He Knows

“He knows your trudging through this great wilderness”
Deuteronomy 2:7

I have occasionally thought to express some opinion upon the point of God’s Omniscience. However, to date I have yet to discover just how long one ought to dig and deliberate to confidently compose a piece upon the spacious subject of infinite understanding. A little longer I imagine. For today I will delay that awesome ascent up the alps of a God who knows all, and content myself with a more humble hike up the hill of a God who knows me. Come to think of it, the idea that an infinite God would so much as notice a mite like me is more than enough to amaze my meager mind. But such is the truth expressed in our text “He knows your trudging through this great wilderness.”

I take comfort that He condescends to know the difficulty of our way. The text calls it our “trudging.” Walking through the wilderness was no simple sojourn. There were no sidewalks in the sand. That we find our journey hard is no surprise. What staggers my soul is the Lord’s awareness and acknowledgment of our struggle. He who spoke the sun and stars into their celestial stations, stoops to know that my flagging feet sometimes sink into the sand. The High and Lofty knows the hurting lowly. He for Whom nothing is hard takes notice of me for whom nothing is easy. “He knows your trudging.” O my soul, when you think that God’s titanic power prevents Him from taking pity on your plight…think on these things.

He knows also the duration of this way in which we walk. It is “through” this great wilderness, not simply “in” in this great wilderness. We’re just passing through. For believers, this life is a toilsome tunnel, a lengthy endeavor; but Christ is the light at the end. We often cannot discern the denouement of this desert. “Oh Lord how long” is our fatigued and frequent plea. But He who measured out the mountains has also determined all our days. He, who knows the number of the grains of sand upon the shore, knows the number of my days within this world. I cannot determine even the decade of my death, but He who made me knows even now the moment of my dying breath. “He knows” I’m going through. What a comfort to have Omniscience my companion in this campaign.

He knows also the dangers of this way we’re walking. It is, says our text, “this great wilderness.” The Hebrew word, midbar, means “that which is beyond.” It is a most perilous and precarious peregrination. The world, the flesh, and the devil never nod in their endless struggle against our eternal souls. Yet these words breathe grace into the heart of this weary wanderer, “He knows.” The wilderness may be beyond the boundaries of safety, security and succor from man, but is never beyond the watchful eyes of El Roi, the God-Who-Sees. “He knows” for God Himself walked within the wilderness for a while, yes “He Himself likewise shared in the same (Hebrews 2:14).” Oh my soul, when all the weight of this wilderness wandering casts a foreboding shadow on your spirit, when you feel lost and lonely in this lowery land, remember the Omniscient Eye of the One who “knows your trudging through this great wilderness.”