Read Amos 4:6-13; 9:2-4

God is All-Powerful, All-Present, All-Knowing

The “omni-” attributes of God are clearly taught throughout the Scriptures. Psalm 139 is perhaps the most concise yet comprehensive treatment of this subject in inspiration. The prophet Amos also discusses these traits of the Almighty; as one reads through this prophecy, God’s omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience are explored.

God’s omnipotence is seen in His power over nature; “I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, and where it did not rain the part withered” (Amos 4:7).

He also has power over the nations. “‘I overthrew some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; yet you have not returned to Me,’ says the Lord” (Amos 4:11). In another passage, He points to His deliverance of nations. “‘Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me, o children of Israel?’ says the Lord. ‘Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?’” (Amos 9:7).

The omnipresence of God is laid out in Amos 9:2-4, which reads very much like Psalm 139. The Psalmist declares, “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there” (Psalm 139:8). God says through Amos, “Though they dig into hell, from there My hand shall take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down” (Amos 9:2). Man cannot hide from the Lord, not on “the top of Carmel” or “at the bottom of the sea” (Amos 9:3).

Finally, God’s omniscience is proclaimed: “For behold, He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, who treads the high places of the earth—the Lord God of hosts is His name” (Amos 4:13).

What an all-powerful, all-present, all-knowing God we serve! In the words of Paul T. Butler: “He is the omnipotent Creator; He is the omniscient Revealer; He is the beneficent Sustainer.”