More than Omniscience

"O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

You know my thought from afar."

Psalm 139:1,2

Sometimes I think we take God's omniscience for granted: "Of course He knows me. He's God. He knows everything, that's why He knows when I'm sitting and when I'm standing. No big deal - it's what an omniscient God does."

When we think of God, we think of a being in outer space that looks down upon the earth with complete knowledge and understanding of everything that is happening. He hears all prayers, He knows the hearts of all men and He's everywhere all at the same time.

But the psalmist gives us insight to a more personal God. As this Psalm goes on to say, He is "intimately acquainted" with all our ways. He uses words to describe God's actions like searched, known, understand, scrutinize, intimately, enclosed, and the wonderful promise of protection in the phrase "You have...laid Your hand upon me."

I was meditating on these two verses above and came up with these questions/thoughts:

*Why does an omnipotent God have to search me to know me?

*I sit and stand 50 times a day. Does He really keep track of that?

*Not only does He know what I am thinking, but He understands it. Hmmm...

*Why does He use the words "from afar"?

Now, these are just the beginning of some great pondering and meditating on a portion of the Word of God which pertains specifically and intimately to me. This is a phenomenal passage that has overwhelming truths and insights, but I have to admit, often times I end up with more questions than answers.

But that's okay - I'm fine with not having complete understanding of God.

I do trust what He reveals of Himself to me. For example, His Word says that He is omniscient (I John 3:20 - For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.) and yet He searches and scrutinizes me to know me (Psalm 139:2,3). How does that work? I don't know but I believe it.

As for the "understand my thought from afar," the closest example I could come up with for this is my knowing what my husband is thinking with a single glance from across the room. I can tell when he's ready to leave a party, I can tell when he's hungry, I can tell when he's tired, I can tell when he's fired up - just by the look on his face. How do I know? Because I have searched him and scrutinized him and spent so much time with him, that I really know him.

On a much larger scale, this is what the psalmist is saying God does. He knows us so well that He doesn't have to be standing next to us (though He actually is within us) to know what we are thinking - He can see it from afar, He knows us so well.

Cool.

That's all for today.