The all knowing God (Psalm 139:1-5)
I would like to draw your attention to the character of God in this Psalm.
God knows everything about you
David, the author of this Psalm, is speaking to God. He is not speaking about him, but to him. So this tells us that he has a personal relationship with God. David is saying to God, “You know everything about 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.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”
God knows what we do and what we are thinking about before we even say it. The reason God knows all of this is because he looks to see what we are up to.
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.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”
I prefer the NIV’S translation of verse 3 which says, “You discern (you notice, you find out) my going out and my lying down. So God knows everything about us, because he looks carefully and thoroughly at us. From big activities and dreams to small activities and dreams, God knows them all. Even things that you and I would not even notice, or consider significant, like sitting and standing (v2), or moving and resting (v3), God sees them all.
Washing clothes and dishes, reading a book and falling off to sleep, God takes notice. We might not, and we might find it difficult to believe that God does.
For he is God, he has much more better things to do, like run the entire universe, than to look at my somewhat insignificant daily routine, but David says he does. And since this is true, God knows everything about us because he searches us, then he knows your heartache. I would be surprised if someone said to me, im fine! I'm on cloud 9! Because we are living in such tough times. Starvation, unemployment and eviction is a reality, not only a township reality, but a suburban one as well. These things are not only affecting the poor, but also the middle class and the rich. Therefore, you might be in deep anguish and unable to articulate how you feel or what you are going through, but know this, God knows.
You might be a victim of racism. Someone may have looked down on you or treated you unfairly simply because of your skin colour, or you have an accent or come from a different culture and backgrounds. They may have said some degrading and disrespectful things to you. They may have called you hurtful names. God knows what you are going through and how you are feeling.
You might be living with someone who abuses you non - stop, night and day. I am told that ever since the lockdown, there has been an increase in the amount of women and children being abused, and it went up further when the sale of alcohol was permitted. You might be someone facing physical abuse, mental abuse and or verbal abuse.
And I do not want to pretend to know what you are going through, because I really don’t, but if I were to guess, you feel hopeless, unworthy and like dirt. God knows your heartache, even though you can not express it to anyone. Know this, that God knows because he examines you.
He sees what’s going on with you.
And he HELPS US.
5 “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.”
To hem means to tuck in or fold over. Remember when you bought pants or jeans but the length was not to your fitting. It was too long. So what did you do? You pulled out the sewing kit or sent it to the tailor and he or she hemmed it. He or she tucked the longer part in, or folded it over, depending on your style or preference. You did this so that it would sit well on your shoe and look presentable, but mainly to prevent the bottom edge of the pants or jeans from being shredded. Likewise, David says, God lays his hands on us, tucking us in, and therefore guarding us from being shredded by the world and all its fallenness and brokenness, and by bad and evil people and from the devil himself. This kind of help echoes Psalm 23, where God is described as a good Shepherd and Host. Therefore, he provides, protects and comforts during dark and dangerous times.
Dear friend, if you are a victim of abuse, a victim of racism, if you are facing unemployment or any other hurt, God knows your heartache, trauma and pain because he sees. Take comfort, he will HELP YOU!
However, he helps in his time. He doesn’t work according to our clock. The Bible says, 1 day is like a 1000 days for God, and a 1000 days are like 1 day for God.
He helps us in his time.
Another area which God helps us with is sin and its consequences. Since God knows everything about us, our words, thoughts and deeds. From the meaningless task to the meaningful, our joys but also our heartaches, it stands to reason that he also knows our sin, because he sees every single one of them.
The bible declares that we are all sinners. There is no one righteous, not even one.
I believe that most people and religions would agree. What is the definition of sin? Sin is rebellion against the true and living God, the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ himself. God has set before us his rules and regulations, his standards. He says, you shall love and worship me exclusively and and love others sacrificially, meaning you shall put the needs of others before your very own. As well as to avoid immorality, murder, hate speech and strive for holiness as he is holy.
And we have not been able to live up to God's standards, even though we may not have murdered anyone or assaulted someone, we have broken God's laws in some way or the other. Jesus said, if you look at a woman lustfully, it's as good as committing adultery.
Ever looked at a woman or man lustfully? If yes, then you have sinned and rebelled against God's law which clearly says, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.
Ever wanted your neighbours luxuries and material wealth? If yes, you have coveted and therefore sinned and rebelled against God's laws.
Ever dishonoured your parents? Said spiteful things to them, gossiped behind their back and refused to listen to them when they were trying to offer guidance and advice? If yes, then you have sinned and rebelled against God's law, which says, “Honor your father and your mother.”
My point is this, God tells in his word us what he expects of us, but instead of obeying, we respond in rebellion, we tell God to shove off, we say no to his rules and in turn we say, “I am in charge.” Therefore we sin. Sin comes naturally to us. In fact we are born with it. Psalm 51: 5 says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”
Let me give you an illustration. I saw a sign at our local convenience store which said, “No dumping on that side of the car park”. And I must admit that I never thought about dumping my dirt on that side of the car park, until I saw the sign. I found myself looking for dirt to dump where it said no dumping. The lesson is, the more we hear or are told not to do something, the more we want to do it. There is this deep desire, yearning, instinct, reflex if you like, to sin. My point dear friends is that we are natural born rebels. Sin comes naturally to us. And God knows every single one of our sins.
If you are a racist, God knows.
If you are abusing someone, God knows.
If you are scamming people, God knows.
If you are controlling people, God knows.
We cannot hide it from him. We may attempt to, and be creative about it like smugglers. But God knows every single sin, because he sees it. Does this scare you? It scares me because the bible says, God himself says, “the wages of sin is death”(Romans 6:23). You and I deserve to be separated from God for all eternity and cast into a place called hell. We deserve the wrath of God. Yet, God made a way to help us. How? By sending his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died the death you and I deserve and gave us a gift that none of us deserve, eternal life in the presence of the true and living God. You see how v5, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me,” somewhat points us to the cross where Jesus, his hands and feet, his lifeless body shields us from God's wrath.
So how should we respond?
The right and proper thing to do is to seek forgiveness, like David did. After committing adultery with Beersheba and conspiracy to commit murder, after sinning against God, listen to what David said in Psalm 51:
v1 - 4, “Have mercy on me, o God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,”
v7, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”
v9, “Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.”
v10, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast Spirit within me.”
Dear friends, whether you are a Christian or not, seek forgiveness from God. COME CLEAN!
It is pointless and futile to hide our sin from him. COME CLEAN!
And God’s word says, if you do. “If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
COME CLEAN AND HE WILL CLEANSE YOU!
May these words be a blessing to your heart.
God bless
