Many of you may be familiar with Google or Alexa. These are great devices and they store a lot of information. Just think how great life would be; if these devices could inform you of all the right choices to make. Wouldn’t that be great? Fortunately, these devices are limited. However, there is someone with this perfect knowledge, and we learn who it is in Psalm chapter 139, verses 1-6.
1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
One of God’s attributes is His omniscience. A simple definition of omniscience is “all-knowing.” This means God has perfect knowledge of all things both actual and possibilities, of the past, present and future. Therefore, there is absolutely no information that exists anywhere outside of God's knowledge. He depends on no one outside of Himself for any knowledge about anything. The future is not a surprise to Him. Now, God’s knowledge is not only comprehensive - it is also personal.
The Lord has searched us. The word search means to dig out treasures or secrets. It means to investigate us to our deepest depths. This means He knows our pains, our fears, our sorrows, our deep secrets, our desires, and our needs. He knows more about us than we know about ourselves. This is remarkable, because it is estimated that there are over 7 billion people in the world today. However, God is intimately acquainted with each one of us. He knows each one of us comprehensively and personally.
The Psalmist shows us in how much detail God knows us. Wherever we are, whether on vacation or engaged in the varied activities of life, He knows our every move. He is acutely aware of the smallest detail of our lives. He not only knows all our movements, but He also knows all our motives.
The word perceive means to separate one from the other, to distinguish one thought from another. He can tell what we are thinking, and even anticipates our thoughts. He sees into the thoughts that are fully formed and those being evolved. He knows our inward thoughts. He knows all our good and bad thoughts. We have no secrets of which the Lord is not aware. In other words, He knows our motives.
He also discerns our actions. Discern means to sift through thoroughly, as if sifting wheat or winnowing corn. The Lord can separate the chaff from the wheat from our innermost character. He knows you inside and out. His knowledge is intuitive. The Lord can see through us. It is impossible to deceive Him. His omniscience allows Him to know our words even before they are formed by our tongues. The Lord knows your thought before it even gets into your mind. So, by the time the first word gets out of your mouth, He already has that information.
From these verses, we learn that the Lord knows us completely, personally and thoroughly. The question that remains for us is whether His knowledge of us is comforting or convicting, or - is it good or bad? This depends on your relationship with Him. If you have accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, then it is comforting. Your challenge this week is to ask yourself: “Is God’s perfect knowledge about you comforting or convicting?”
