What Hinders God’s Divine Knowledge? 

This month, we’ve been talking about Knowledge from 2 Peter 1:3-8.  

I’m going to get a little nerdy as we think about what hinders God’s divine knowledge. Philosophically speaking, there are four levels of knowledge:

1. What I know I know. 
2. What I know I don’t know. 
3. What I don’t know but think I know. 
4. What I don’t know I don’t know. 

Let’s toss out Number 4 because these are unknowable, right? If we don’t know we don’t know, then we don’t know. 😊

But what do we know? What do we not know? And what do we think we know, but don’t actually know? 

I can wallow in the 2 and 3 here. I can get frustrated by what I don’t know. And I can get stuck in a place where I think I know better. 

One of our twins struggled with eating from the very beginning. She started losing weight in the hospital, like all babies do, but she lost more than 10% in her first few days and that’s not normal, so we knew pretty early on that she wasn’t getting enough to eat. 

We knew there was a problem. And if you know me, I’m like let’s find a solution! 

Me and Google. We’re going to figure this thing out, right? 

There’s no peace in that, unfortunately.

And it leads to Number 3—where I think I know, but I don’t actually know. 

So I pushed and pushed and around seven weeks, Halle was finally diagnosed with a tongue tie. But she had some other issues as well, and so we had to wait to get it resolved. 

And I wish I could say I was patient. I wish I could say I just trusted that the doctor and other specialists working with her knew better, that they knew what they were doing. 

But the truth is, I just stewed for three more weeks, struggling through seven feedings a day—about seven hours of my day spent trying to will my sweet, colic-y baby into eating. And all the while thinking, if only they’d fix this tongue tie, she would be better. Nothing else we’re trying is working. 

I KNOW if they would just do the procedure, she’d be better. 

Then, we got Halle’s tongue tie fixed around 10 weeks. And it made a teeny tiny improvement in her eating, but not really in her weight gain. 

I thought I knew. But I didn’t actually know. 

James 4:6 says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. 

Do you know what pride is? It’s when we think we know better. When we think we know everything, God opposes us. And He leaves us there until we figure out that we need to surrender to His knowledge and His sovereignty. 

“I don’t know, but you know” has become one of my almost daily prayers. 

If I focus on what I don’t know, I’m frustrated. If I focus on what I think I know, I’m fooled. But if I focus on Him, I am fulfilled. 

We only have to know the One who knows it all. 

We surrender what we don’t know, or what we think we know, and we humble ourselves before the One who knows. We press in to know Him more.

And so that’s what I did. And true to His word, God met me. And in his graciousness, he gave me a word of knowledge about Halle. Since then He’s given me two prophetic words about her. 

These are not medical diagnoses. They are insights into her heart and her soul and have directed the way that I pray for her and for me. 

Sometimes we have to surrender what we think we know in order to get God’s divine knowledge, in order to be reminded of who He is and what He has accomplished for us and what we can do through Him. 

What unknowns are you facing right now? 

Maybe you’re in the midst of a big decision, and you don’t know which path to take. 

Maybe you’ve got a child who is struggling in this season, and you don’t know how to help them. You would fix it if you could, but you just don’t know. 

Maybe you’re waiting on a promise. You’re waiting on a word God has given you. You don’t know when He’ll fulfill it. You don’t know why it hasn’t happened yet.

God knows. 

Wherever you find yourself, God already knows. He knows you intimately. He knows your situation intimately. He knows all your doubts and your fears and your anxiety. He even knows when you think you know better. 

So, we can just lay it all down and take refuge in this truth: We only have to know the One who knows it all. 

We would like to thank Laura Brandenburg for writing this post.