I’m trying to capture a conversation I had with Laura about the nature of God and his Omniscience as we drove down to Lehi on your way to the BYU game.
Everything is governed by natural law. The laws are more pattern than blueprint in that they are followed, but adapted to the specific context of implementation. This is why no two fingerprints are alike, no two irises are the same, no two snowflakes are identical, and no two leaves are indistinguishable. (For that matter, this is the reason that identical twins are not truly identical.) The laws that govern the shape and size of a leaf or the pattern of an iris are constant, but with each leaf or eye the environment differs ever so slightly so that the same laws never produce identical results. All snowflakes form based on the same laws, but any two snowflakes will pass through different air currents, and pockets of humidity as they fall to the ground. The result is that all snowflakes are distinguishable upon close enough inspection. All fingerprints are formed based on the same rule set, but each finger has a different shape and the various ridges affect the surrounding areas so that what forms as a loop on one finger ends up as a tented arch on another. Being able to investigate at the most minute level, it should not surprise us that the Father can name all His creations no matter how numerous they are.
We assume that Heavenly Father knows every detail of the end from the beginning, but I think the more important characteristic of His omniscience (and I am more certain that this part is real) is that He understands the laws that govern everything. Armed with this knowledge, and with His omnipotence, He is able to use everything that happens for His own ends, regardless of whether He knew any specific detail in advance. In other words, He need not know which of His children will do what is necessary to attain unto Eternal Life in order for Him to know the course of apostasy and restoration (as an example). This knowledge changes the way we view our Father. We need not believe in predestination when we understand that He can simply react to the circumstances that arise from a system where our agency is perfectly respected. Likewise, we need not plan and know the end of all our endeavors before we embark on them. What we need is to know the goal, and keep our focus on what we are trying to accomplish (this does not mean that we should not set goals, just that we can and should be flexible, and that we should not set arbitrary goals). On the other hand, this also illustrates the one fundamental difference between mortals and our Father in Heaven – we never have a full understanding of all the laws that govern the system that we are operating within. (Thankfully, how we are judged takes into account our level of understanding concerning those laws.)