Lord, You Know Me

INTRO.- ILL.- A Bible college student came to preacher Charles Spurgeon one day, greatly concerned that he could not grasp the meaning of certain verses in the Bible. The noted preacher replied kindly but firmly, “Young man, allow me to give you this word of advice. Give the Lord credit for knowing things you don’t understand.” God knows everything!

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

ILL.- When Henry Norris Russell, Princeton astronomer, had concluded a lecture on the Milky Way, a woman came to him and asked: “If our world is so little, and the universe is so great, can we believe that God pays any attention to us?” Dr. Russell replied, “That depends, madam, entirely on how big a God you believe in.”

Our God is quite big. He is all-wise and all-knowing and all-powerful. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows us from inside out. HE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT US! 1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

PROP.- The Psalmist declares that God knew him. And this Psalm describes how God knows us.

1. GOD KNOWS OUR ACTIVITIES

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.

ILL.- A man selling vacuum cleaners knocked on the door of a remote farmhouse. When the lady of the house opened the door, he walked in and dumped a bag of dirt on the floor. “Now,” boasted the salesman, “I want to make a bargain with you. If this super-duper, new vacuum cleaner doesn’t pick up every bit of this dirt, I’ll eat what’s left.” “Here’s a spoon,” said the farmer’s wife, “we don’t have any electricity.”

If that man had been God he would known better than to make an offer like that. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had foreknowledge of things? It sounds like it would be a good thing but it might not.

Knowing certain things or maybe certain negative things were going to happen, however, would worry us to death. Some foreknowledge might not be good but God can handle everything. We humans can’t.

God knows all our activities and even before we plan them. I like to plan my days. Of course, there are times when unexpected things come up, but nothing is unexpected to God. He knows when things happen and even before they happen. WHAT AN AMAZING GOD/CREATOR WE HAVE! Does it bother you, knowing that God knows your every move?

ILL.- Dr. John Baillie made it a practice to open his course on the doctrine of God at Edinburgh University with these words: “Gentlemen, we must remember that in discussing God we cannot talk about Him without Him hearing every word we say. We may be able to talk to our friends, as it were, behind their backs, but God is everywhere, yes, even in this classroom. Therefore, in all of our discussions we must be aware of His infinite presence and talk about Him, as it were, before His face.”

We are always in His presence and this thought should make a difference in everything we say and do.

ILL.- The theologian Charles Hodge wrote about his early years at Princeton: "It was my privilege to be the pupil-assistant of Professor Joseph Henry, the illustrious scientist.

When, for the first time, electric signals were sent from point to point, the earth itself being used for the return current, Professor Henry put me at one end of the circuit, while he stood directing the experiments at the other. I can well remember the wonderful care with which he arranged them. Very often, when the testing moment came, he would raise his hand in adoring reverence and call upon me to uncover my head and worship in silence. He would say, 'Because God is here, I am about to ask Him a question.'"

HOW WONDERFUL! Realizing that God is with us always we should be quick to ask of Him. talk to Him, and praise Him!

2. GOD KNOWS OUR THOUGHTS

2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. How important are our thoughts?

Proverbs 23:7 “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” We are generally a product of our thinking, which means that we must set our minds on good things if we want to do good things. And those who think about doing evil will do evil.