Our Omniscient Or All-Knowing God Series

Our Awesome God Series: OUR OMNISCIENT OR ALL-KNOWING GOD

PSALMS 139: 1-6

There is an old Norwegian tale of a boy who found an egg in a nest as he was climbing up the rocky cliffs near his home. He took it home and placed it with the eggs under a goose; it hatched out--a freakish creature! Its deformed feet, unwebbed, claw like, made it stumble as it tried to follow the little geese. Its beak was not flat; it was pointed and twisted. Instead of having lovely cream-colored down, it was an ugly brown color. And, to top it off, it made a terrible squawking sound! It seemed to be a genetic freak--so ugly and disfigured.

Then, one day a giant eagle flew across the barnyard. The eagle swept lower and lower until the strange, awkward little bird on the ground lifted his head and pointed his crooked beak into the sky. The misfit creature, feeling a kinship to the eagle, then stretched his wings and began to hobble across the yard. He flapped his wings harder and harder until the wind picked him up and carried him higher and higher. As he began to soar through the clouds, he discovered an amazing fact: he was born an eagle, but he had been trying to live like a goose.

We are born to soar. Christians are children of God. The tragedy is that too many of us have never discovered our divine heritage, so we are living a barnyard existence instead of soaring above the mountain peaks of life. Until we know who we are and what we are, we are destined to live far below our potential. But once we see our spiritual heritage, then we know that the sky is the limit for us.

Psalm 139 is a meditation upon the omniscience and the omnipresence of God. As the writer acquaints us with God, he points out the unique relationship we have with Him that makes us special. Realizing this can literally lift us to new heights in our living. To understand the depths of God's love for us and the completeness of His redemption of us, we must understand the depths of God's knowledge of us. Our amazing God cares about us so deeply that He has minutely researched us and knows everything about us (CIT). The all-knowing God totally knows and completely understands each individual.

Ps 139:1 states that God knows us b/c He searches us. “O Lord, Thou have searched me and known me.”

“Search” literally means to dig deep & was applied to the search for precious metals. God has examined our thoughts, motives, agonies, angers, triumphs, ethics, pains, pleasures, ideas, imaginings, studies, feelings and intellectual pursuits. God is a heart and mind searching God who completely knows us.

How awakening it is to understand how intimately acquainted God is with each person. He knows us far better than a simple ransacking looking for contraband. The Lord knows us as thoroughly as if He had examined us minutely and pried into the most secret corners of our being. He does not pry--all His creation is unfolded before His eye, is wide open to His view. No matter how hard we may try to cover up, all stands stark naked before Him.

Two couples vacationing in England were driving along the shore of a large body of water. As they were discussing whether it was THE ENGLISH CHANNEL or the Falmouth Estuary, they saw two women walking along the sidewalk.

"Joan, pull over there and I'll ask those ladies if this is the English Channel," said Max. He rolled down the window and said to one of the women, "Excuse me, ma'am, is that the English Channel?" She glanced over her shoulder and said, "Well, that's part of it."

That woman's answer also applies to people. Like the English Channel, a large part of who we are lies unseen by others and even ourselves. When we realize this, we can more lovingly and honestly relate to people and to God. Although the actions of others may be annoying and even unkind, if we knew all the reasons behind them we might be more tolerant and merciful. And in our relationship to God, we are humbled as we realize that He is fully aware of those hidden motives for which we need His mercy.

David is saying, “God, you know me completely. You’ve made a detailed inquiry into my life. You know all of my actions; all of my words, all of my thoughts. You not only know what I’ve done, you know why I did it. You know it all!”

David was overwhelmed by the knowledge of God's all-knowing yet all-loving response to him. It created within him a desire to be pure before God in every part of his life (Ps. 139:23,24). And that's the kind of attitude we all need.