God knows all things. His knowledge is infinite (unlimited) where ours is very limited.
Speaking of having limited knowledge, sometimes it is more noticeable in some folks.
Illus: For example, a man says to God:
• "God, why did you make a woman so beautiful?" God says: "So you would love her."
• "But God," the man said, "why did you make her so dumb?" God says: "So she would love you."
But speaking of limited knowledge -
Illus: This was an actual news story from a San Diego newspaper! WANTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER (the actual AP headline).
The story goes like this, “Linda Burnett, 23, a resident of San Diego, was visiting her in-laws, and while there went to a nearby supermarket to pick up some groceries. Several people noticed her sitting in her car with the windows rolled up and with her eyes closed, with both hands behind the back of her head. One customer who had been at the store for a while became concerned and walked over to the car. He noticed that Linda's eyes were now open, and she looked very strange. He asked her if she was okay, and Linda replied that she'd been shot in the back of the head, and had been holding her brains in for over an hour. The man called the paramedics, who broke into the car because the doors were locked and Linda refused to remove her hands from her head. When they finally got in, they found that Linda had a wad of bread dough on the back of her head.
A Pillsbury biscuit canister had exploded from the heat, making a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, and the wad of dough hit her in the back of her head. When she reached back to find out what it was, she felt the dough and thought it was her brains. She initially passed out, but quickly recovered and tried to hold her brains in for over an hour until someone noticed and came to her aid.”
Our knowledge is limited and for some folks it is very limited.
We looked at GOD’S OMNISCIENCE in two ways:
(1) THE PAST TENSE
Look at verse 1, we read, "thou hast searched me...known me"
• "Searched" means to penetrate, examine intimately.
• "Known" means to comprehend, discern or understand.
Because God is omniscient, we cannot say He has ever "learned" anything about us. He knows -
• WHAT WE HAVE DONE
• WHAT WE WILL DO
This is what gives some folks a hard time about predestination. Listen, God has never predestined anyone to go a Devil’s Hell. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels.
But since God is Omniscient and He knows all things:
• He knows those who will accept Him
• He knows those who will reject Him
Therefore, the psalmist speaks of the knowledge of God in the past tense.
The Omniscience of God is not only dealt with in the past tense, it is also dealt with in the -
(2) PERSONAL SENSE
Look at verse 2, we read, "Thou knowest." God knows our -
• Actions - v. 2a "My down sitting...mine uprising"
• Attitudes - v. 2b "My thought"
• Avenues - v. 3,5 "My path...all my ways"
He knows our ATTITUDE, ACTIONS, DEEDS AND WORDS.
He knows -
• Where we are
• Where we are going
• Where we have been
Illus: A plate of sweet cakes was brought in and laid upon the table. Two children were playing on the hearth rug before the fire.
• "Oh, I want one of these cakes!" cried the little boy, jumping up as soon as his mother went out of the room, and going on tiptoe toward the table.
• "No, no!" said his sister, pulling him back. "No, you must not touch them."
• "Mother won't know it. She did not count them,"
• "Perhaps not, but God counted," the little girl answered.
The little boy's hand stopped.
God knows all about us, but again, what makes the teaching of God’s Omniscience so special is that it is indescribable.
Look at verse 6, speaking of His love he says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”
The word "wonderful" means remarkable, and is a reference to the realization that even though God knows us, He still cares for us.
• In a human perspective, sometimes those who know us best love us the least.
• When it comes to God, He who knows us best loves us most!
God’s OMNISCIENCE was overwhelming to the Psalmist, David. But Psalm 139 also reveals-
II. THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD
Look at verse 7-18, we read, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN WE SAY GOD IS OMNIPRESENT?
It means God is everywhere at all times! God sees all.
Illus: Some children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Christian school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples.
Someone had written a note and placed it next to the apples. It read, "Take only one, God is watching."
Moving through the line, to the other end of the table, was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.
One little boy wrote his own note and stuck it next to the cookies, "Take all you want, God is watching the apples."
Listen, he was wrong, God see everything, the APPLES and the COOKIES, all at the same time.
Two times David reminds us that "Thou art there" (both in 139:8).
God’s Omnipresence is one of the most difficult doctrines of the entire Bible.
WHY IS IT DIFFICULT FOR US TO UNDERSTAND? Because we do not have anything to relate to that in our life.
Illus: For example, how could you describe a beautiful red rose to a man that has been blind all his life? When it comes to color, there is nothing you could relate it to so he could understand.
We have a difficult time understanding God’s Omnipresence, because humanly speaking it is impossible for us to be in two places at one time.
Because God’s Omnipresence is difficult for us to understand, David had some questions about the Omnipresence of God.
Look at Psalm 139:7-8, we read, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”
David asks two questions -
• Where can I go from your Spirit
• Where can I flee from your presence
Then in verse 8, he expands on that, he said -
• If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there
• If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there
It is absolutely impossible for us to go anywhere and find that God is not there.
HIS PRESENCE IS EVERYWHERE!
• If you go on visitation, He is there
• If you go to church, He is there
• If you go to the ball game, He is there
• If you go shopping, He is there
• If you go to the night club, He is there
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO US THAT GOD BE EVERYWHERE?
Because God can not judge us fairly if He is not there to see what we have DONE and SAID. But God is everywhere, and what ever we do or say, He will be able to say on the Judgment day, “I SAW YOU, I HEARD YOU, I WAS THERE!”
Since God is Spirit, He can pierce and penetrate us it is impossible to get away from Him.
Illus: Sometimes when we face difficult things we will say, “If I had wings I would fly away”. But listen, if we had wings and we could fly, we could not fly away from God.
Look at Psalm 139:9-10, we read, “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”
It was impossible to run so far away that he would be out of the reach of God.
Illus: Sometimes a teenager will get rebellious and run away from home to get away from their parents, but listen, whether we like it or not, we are STUCK WITH GOD because GOD IS EVERYWHERE!
The prophet Jonah found this out the hard way.
Illus: A lady on an airliner was reading her bible. The man sitting next to her gave a little chuckle and asked, "You don't really believe all that stuff in there do you?"
"Of course I do. It is the Bible," the lady replies!
"Well, what about that guy that was swallowed by that whale?" he asked.
"Oh, Jonah ... Yes, I believe that. It is in the Bible," she replied.
"Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time inside the whale?" he asked.
"Well, I don't really know. I guess when I get to heaven, I will ask him," said the lady.
"What if he isn't in heaven?" the man asked sarcastically.
"Then YOU can ask him," replied the lady!
Illus: A Sunday School teacher read a passage from the Old Testament Book of Jonah to her class:
" Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice..... And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." (Jonah 1:17 - 2:2, 10)
When she had finished reading, the teacher said, "Now, children, you have heard the Bible story of Jonah and the whale. What does this story teach us?"
Ten-year-old Mark shouted out: "You can’t keep a good man down!"
We read in chapter one that he was commissioned by God to go and preach against the great city of Nineveh. He was to tell them how wicked they were.
Jonah didn’t like his assignment, not because he was not in favor of telling off the Ninevites but because he knew that God was going to show them some mercy and grace.
These people were the mortal enemies of Israel, and Jonah wanted no part of God’s redemptive plan for these barbarians.
SO WHAT DID HE DO? He tried to flee from God. Jonah 1:3 says that he was running away from the Lord.
In fact, we know that instead of heading to Nineveh, he booked passage on a boat that was sailing in the exact opposite direction. HE WENT WEST INSTEAD OF EAST.
Scholars tell us that he was headed for the country that is now Spain, trying to get as far away from Nineveh and as far from God - as he could.
He probably breathed a sigh of relief when the ship sailed away from the shore. He thought he was in the clear, that he had outwitted God.
But, what Jonah found out was that God was with him on the ship, and would soon be with him in the belly of the whale.
Friends, it’s foolish to run from God, because there’s no place to hide.
Psalm 139 helps us understand more about HIS OMNIPRESENCE.
Look at verse 12, we read, “Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee..”
The curtains of the evening will no more cover us than the wings of the morning will allow us to escape His presence.
Everything we do, whether we think we can be seen or not, is done in the full presence of our holy, majestic, and ever-present God.
God knows all about us, and HE’S ALL AROUND US!
Conclusion:
We have looked at -
I. THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD
II. THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD
(next)
III. THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD
