God is All Knowing
Psalms 139:1-6, 13-16, 23-24
SS Lesson for 11/28/2010
Devotional Scripture: Isa 43:1-13
The outline of the lesson came from a previous SS Lesson dated 03/19/2006. This week's lesson affirms that God is All Knowing.. The study's aim is to remind us that we can fully trust God's Omniscient protection. The study's application is to live our lives knowing that there is nothing we can hide from God and that we should therefore trust Him unreservedly.
He Knows My Name
Each year the music department of the Bible college where I teach presents its Christmas Celebration during the first week in December. The program is an integrated drama and music presentation. One year the program was based on the American Civil War and how it liberated the slaves. In so doing, the program provided a backdrop for the message of the Christian’s liberation from the “slavery of sin” when Jesus came.
During the presentation of one scene, picture after picture of African slaves—beaten, starved, tortured, and nameless—were on the screen. During these scenes of humanity’s inhumanity, one of our African students sang the song “He Knows My Name.” Tears fell from my eyes as I remembered my own upbringing in the South, where cultural prejudices had demeaned and segregated the African-American population among us.
I can be the lowliest of slaves, but God knows my name. God knows and cares. I can be attacked by enemies who press false charges or be falsely accused by “friends” or family, yet God knows my heart. He knows the truth, and he even knows me better than I know myself. He will vindicate me and declare me innocent. These are the circumstances that best fit Psalm 139. The emphasis, however, will be that God is omniscient (meaning “all knowing”). As the Creator, he knows everything there is to know about each and every one of us. How could it be otherwise?
Lesson Background
The superscription of Psalm 139 tells us that it was written by David. The difficulty of understanding this psalm is in determining how verses 19 and following (dealing with vengeance) relate to verses 1–18 (dealing with praise) since the tones of the two sections are so different. Some scholars have proposed excising verses 19–24, declaring that they do not belong with the psalm. This is surely wrong. All of Psalm 139 must be considered. There are examples throughout the psalms that feature much praise of God along with condemnation of enemies and “the wicked” (see Psalms 5, 7, 17; 104:35). The unity of Psalm 139 can be seen in various ways. We begin by noting that verses 23, 24 function as an inclusion with verses 1, 2; this is seen as we observe the use of search, know, Yahweh/God, and thoughts in both places. Within verses 23, 24 we find a possible accusation by the enemies of the psalmist. The phrase “offensive way” in verse 24 can refer to idolatry; such an accusation can mean death if the accused cannot defend himself. Therefore, the psalmist submits to a divine judgment, with verses 1–18 describing the scrutiny that is requested in verses 23, 24.
Thus one must account for verses 19–24 and not dismiss them. The psalmist has encountered enemies who seek his harm, perhaps his life, if they can make the charge of idolatry stick. God can examine the accused in the most thorough manner because he is omniscient (“all knowing,” vv. 1–6), omnipresent (“present everywhere,” vv. 7–12), and omnipotent (“all powerful,” vv. 13–18). Standing alongside these characteristics of God is the fact that we are always being known, accompanied, and fashioned by God. God knows us and cares for us. Indeed, he is fearfully wonderful! That is why we are dependent on him and praise him.
Graham Johnson, in a book titled Preaching to a Postmodern World (Baker), has noted, "Living in a global village of Western society, today's listeners, both young and old, have a familiarity with elements of the Christian faith that has brought about a contempt. Western civilization wallows in fragments of Christian cliches and paraphernalia. This saturation reduces Christianity to slogans and meaningless phrases." He added that people consider Christianity old hat. This sad truth has given rise to multitudes of people who are wandering through life with little meaning or fulfillment. The message of the Bible has been so watered down in some circles that it has almost no relevance to what people face in real life. Psalm 139 is the favorite of many Christians. Its four paragraphs describe God's omniscience (vss. 1-6), omnipresence (vss. 7-12), omnipotence (vss. 13-18), and justice (vss. 19-24). This psalm alone could create new interest in Christianity. We think we know someone after we have dated a while or after we have been married for a few years. How quickly we find out that there is something about that person that still surprises us! That never happens to God. Nothing about us ever takes Him by surprise. Our lesson this week is the last of this quarter and shows us that God knows everything about us and is fully qualified to protect us. We can fool our friends and our foes some of the time, but we can never hide anything from God. Our lesson this week shows us how great He is both because He made us and because He is the God who knows all. We can be sure that because He knows all things perfectly, He is in the best position to protect us as His own people. We will get better insight into this when we recognize that we are but human beings, created by Him. We owe our very breath to Him, for He protects us.
(Scriptural Text from the New King James Version; cross-references from the NIV)
(a) The fact that He knows all that there is in the heart, (Ps. 139:1-6).
(b) The fact that He is everywhere present, (Ps. 139:7-12).
(c) The fact that all in our past life has been known to God; that He has created us, and that his eye has been upon us from the beginning of our existence, (Ps. 139:13-16).
(d) The fact that his thoughts toward us are precious, and numberless as the sand, (Ps. 139:17-18).
The expression of a desire that, as God saw all the recesses of the human soul, he would search his heart, and would detect any evil he might see there, and deliver him from the evil, and lead him in the way which conducted to life eternal, (Ps. 139:23-24).
1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.
3 When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me.
11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile.
36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
24 Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.
Ps 22:9-10 9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. 10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.
Isa 44:24 24 "This is what the LORD says--your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
Prov 16:2 2 All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.
1 Cor 4:5 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25 He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
13 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me."
3 The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God — or rather are known by God
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
4 Does he not see my ways and count my every step?
15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?" 16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"? Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?
24 Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
13 For You formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. 10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.
2 This is what the LORD says — he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.
17 "What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
5 Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
10 The length of our days is seventy years — or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
15 My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.
4 "Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. 5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
10 "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."
Ps 26:2 2 Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;
2 Cor 13:5 5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-unless, of course, you fail the test?
40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
1 Thess 2:4 4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
Col 1:10 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
2 Cor 5:9 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
My prayer must be for God to change those areas of my life and thinking where He knows I have the wrong attitudes and motives. God is the only One who has both the knowledge and power to do this. God knows me better than I know myself and He truly understands the outcome of all it. Barnes describes God's searching as a fact that it is a characteristic of God that he "does" search the heart; and he here prays that God "would" exercise that power in relation to himself; that as God could know all that there is within the heart, he would examine him with the closest scrutiny, so that he might be under no delusion or self-deception; that he might not indulge in any false hopes; that he might not cherish any improper feelings or desires.
Are you convinced that “God knows”? I hope you are. But merely acknowledging that God knows us better than we know ourselves is not enough. We should go further: part of our conviction that “God knows” should involve inviting the Holy Spirit’s examination of our hearts and actions so that we might grow in sanctification. God created us and he cares. When we are innocent, he can and will vindicate us because of his fearfully wonderful abilities—his ability of knowledge, presence, and power. Even if we find that our hearts condemn us, “God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (1 John 3:20). For the innocent, the thought of an all-knowing God is a comfort. For the wicked the thought should bring fear—real fear of judgment, if not now, then on Judgment Day. The intimacy we seek with God is possible because he knows us better than we know ourselves.
Graham Johnson, in a book titled Preaching to a Postmodern World (Baker), has noted, "Living in a global village of Western society, today's listeners, both young and old, have a familiarity with elements of the Christian faith that has brought about a contempt. Western civilization wallows in fragments of Christian cliches and paraphernalia. This saturation reduces Christianity to slogans and meaningless phrases." He added that people consider Christianity old hat. This sad truth has given rise to multitudes of people who are wandering through life with little meaning or fulfillment. The message of the Bible has been so watered down in some circles that it has almost no relevance to what people face in real life. Psalm 139 is the favorite of many Christians. Its four paragraphs describe God's omniscience (vss. 1-6), omnipresence (vss. 7-12), omnipotence (vss. 13-18), and justice (vss. 19-24). This psalm alone could create new interest in Christianity. We think we know someone after we have dated a while or after we have been married for a few years. How quickly we find out that there is something about that person that still surprises us! That never happens to God. Nothing about us ever takes Him by surprise. Our lesson this week is the last of this quarter and shows us that God knows everything about us and is fully qualified to protect us. We can fool our friends and our foes some of the time, but we can never hide anything from God. Our lesson this week shows us how great He is both because He made us and because He is the God who knows all. We can be sure that because He knows all things perfectly, He is in the best position to protect us as His own people. We will get better insight into this when we recognize that we are but human beings, created by Him. We owe our very breath to Him, for He protects us.
1. God knows us better than we know ourselves; thus, He can be trusted to lead us (Ps. 139:1)
2. We are never alone, for God's knowledge of us reaches every place and activity (vs. 2-4)
3. We should praise God and seek His wisdom, for His knowledge is exhaustive (vs. 5-6)
4. God's wonderful design of human beings is cause for praise (vs. 13-14)
5. Our creation speaks of God's immense care for and concern about each of us (vs. 15-16)
6. If we truly want to know ourselves, we will seek to know God and His Word (vs. 23-24)
Atheism takes refuge in the idea that there is no way to prove absolutely the existence of God. Of course, to be sure God does not exist, you would have to know all possible truth. Otherwise, there might be some fact that, if known, would convince you that God existed. When you walk by faith in the light of the Scriptures, you know that God knows absolutely everything. No human being does know or could know everything. God's knowledge includes the past, present, and future and every fact and detail in each.
No person can say, "Nobody understands me." God understands you perfectly. He has thought about you exhaustively. He knows everything about you, from your conception to your death and beyond into eternity. He understands your thoughts, words, and intentions. He knows your motivations and rationalizations. God is intimately involved in your life to a level that so far surpasses what you are capable of understanding as to be mind-boggling. He does this not from a judgmental perspective but out of love and compassion. You cannot possibly go anywhere or do anything that is outside His perfect knowledge. You cannot imagine any place, physically or spiritually, that He has not fully explored. That which is hidden to you and all other human beings is perfectly open and obvious to God. He does not participate in evil, but He certainly knows all about it. He knows all that is good and will coordinate all things for your good and His glory. You cannot go anywhere to escape His knowledge—nor would you want to, knowing His care for you.
Any attempt to subtract from God as Creator is an attack on His character, for He has made it abundantly clear that He alone creates. Some are tempted to debate the wisdom of God in allowing what looks to them like unfortunate births. Some are deformed; some are mentally challenged or born into awful circumstances. Remember that we see only one limited dimension of physical life and very little of spiritual truth. Rather than debate what we do not understand, we should be awed at what God has done that is so completely beautiful and amazing. Understand that the thoughts of God toward you and all His creation are of infinite value and magnitude. He knew exactly what He was doing when He created you within your mother. The psalmist states that everything about you was written in God's book before you were born. It is true that God does not always cancel the negative effects of a sinful world; so we do see people born with very damaged bodies or even damaged minds. It is best, however, to rejoice with the psalmist in the incredible, complex, and beautiful way God has created everything around us.
You know that God will act out of His thoughts and His character. He will handle the wicked and their thoughts and activities. You and I should be grieved at evil and evil people, but we must understand that God has reserved for Himself judgment here and after death. Our immediate concern should be our own hearts. It is best to ask God to purge and cleanse our thoughts now rather than before the judgment seat of Christ. Let us pray that He will lead us toward godly lives as we remember His great knowledge and all that we are and can become in Christ.