The Omniscience of God
Psalm 139:1–24
O Lord, you have searched me and known me! Psalm 139:1

Here is what appreciation of the omniscience of God should do for every Christian.

1. It should humble us. I think here of Job, who questioned the troubles he experienced. We might expect God to explain things to Job. Instead, we find God rebuking Job for presuming to think that he could understand God’s ways. At the end Job is completely humbled. He replies to God: “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. . . . Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3, 6). If we ever begin to appreciate the perfect knowledge of God and by contrast our own pathetic understanding, the first effect this will have on us will be humility. We will be embarrassed to think that we ever supposed we could contend with God intellectually.

2. It should comfort us. God knows the worst about us and loves us anyway. He knows the best about us even when other people do not and blame us for things that are not our fault. Job expressed his comfort in God’s knowledge, saying, “He knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (23:10).

3. It should encourage us to live for God. In Psalm 139 David has been reflecting on the omniscience of God, and it has led him to ask God to help him lead an upright life. He knows that God will do it precisely because God knows him so well.

We know very little. We do not even know ourselves, but God knows us. He knows our weaknesses and our strengths. He knows our sins but also our aspirations toward a godly life. He knows when isolation will help us grow strong but also when we need companionship to stand in righteousness. He knows when we need rebuking and correcting but also when we need teaching and encouragement. If anyone can “lead me in the way everlasting,” it is God. Moreover, since I know he knows me and wants to help me, I can be encouraged to get on with upright living.

4. It should help us to pray. Jesus encouraged his followers to pray to God confidently, expecting answers. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matt. 6:7–8). God’s knowledge of what we need is so perfect that he often answers even before we pray to him. “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear,” wrote Isaiah (Isa. 65:24). Who can be terrified by a God who knows and answers us like that?

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.