God knows even me! His omniscience, although hard to understand, and sometimes harder for us to accept, is very real, powerful and, yes, even protective. The characteristic of omniscience ascribed to God means “all-knowing.” Psalm 139 is attributed to David, although scholars who have studied carefully the Hebrew language in which it was originally written have noted that it contains expressions of the Aramaic language which occurred long after the time of David. Whether it was David or someone living much later than he who wrote this Psalm, it was, nevertheless, inspired by the Spirit of God to reveal the important truth of God’s all-knowing nature. Note the many aspects of our lives God knows: “When I sit down and when I rise up.” The all-knowing God has us in His vision at all times. He genuinely cares what we do and where we are.
God knows our thoughts…and that “from afar.” I’m sure you’ve experienced your mind “wandering” and having to be called back to the objects of your concentration. But just think: God “discerns my thoughts from afar.” No wandering of His attention! He knows what I think. This knowledge of His omniscience should lead us to think pure thoughts and to fill our minds with purposeful pursuits. “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether!” Have you ever been speaking or teaching and suddenly thoughts come into you mind you had not considered when you prepared? Be assured that God knew that direction you should go. This has happened to me many times in my teaching/speaking experiences. Some call this being extemporaneous, or “thinking on one’s feet.” I like to call it God’s Spirit working to have us present His truths.
God knows our path and our ways. How many of you, in starting out on a journey, perhaps driving alone as I so often do now, pray that God will go with you on the trip, to give you alertness to conditions and safety on the trip? And then when you safely arrive at your destination, do you take the time to thank Him for His protection? I was driving from Milledgeville to Epworth, as I do several times a year, and as usual, I had prayed before I set out on the trip. I was cruising along, and found a place to pass a truck I had been behind for miles. At one juncture, he gave a right-hand turn signal, and I saw opportunity to pass. But alas! He had given a wrong signal and turned left instead of right. Alertness and the ability to guide my vehicle to a safe slow-down occurred just split-seconds before what could have been a terrible collision. You can believe I thanked God with all my heart that I did not wreck. But God’s omniscience saw that possible collision in His all-knowing vision and protected the truck driver and me. He had “hemmed me in,” and put a protective wall about me. We know that wrecks and misfortunes occur. We cannot judge or assume that God’s attention shifted.
God “lays His hand upon me.” God’s remarkable providence in our lives is beyond comprehension. Considering such a truth the psalmist exclaimed: “It is too high for me! I cannot attain it!” How true; we cannot understand the Almighty’s knowing all about us and caring so much for us. But thanks be to God, He does know us, and He does know all about us. Let us thank Him for our position in His plan for each of us.
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