The All-Knowing God Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

God is all-knowing, He created all things, including mankind. How coudl we ever think we know more than God and choose not to listen to Him?

Introduction

God is the Maker and Creator of all things; what would He not know about His creation? God is our Maker and Creator; what would He not know about us? God is omniscient – He is all-knowing. God is omnipresent – He is always present. So what is there that we would know more than God or be able to keep from Him?

This week’s Sunday School commentary will take a look at the omniscience of God and why we should trust Him.  This week’s commentary will cover a psalm of David, Psalm 139:1-16. 

The All-Knowing God

Now, if there is anyone who would know us better than we know ourselves, it would be God.  The reason why God knows us better than we know ourselves is because He made man.  

In the sixth act of the Creation, Genesis 1:26-27 tells us that God created mankind, male and female, in His own image, according to His likeness.  God knows us because He put Himself into us, and He certainly knows Himself very well. Yet, man chose to defy God in the garden, and still to this day, we choose to defy God’s wisdom.

Why do we do that? Pride, arrogance, and ego.

In Isaiah 45:9, God warned, “Woe to him who strives with his Maker … Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’”  In Jeremiah 18:5, the Lord said to Israel, “Can I not do with you as this potter? … As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!” 

God said these statements to a stubborn people (Israel and Judah) who refused to listen to Him.  Because they refused to listen to God, Israel – the northern kingdom – was conquered by the Assyrians. Because they refused to listen, Judah – the southern kingdom – was conquered by Babylon. As Proverbs 16:18 tells us, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

The Lord Searches Hearts

Yes, God is the Maker of mankind, but even more, God knows us on a personal level.  This is what David spoke of in the opening of this psalm. Psalm 139:1-6 speaks to the omniscience of God– God being all-knowing.

Psalm 139:1-2 opens with David expressing praise of God’s great knowledge of him.  David said, “You have searched me and known me.  You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.” 

Moreover, in Jeremiah 17:10, the Lord said, “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”  

God studies our hearts because our hearts – our souls – is where the truth lies.  The outward appearance can be dressed up and covered in makeup, hiding flaws and blemishes. The outward appearance has fooled many for generations and generation, yet God is not fooled because He reads our soul like an open book.

This reminds me of when God sent Samuel to anoint the next king of Israel after Saul’s falling away.  When God sent Samuel to the home of Jesse, to find Saul’s replacement, he told Samuel, “Do not look at [David’s oldest brother] appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).”

David understood very well that God was all-knowing and knew everything about him as we will see him sing, “You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways (Ps. 139:3).”  

I believe David had such an understanding because he was one of the few in Old Testament scripture that had an anointing of the Holy Spirit.  I also believe he learned a valuable lesson through his great sin with Bathsheba.  

David would tell those who tried to hide their actions from God to think again because it robs us of the joy of God’s salvation.  In Psalm 51:12-13, David sang for the Lord to restore the joy of His salvation, after his great sin.

The opening of this psalm is one of great rejoice from David.  He was happy to know that God knew him so well.  He sang in Psalm 139:5-6, “You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.  Such knowledge (knowledge of God’s doing) is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.”

He had learned to trust in God’s wisdom.  David is one who would sing, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord (Ps. 34:8).”  This is certainly a lesson that we ought to continue to learn, we who are already of faith.  Those who have yet to learn to trust God’s wisdom ought to learn to trust in Him, as God will lift you up!

God Is With You

Psalm 139:7 takes us in a direction where David begins to speak about God being omnipresent – God being everywhere.  Take a look at the questions that David asked in this verse:  “Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?”

These verses reaffirm, for me, that David had an anointing of the Holy Spirit.  We who are of sincere faith share the same anointing.  As Paul said to the Corinthian believers, “Do you not know (or remember) your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 16:9)?”

When you trust the all-knowing God, He will give you His Spirit, and it will come to rest with you.  When the Spirit of God rests with you, He will lead and guide you into all truth.

David, I believed, enjoyed a close fellowship with the Lord as he truly understood God was with him wherever he went.  Because we are a temple of the Holy Spirit, we should understand that everywhere we go, God is with us!  

David said, “If I ascend into heaven, you are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there (Ps. 139:8).”  Heaven, one could consider that David was talking about the dwelling place of God; however, I believe David was speaking of the sky and what’s above, space.  So, you could go into the clouds and God will be there; you can go to the furthest reaches of our solar system and God will still be there.  

“Hell” in this reference of David is not a reference to what we consider to be “eternal hell”.  David was referring to “Sheol”, the underworld, or some may think of us as a purgatory.  So, you could consider that David was saying that if he went far and wide, or high and low, God would be there.

David then said, “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and light are both alike to you (Ps. 139:10-12).”

We have to keep in mind that David sang, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me (Ps. 23:4).”  Again, when you trust in the all-knowing God and He dwells in fellowship with you, what have you to fear?  God is going to be with you through every storm of life!  

We must stop limiting God.  What often causes us to limit God is our acceptance of worldly logic, which we must unlearn and turn away from.  We also let our fears and anxieties limit what God can do.  God repeatedly tells us not to worry, not to be anxious, and not to fear.  God tells us that He is with us, will strengthen us, will help us, and will uphold us with HIs righteous right hand.

The Tragic Error of Living Without God

What can we do without God in our lives?  Many certainly desire, and do, live this kind of lifestyle.  Many, without understanding the spiritual reality, say they are happy to be without God in their life.  Many say they are happy they turned away from the church, Christianity, and from God, which is honestly a sad referendum on “Christianity”.

I understand why many speak of getting away from “the church” and from “Christianity” today.  Many are doing this because of bad-faith actors who, while proclaiming to be of Christ, have works that are antichrist.  Yes, all of us should flee those whose work screams antichrist.  Yet, that does not mean you should abandon the one true God.

The choice one makes today is pivotal for their soul, not while in this world but in the world to come.  We will all stand before God one day and give an account.  Sure, those who push others away from God’s salvation will face great judgment, but still, those who choose to stay away from God will also face judgment.

Not only will you face judgment, but yet, you still have to live in a world where the battle is spiritual, not physical.  We cannot take on the challenges of life and overcome them without God.  Life will absolutely destroy us without God and leave us dismayed and in despair.  The wicked, and our great adversary, the devil, will absolutely crush our souls should we not turn to God.

So, whether you find a church home or not, I encourage you to find God for yourself today.  I implore you to study God’s word, rather than read it to disprove.  Also, I encourage you to talk to God, call on His name.  As David said in Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  God will enter into fellowship with you, and you will be blessed.

Glory and Thanks to God

Our lesson comes to a close with David praising and giving thanks to God.  He thanked God for having formed him and covered him in his mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13) .  David gave thanks, recognizing that he was fearfully and wonderfully made, which is a wonderful recognition and praise of God (Ps. 139:14).  

Though we have our faults, our flaws, we are still wonderful creatures with special gifts from God.  Though we have our missteps and errors, we are still creatures loved by God, helped by Him, and uplifted by Him. 

So, you and I ought to give thanks to the Lord, who sits high, looks low, and tends to our every need.  God could have condemned mankind a long time ago, and He still could today, but He gives us chance after chance.  We should be grateful that in His great knowledge of us, God still chooses to love us.