Pastor Dave Ginter
The All-knowing, All-Wise God 01/10/2010
Psalm 139 1 O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away. 3 You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. 5 You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know! God knows everything. The Bible calls this Omniscience. This Scripture tells us that God knows everything about you and me. Does that fill you with comfort or dread? How many of us really want others to know the deep inner workings of our mind? Suppose I set up a special DVD player here this morning. Imagine I have the power to project the last 7 days of your life onto both screens of the PowerPoint. Ah, but I project not only all the deeds and actions of your last week, I also project all the inner workings of your mind; all those highly secret thoughts, the things you said under your breath; the meanings you really would have liked to convey, but had the good sense or lacked the courage to express. Any volunteers? Who will be the first to step right up here and let us REALLY know what you are thinking? No one would accept such a crazy offer. Why? Because deep down, we are afraid for anyone to know all we are really thinking. But our God is all-knowing. And that thought brought the Psalmist comfort. Look at verse 6: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know! Is he crazy? God knows even my deepest thoughts and that is somehow supposed to seem “wonderful” to me? To in some way bring me “comfort”? Insane! Ah, but you see, God is more than just all-knowing. God is also all-wise. It isn’t just knowing our thoughts that impresses the Psalmist. It’s the fact God understands them. Knowledge deals with information. Wisdom deals with the use of that knowledge. I might dare share my secret thoughts with someone if I felt confident they might understand. If a person could see each thought in the context of what brought it about in the first place, then I might feel comfortable, even relieved by sharing my inner life. If only someone could see and understand all my thoughts, see how they all fit together; even my sinful ones, as wrong as they might be. Then at least they would understand why they are there and what brought them about. In fact if I were convinced such a person loved me unconditionally, regardless of my inner thoughts or motivations, then I might, I just might actually seek them out for advice and support. Of course there is only one such person in all the universe who has such knowledge and uses it so wisely. That person is God. And that is why the Psalmist finds this knowledge a wonderful relief for him. In fact, he closes Psalm 139 with these familiar words: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Search me Test me Point out my offenses Lead me In other words, he is saying to God, examine the corners of my life. Reveal everything that I try to keep so hidden there. Imagine this, friends: with God we can be totally real, never on our guard, totally transparent. Why? Well, first off, God is all-knowing; God already knows anything we might attempt to cover up. But secondly, and I believe more importantly, God is all wise; God understands. God truly grasps our deepest desires, hidden intentions, dreadful doubts, fears and frustrations with families, friends, and even ourselves. But doesn’t our willful sin cause us to break fellowship with God? Absolutely! That is totally true. But as we talked about last week, sin causes us to turn our face away from God. God’s face is never turned away from ours, even when we sin. We have broken the relationship with God. God has not abandoned us. Rather, Jesus stands at the door of your life, even then, in the midst of your sin, and he knocks, hoping you will open the door, repent by turning 180 degrees around, face God once more and allow the relationship to be renewed. Wouldn’t it be tragic if the one who could offer you exactly what you need most (and that One is God) (and what you need most is a listening ear from one who can both understand you as well as forgive you)…wouldn’t it be tragic if that One were unavailable to you due because God didn’t want to get dirty hands with sinners? Ah, but God SPECILAIZES in sinners! The Bible says that God loved us so much that it was when we were still sinners that Christ died for us. God knows you. God understands you. God is ready to help you sort out yourself. Why should you trust such a God? Because God knows and understands you better than you do yourself. God is all-knowing and all-wise. The implications of this are huge. God will never take anything I say or do, the wrong way. God will never misunderstand me. There is nothing about me hidden now that will one day be revealed causing God to say, “Wow, if I had known THAT about you, I would have never had anything to do with you!” God already knows and God already understands. And God wants a relationship with us…anyway!!! | AuthorPastor Dave Ginter. When commenting, please add your Country of Origin. Thanks. CategoriesArchivesDecember 2010 |
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