don’t confess to inform God, but to return to the One who loves you.

In fact, God’s omniscience means God not only knows what happened; God knows why it happened. God is the most genuinely sympathetic listener you’ll ever have, and He is the most amazingly effective counselor you’ll ever have too.

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 1 John 3:20 (NLT)

God Understands You

Maybe you’ve been saying “No one understands me” for so long that you believe it. But to say God is omniscient means not only that God knows you completely. It means God understands you completely. And God can heal you. Completely.

Have you ever played hide and seek with really little kids? They stash themselves behind a bed or in a closet, and the whole time they’re hiding, you know very well where they are.

Once I played hide and seek with my daughter Elisabeth when she was very young, and I searched for so long that she began to cry. She thought I would never find her, and she’d have to stay hidden forever! When I heard her whimpering I said, “Elisabeth, come out, come out, wherever you are!” And when she emerged she found me steps away, on my knees with my arms open, ready to embrace her.

God’s omniscience means you can stop hiding.

God knows right where you are. And God waits to welcome you with open arms.

God is… the One who understands me.