This week, Ingrid Betancourt, the former Colombian presidential candidate, was rescued from leftist rebels. She was abducted in 2002 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and was rescued by Colombian commandos along with three Americans and 11 other hostages on Wednesday.
On Thursday she embraced her children for the first time in six years. She said it was because of them that she kept up her will to survive. It was the belief that her children were thinking of her, that made all the difference.
Betancourt was born in Colombia but raised in Paris, and was once married to a French diplomat. She was never forgotten by the French people and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had made Betancourt’s release a major priority for his government.
The knowledge of rebel operations enabled Colombian commandos to free the hostages without firing a single shot. The commandos tricked FARC members into releasing the captives. The group infiltrated the rebels and told a local commander in charge of the hostages they would take him to the top FARC leader, Alfonso Cano. Instead, the commandos whisked the hostages away in helicopters and peacefully captured the rebels. Betancourt said the commandos only revealed their true identity to the hostages once they were safely airborne. (Source: The associated Press: http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/home/contentposting.aspx?newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20080702%2fcolombia_Betancourt_080703&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True
In Psalm 139, the psalmist considers the nature of the knowledge of God. He considers his intimate fellowship with the Lord in the words of this poem. He recognized God’s presence, power, and knowledge. He celebrated the fact that the Lord knew everything about him (vv. 1–6) (Thomas Nelson, I. (1997, c1995). Woman’s study Bible . (Ps 139:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.). There are no words in Hebrew or Greek for omniscience. Biblical writers simply describe the various things God knows. We can see that He is perfect in knowledge (Job 36:4) Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight (Heb. 4:13) and no one teaches God anything, He seeks no counsel from anyone outside the Godhead himself. (Job. 12:13). (John S. Feinberg. No One Like Him. Crossway Books. 2001. p.299).
What difference would it make in your actions if you realized not only that God knows what you are doing, but what you really wanted to do? What difference would it make in your thought life if you realized not only that God knows what you think about but what your true desires and passions are? What difference would it make in what you say, if you realized not only that God knows exactly what you say but every casual word, helpful praise, sarcasm or wounding words? If we truly understand the omniscience of God, it would truly change what we do, what we think and what we say.
First, God knows:
A. What we do (Psalm 139:1–3)
Psalm 139:1-3 [139:1]O LORD, you have searched me and known me! [2]You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. [3]You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
Verses 1-6 of Psalm 139 reflect God’s Omniscience. John Fame defines this as:
Quote: “ his knowledge of all actual and possible states of affairs, and/or of the truth value of all propositions”.( Frame, J. M. (2002). The doctrine of God. A theology of lordship. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.)
• Perhaps you notice in the spelling of this word the word science. The conflict between science and religion is a strange thing. The battles have been numerous and fierce, causing some to divorce science from faith.
• I would encourage everyone to go see the new movie starting Ben Stein called Expelled. The overview of the movie describes that:
“Ben realizes that he has been “Expelled,” and that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – for the “crime” of merely believing that there might be evidence of “design” in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance”. http://www.expelledthemovie.com/movie_overview.php
R.C. Sproul described the relationship between Science, God and Omniscience:
“God is a God of knowledge. He is concerned with science, indeed, He invented science. The root word of science means simply “to know.” Science is the business of acquiring knowledge. …If God is truth, then all true knowledge tells us something about God Himself… All truth is ultimately God’s truth. This means that ultimately there can be no conflict between genuine science and the truth of God”. (R.C. Sproul. The Character of God. Vine Books. 1995. p. 66).
Poem: Someone once said on God’s nature:
There is nothing He does not know.
Though limitless the universe and gloriously grand,
He knows the eternal story of every grain of sand.
(MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Ps 139:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
But here it is His knowledge of the individual life that is particularly in view. In 1988 it was estimated that there were 5,000,000,000 people in the world. Yet God is intimately acquainted with each one. He knows all about every one of us. (MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Ps 139:1). Nashville: Thomas
Nelson.)
• God knows this morning if you really want to be here. If learning about Him is really interesting to you. If you are growing in faith or playing religious games. Everything is laid bare before Him.
Addressing the all-knowing God, the psalmist notes that he has been searched (Heb chaqar), which originally meant to dig, a word applied to the search for precious metals (Job 28:3) but here metaphorically used of a moral inquisition. (KJV Bible commentary. 1997, c1994 (1174). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
• He knows our words and deeds, thoughts and motives. He knows us inside out.
• When it is said that He has known me it means more than just intellectual awareness. It means knowing by relationship.
There are biblical passages that seem to say that there are things and people which God does not know but later learns, things which do not enter His mind or things which he forgets.
Matthew 25:12 [12]But he answered, ’Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ (ESV)
• It does not say that does not know what they have done.
When God spoke to Abraham after he was willing to sacrifice his son:
Genesis 22:12 [12]He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." (ESV)
• The “now” in this verse relates to fulfillment in time. The “know” relates to evidence of fulfillment.
Jeremiah 32:35 [35]They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. (ESV)
• The not entering into God’s mind relates to the lack of command. It is a figure of speech to say that such an action would never be God’s intention or desire of his heart.
Jeremiah 31:34 [34]And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ’Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (ESV)
• It does not say God will actually forget what we have done.
In explaining these texts, John Frame said it best:
Quote: “Remember” in these texts simply means that God fulfills his covenant promises. Human beings are prone to think that God has forgotten his promises when their fulfillments are delayed. So when the fulfillment comes, it is as when (note the anthropomorphism) a man remembers something he has forgotten. But Scripture makes it clear that God never actually forgets his covenant. “Forgetting,” then, is the temporary delay as seen from a human point of view. Forgetting can also be, as in Jeremiah 23:39, God casting someone out of the covenant fellowship.( Frame, J. M. (2002). The doctrine of God. A theology of lordship (499). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.)
• On Saturday we heard a children’s choir from Uganda, East Africa. They told of stories of war, famine and disease, yet they sang a song of comfort entitled “God has not forgotten”. It touched me of a faith so strong and precious.
All of these verses, and examples of faith, are easily explained in terms of relationship.
• When someone is outside of a covenantal relationship with God they are described as unknown by Him. In Gen. 22 like Dt. 8 and 13, the Lord’s point is to demonstrate especially for his people what he already knows to be true, and he wants these tests to strengthen the faith of those who experience them. ((John S. Feinberg. No One Like Him. Crossway Books. 2001. p.303).
• From God’s grace, those in a covenantal relationship have their sins forgiven, or said another way, forgotten. It is not that God can’t remember how someone sinned against Him, but through the redemptive work of Christ and faith in Him, an individual’s sins are not held to their account.
• Put this in perspective of our previous discussion that God is spirit. Since the birth of Christ, we can rejoice like it says in Hebrews 4:15 [15]For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (ESV)
o The incarnation of Christ with the omniscience of the Godhead give us a particular comfort in prayer and suffering.
God is like a doctor giving us a physical. He is like a psychiatrist exploring our inner depths. He is like an intimate friend who probes us until we reveal all. As a result, He knows us. This is not just analytical knowledge; this is relational knowledge, that which is gained from intimacy.( Williams, D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1989). Vol. 14: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 14 : Psalms 73-150. Formerly The Communicator’s Commentary. The Preacher’s Commentary series (470). Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc.)
From verse two we see that the psalmist admits, God knows when we sit and rise up meaning that every move we make is observed by the Lord God.
Looking at verse three, God will search out our path (Heb zarah) literally means to sift or winnow. “To search” means “to investigate, examine.”
• God is so intimately aware of all our ways that He has literally sifted our seconds to insure our well-being. (KJV Bible commentary. 1997, c1994 (1174). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
• my path and my lying down is parallel with all my ways in verse 3b and means all activities, one’s “entire life” (Anderson). Briggs explains the verse as follows: “the path he followed when he rose in the morning and the resting place to which he returned for the night,” while “all my ways” indicates everything that happened between morning and night. (Bratcher, R. G., & Reyburn, W. D. (1991). A translator’s handbook on the book of Psalms. Helps for translators (1124). New York: United Bible Societies.)
Psalm 119:168 [168]I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.
• The fact that God knows all our ways, should lead us to consider our actions in being obedient to him.
• The comfort is that any righteous action done in His name regardless of how obscure will one day be rewarded (2 Cor. 3:11-14; 5:1).
God knows: What we do and
B. What we think (Psalm 139:2)
I want to focus on the phrase at the end of verse two:
Psalm 139:2 [2](You know when I sit down and when I rise up); you discern my thoughts from afar
He doesn’t merely know what we think; He understands what we think. He knows the hidden motives and agendas that stand behind our thought processes. (Williams, D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1989). Vol. 14: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 14 : Psalms 73-150. Formerly The Communicator’s Commentary. The Preacher’s Commentary series (471). Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc.)
David understands that nothing inside of him can be hidden from God.
Psalm 139:23-24 [23]Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! [24]And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
• David did not do this arrogantly, daring God to find anything wrong. On the contrary, David knew that God would find wicked ways in his heart, and he wanted to be made clean. David wanted to be purified not only from conscious sins but from secret faults as well. (R.C. Sproul. The Character of God. Vine Books. 1995. p. 65.)
There’s an amazing illustration of omniscience from nature:
Illustration: The guillemot is a small arctic sea bird that lives on the rocky cliffs of northern coastal regions. These birds flock together by the thousands in comparatively small areas. Because of the crowded conditions, hundreds of females lay their pear-shaped eggs side by side on a narrow ledge, in a long row. Since the eggs all look alike, it is incredible that a mother bird can identify those that belong to her. Yet studies show that she knows her own eggs so well that when even one is moved, she finds it and returns it to its original location.
Scripture tells us that God is also intimately acquainted with each of his children. He knows our every thought and emotion, every decision we must make and problem we are going through. Therefore, an understanding (of the full extent) of God’s omniscience should both evoke praise and bring comfort to believers. (Green, M. P. (1989). Illustrations for Biblical Preaching : Over 1500 sermon illustrations arranged by topic and indexed exhaustively (Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.)
God knows: What we do, What we think and
C. What we say (Psalm 139:4–6)
Psalm 139:4-6 [4]Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. [5]You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. [6]Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
Since the omniscience of God allows Him to know our thoughts even before they are developed in our mind, why should we think that He does not know our words even before they are formed by our tongues?
• There is a double implication to this. Yes God knows our words even before they are formed on our tongue, but it is foolish to try by silence to conceal our secret intentions.
• All of our communication is monitored by Him, and He clearly knows us better than we know ourselves. I cannot help but speculate how my own thoughts and words would change if I really believed this.
• Would we be bold in evangelism and not fear what others thought if we realized that God knows our words and the intention to speak or withhold them?
There’s a funny story of an elderly grandfather who was very wealthy. Because he was going deaf, he decided to buy a hearing aid. Two weeks later he stopped at the store where he had bought it and told the manager he could now pick up conversation quite easily, even in the next room. “Your relatives must be happy to know that you can hear so much better,” beamed the delighted proprietor. “Oh, I haven’t told them yet,” the man chuckled. “I’ve just been sitting around listening—and you know what? I’ve changed my will twice.”
God is not like a dear old grandfather who hears only when we speak clearly and directly to him. He always hears us. And his attitude toward us is not changed by what he hears, because we stand before him by grace. But if God were like that grandfather—and if his attitude toward us were changeable—how would your conversations of the past week have affected his attitude toward you? (Green, M. P. (1989). Illustrations for Biblical Preaching : Over 1500 sermon illustrations arranged by topic and indexed exhaustively (Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.)
In verse five, David said that God hemed him in or enclosed him
• In verse 5a the Hebrew verb (RSV beset) usually means “besiege” in a hostile sense; here it obviously means “hem” or “surround,” but in a protective, benevolent sense. In some languages TEV’s “You are all around me” will be expressed as a simile; for example, “You are like a fence (hedge) that protects me.”
“Behind us there is God recording our sins, or in grace blotting out the remembrance of them; and before us there is God foreknowing all our deeds, and providing for all our wants.
Quote: As C.H. Spurgeon said: “We cannot turn back and so escape Him, for He is behind; we cannot go forward and outmarch Him, for He is before” (KJV Bible commentary. 1997, c1994 (1174). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
• In verse 5b “you lay your hand on me” is also used in a good sense of protection and care (Bratcher, R. G., & Reyburn, W. D. (1991). A translator’s handbook on the book of Psalms. Helps for translators (1124). New York: United Bible Societies.).
• God used circumstances to limit David’s actions.(MacArthur, J. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible : New American Standard Bible. (Ps 139:5). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
Underlying all this:
Hebrews 4:13 [13]And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (ESV)
The scoffer reacts to this and says, as in Psalm 73:11 [11](And they say), "How can God know? (Is there knowledge in the Most High?")
• It is the test of a true prophet and a true God that can demonstrate deity against false gods by declaring the things to come (Isa. 41:22). It is in the non-Christians vested interest to deny the omniscience of God for them to live autonomously. A God who controls the worlds and knows the future is a barrier to that autonomy. (John Frame. No Other God. P&R Publications. 2001. P. 35)
I’ve said before that theologically, God is a simple being in that all His attributes exist in perfect harmony with all His other attributes. In terms of the reality in Hebrews 4:13 were we must give account, consider this from R.C. Sproul:
Quote: “If there were no final, ultimate judgment day, then God’s total knowledge of my life would not be so threatening. Or if He knew all things but were not all-powerful, I might be less intimated. Or even if He were omniscient and omnipotent but not altogether holy, I might have a chance to negotiate a few things. However, He is all of these things and unchangeably so”. (R.C. Sproul. The Character of God. Vine Books. 1995. p. 63.)
• In fact, a relatively ignorant God with absolute power to do anything he wanted would be frightening, for his creatures might constantly fear that he would use that power in ignorance of the truth. He might not know who was truly guilty of sin, and hence might punish the righteous and bless the wicked, or without fully understanding the natural order, he might perform a miracle which, because of ignorance, produces something monstrous. (John S. Feinberg. No One Like Him. Crossway Books. 2001. p.299).
In verse six, David considers this all too wonderful. To be aware that God knows everything about the psalmist is knowledge that surpasses his comprehension, and even his imagination. (KJV Bible commentary. 1997, c1994 (1174). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
• The phrase too wonderful for me requires a complement, specifically “… for me to understand.” So TEV “is too deep”; NJB is better, “is beyond me,” and NEB even better, “is beyond my understanding.”(Bratcher, R. G., & Reyburn, W. D. (1991). A translator’s handbook on the book of Psalms. Helps for translators (1125). New York: United Bible Societies.)
As we have previously seen, considering God’s attributes rightly results in praise:
Romans 11:33-36 [33]Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! [34]"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"[35]"Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"[36]For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (ESV)
