Viktor Frankl famously said, “Those who have a ‘why’ to live can bear with almost any ‘how’” (Man’s Search for Meaning). The Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor knew firsthand the profound importance of possessing meaning in the midst of suffering. Divine omniscience often leads sufferers to wrestle with difficult questions about God’s goodness and permissiveness, and as a result, some are tempted to abandon or significantly revise the doctrine altogether. The truth is, however, that we need this doctrine. There is a profound therapeutic resource embedded within it. In particular, divine omniscience offers sufferers a lifeline to purpose in the midst of suffering, grounding their pain in a larger story that is not ultimately meaningless or random.
We Need Meaning
Frankl understood that people are, by their very nature, meaning-makers. This reflects something fundamental about how we were created. We live by meaning and create stories and narratives that help us make sense of our world. Many diverse therapeutic models recognize this about human beings, especially in how people relate to their pain. Suffering requires some sense of meaning if we are to live with it and integrate it into our daily existence. As a result, various approaches to counseling have developed ways to help people respond to suffering with a sense of purpose.
Take, for example, Narrative Therapy. This counseling modality suggests that people suffer not only because of events, but also because of the stories they tell about those events. The goal of narrative therapy, then, is to help sufferers re-author their story so that suffering becomes part of a meaningful identity rather than the totalizing definition of the self. Or consider the concept of post-traumatic growth. This framework observes that some individuals experience growth in meaning, relationships, depth, and values following trauma. According to this view, suffering can reshape priorities, deepen empathy, or clarify purpose—without romanticizing trauma. Even Existential Therapy, which recognizes that suffering confronts people with the threat of meaninglessness, seeks to help them construct meaning in the face of suffering. In this sense, the creation of meaning becomes an act of defiance against the pain.
Meaning is widely recognized as a vital part of navigating hardship. Without some larger sense of purpose, suffering often leads to despair and hopelessness.
God Gives Greater Meaning
While various therapies recognize the importance of meaning for facing hardships, they often ground such meaning in ultimately limited and fragile foundations, frequently rooted in our own self-understanding. Yet if hope is to be strong, it must rest on something stronger than ourselves. Scripture directs us to a firmer foundation: the purposes of God (Isa. 46:9–10). The psalmist seems to know this instinctively, for when he is overwhelmed by trouble he cries out, “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Ps. 61:2, ESV). The psalmist’s instinct is not to look inward for stability, but to be led to something outside of himself—”the rock that is higher than I.” In other words, God’s purposes offer a deeper and more enduring source of meaning than anything we can construct on our own.
Throughout Scripture we see, first and foremost, that God’s purposes are grounded in His character, which does not change. Take, for example, the words of God in Isaiah 46:9–10:
Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.’
Here we have a statement about God’s omniscience and purposes grounded in His character: “I am God, and there is no other like me.” If we want a firm place to stand, we must stand on the character of our good, sovereign, and omniscient God. His purposes are sure because He does not change (Num. 23:19).
In addition, Scripture repeatedly grounds God’s purposes in the enduring reality of His Kingdom. God’s reign is not fragile or provisional; it is everlasting and unshakable (Dan. 2:44; Ps. 145:13; Heb. 12:28). When Jesus teaches us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done” (Matt. 6:10), He links God’s purposes directly to the advance of His Kingdom. This means that the purposes at work in our lives—even in suffering—are not tied to temporary circumstances but to a Kingdom that will outlast every loss, injustice, and wound we experience.
If meaning is important—even vital—for living with suffering, then we need a stronger sense of purpose than what we can generate for ourselves. We need divine purpose grounded in the unchanging character and everlasting Kingdom of our God. This is the gift Scripture offers us.
Divine Omniscience as the Lifeline to Meaning
What does all of this have to do with divine omniscience? Omniscience is not simply about God knowing the future. It is always bound up with God’s wisdom and permissive will. If God knows what will happen and has even permitted these events to unfold, then this means that, in His infinite wisdom, He sees a purpose in allowing them. This is the aspect of the doctrine that many hurting people understandably find troubling. Yet it is precisely because God permits our suffering within His wise purposes that we can have hope in the face of sorrow. Omniscience becomes a lifeline to purpose. It declares that nothing happens outside of God’s sovereign will and wise permission, and that He is at work through all things to further His good purposes.
God knows what suffering will come, what hardships will manifest in our lives, and He permits those He knows will serve His purposes both in the world and in us. The man born blind is a case in point. His lifelong affliction became the occasion for Jesus to display the works of God (John 9). The thorn in Paul’s flesh was painful and unwelcome, yet even this “messenger of Satan” was used by God to deepen Paul’s dependence on divine grace (2 Cor. 12:7–10). God’s foreknowledge of these events does not make them less painful, and He is not calling us to minimize our sorrow or “take our medicine” with forced cheer. But His foreknowledge does mean that nothing happens by accident. Our suffering is never detached from God’s purposes. This connects even our deepest wounds to meaning, even when we cannot discern the precise reason for a particular heartbreak.
A Biblical Case Study in Meaning
The Bible gives us many examples to substantiate these claims. I’ve listed several already, but there is none as profound as the case of Joseph. Joseph’s betrayal, trauma, abuse, and general victimization were horrific. If we are able to defamiliarize ourselves with this famous story we can perhaps be shocked at just how awful his life was. Joseph is more than willing to acknowledge that others had done wicked things to him, but his confession also acknowledges that God had a different intent behind all that hardship. He says to his brothers:
You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. (Gen. 50:20, CSB)
In God’s infinite wisdom He permitted these evil events to take place but they were not detached from a greater purpose. The redemptive purposes of God will always prevail against human evil. That is the hope we want to hold onto in the face of suffering: God can use even this wickedness to do good in me and good for His kingdom. The doctrine of Divine Omniscience assures us that no hardship is purposeless in God’s wise and redemptive economy—even when the purpose remains hidden to us.
A Word of Caution
It’s extremely important that we don’t misunderstand this doctrine. God never suggests that suffering is good, or that good outcomes somehow make it all “worth it.” Joseph is not naive about what he lived through and about what his brothers did to him. It was “evil” and it was for “evil” purposes that they acted. Theology should never be weaponized to try and manage people’s emotions or minimize their pain.
If we are honest, even the truth can sometimes be less than emotionally satisfying. That God has a purpose behind our sorrow is true and important, and yet it doesn’t always lead to comfort. It doesn’t resolve all our questions, nor does it, in this life, resolve all our hurts.
Divine Omniscience does, however, connect us with meaning. It serves to remind us that God has foreseen all these events and has a purpose for permitting them (Rom. 8:28). No suffering is meaningless; no sorrow is a waste; no hardship can destroy hope when we know that God is at work in them. Meaning is an absolute necessity for living well. Divine Omniscience is our lifeline to robust meaning.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 