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Scripture:
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Consider:
The idea of anyone, even God, knowing us completely is terrifying! Think about instances in our lives when, in a moment of weakness, we have made a terrible decision. There are instances in my own life, which continue to haunt me in my thoughts, even 40 and 50 years after.
There was a time in the summer of 1978, the year that my family moved to the United States, and my brother and I had befriended some young people in our neighborhood. One of the older kids organized a friendly game of baseball, and I miraculously hit the ball (I say miraculously, because I wasn’t particularly athletic and baseball was “foreign’ to me). As I ran to first base the ball was thrown to the baseman who caught it just as I was getting to base. It was a close call, but I knew that I had not made it there on time. But the organizer kid left it up to me to make the call because “why would I lie?” Well, I did. I lied. I called it safe, and the first baseman looked at me in the eye knowingly and said nothing. I never came clean, and the truth is that I had never revealed my sad little secret. This haunts me!
Two different Bible characters that come to mind when I think about this Psalm. One is Adam, who in Genesis Chapter 3 committed the big “Oops!” (in a moment of weakness). And when God, whom Adam knew face to face, came around looking for him, Adam hid. How silly is this? Yet don’t we have the same reaction to our own sins? Don’t we try to hide them from the all-knowing God?
David, however, takes a very different approach. David knows that same all-knowing God, and in this Psalm, David himself prayerfully calls out God’s knowledge of him. David knows that God knows absolutely everything about him, when I sit or when I rise - meaning always. Before I say what I say, He knows. There is no need to hide in the bushes! David, by verbalizing God’s omniscience puts himself in the right place when approaching God, and praises God for his knowledge. He calls it out in praise, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.”
Yes, God knowing us completely is terrifying but only until we realize that God knows us thoroughly, yet He loves us thoroughly. This is too wonderful. God knows that silly kid who hoping to be accepted, he wanted to make base so badly, that he was willing to lie about it.
Respond:
Have we come to terms with the idea of an all-knowing God? Let’s use this psalm to verbalize it. Let’s stop trying to hide in the bushes because He already knows. He knows and yet He invites us to communion with Him.
Pray:
Father God, You ARE all knowing, and this is not an easy concept for us to grasp. Give us the wisdom to seek you instead of hiding from you, especially when we sin against you. We praise you for your omniscience, help us to remove the obstacles we have put in the way of fully surrendering to you, our Rock and our Redeemer. In the name of Jesus, we pray. AMEN.
