"He know my name" Psalm 139:1-6

The Outline Bible (Section Outline One Hundred Thirty-Nine (Psalm 139))

HIS OMNISCIENCE

Faithlife Study Bible The Omniscient Know-It-All

The Omniscient Know-It-All

Have you ever been called a “know-it-all”? I have, and believe me, it didn’t feel like I had received a compliment. That’s because I hadn’t. When someone calls you a “know-it-all,” they’re sarcastically saying, “You don’t know as much as you think you do!”

But we know somebody who really does know it all: our heavenly Father. God knows everything. His knowledge is immediate, instantaneous, comprehensive, and fully retentive. God knows what He knows without any kind of painstaking research; He never had to go to school, take a test, or be informed about anything. You can never tell God something He doesn’t already know; He knows it all. In short, He is omniscient.

It’s Personal

In Psalm 139, David takes the theology of “omniscience” off the top shelf and brings it down to a personal level. To David, God’s omniscience is not theological or philosophical—it’s relational and personal. Notice the personal pronouns here: “Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off” (Psa 139:1–2). David doesn’t say, “Lord, you know all things and you’ve searched all things”; instead, he says, “You know me, you’ve searched me” (emphasis mine).

What David does in this psalm is what we must do with all difficult truths we try to comprehend, like “what is the meaning of life?” or “who is God?” We must not be content to leave these questions on a page of a book or discuss them with our friends over coffee. We have to follow David’s lead and find a way to bring them to a personal level.

For example, “You understand my thoughts” (Psa 139:2) could be expressed, “God, you know what I think before I even think it.” What that means to us is this: God knows what we really believe about Him, not just what we say about Him. He knows where we stand, and He knows what our real opinions are.

We Can Never Be Know-It-Alls

When David says “Search me, O God, and know my heart” (Psa 139:23), it’s a prayer. He’s inviting God to know more (even though that’s not possible). He’s saying, “God, I can’t wrap my mind around this. I’ll blow a fuse trying to figure this out, so I just surrender to it. Search me, know me, lead me, direct me.”

And that’s where we ought to leave off in dealing with God’s omniscience and all His divine attributes. I like to put it this way: since God’s ability transcends my reality, it’s best for me to bow at His immensity. God is always greater than our present knowledge of Him. If God were small enough for our brains, He wouldn’t be big enough for our needs.

God indeed “knows it all.” By His very nature, without having to learn anything, He already knows everything—past, present, and future. Faced with that, what else can we do but bow to Him in worship and adoration?

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Theology

theology (Gk. θεολογία), lit. the ‘science of God.’ Among the Greek Fathers it comes to have two specific references: it can denote either the doctrine of the *Trinity (i.e., of God’s being, as opposed to his dealings with the created order), or it can mean prayer (as it is only in prayer that God is truly known). Later, in the W. it came to mean the science of the Divinely revealed religious truths. Its theme is the Being and Nature of God and His creatures and the whole complex of the Divine dispensation from the Fall of Adam to the Redemption through Christ and its mediation to men by His Church, including the so-called natural truths of God, the soul, the moral law, etc., which are accessible to mere reason. Its purpose is the investigation of the contents of belief by means of reason enlightened by faith (fides quaerens intellectum) and the promotion of its deeper understanding. In the course of time theology has developed into several branches, among them dogmatic, historical, and practical theology. The methods of classification of the sub-disciplines, however, fluctuate in different theological systems.

God knows all about us.

Tasha Cobbs Leonard's "You Know My Name" (feat. Jimi Cravity) is moving, singing to both our identity in God and His promise to always be with us.

A few fun facts about You Know My Name: It was co-written with a dear friend, Brenton Brown and it was the very first song written for the Heart. Passion. Pursuit. album. At the center of our relationship with God is an absolute awareness of who He is to us. Worship is our response to the goodness of God. In worship, we confess the name of God simply because we have relationship with God. This relationship is beautifully mutual.

You know God’s name, but He also knows yours. Have you ever stopped to wrap your mind around this amazing truth?

The God who knows the name of each star that fills the sky is the same God who knows YOU by name! More than just knowing our names, He walks and talks with us. He allows His divinity to engage with our humanity in precious moments of communion.

“You Know My Name” is the gentle reminder we so often need on the days when we lose sight of who we are. It’s an assurance that no matter what anyone else has called or labeled you, God knows exactly who He created you to be.

It’s a song of peace when life gets a little foggy and fear sets in. Isaiah 43 reassures us that we need not fear because God tells us, “I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Wherever you are on your journey, be confident in this: you’re not alone. You’re surrounded by the nearness of a God who knows you by name.

A. What we do (139:1–3)

Psalms (Vol. III) Psalm 139

Ver. 1.—O Lord, thou hast searched me; rather, hast searched me out; i.e. examined into all my thoughts and feelings (comp. Ps. 17:3). And known me; i.e. arrived at a full knowledge of my spiritual condition.

Ver. 2.—Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising. All that I do from one end of the day to the other. Thou understandest my thought afar off; i.e. while it is just forming—long before it is a fully developed thought.

Ver. 3.—Thou compassest (rather, siftest) my path and my lying down; literally, my path and my couch—the time of my activity and the time of my rest. And art acquainted with all my ways (comp. Ps. 119:168, “All my ways are before thee”).

B. What we think 139:2

C. What we say 139:3-6

GOD’S PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF MAN

(Verses 1–6) Our purpose is not to write on the omniscience of God in general, or to make an attempt to set it forth with completeness and show its relations and bearings; but to call attention to those aspects of it which are mentioned by the Psalmist, and to indicate the practical bearing of these aspects upon human life. The poet sets forth in this strophe the omniscience of God as related to human life.

I. God knows all men. David does not write of himself alone. That the Psalm is addressed “to the chief musician” is a proof that it was intended to be set to music for use in public worship. The entire congregation was to use the Psalm. Its utterances were to be adopted by every member of the congregation. Every person in the world may say with truth, “O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me,” &c. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

II. God knows all men thoroughly.

1. He knows all their words and actions. “Thou art acquainted with all my ways, for there is not a word on my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.” The entire course of every human life, and every step in every individual course, are perfectly known to God, and not a word that is uttered by human tongues escapes His ear.

2. He knows all their thoughts. “Thou understandest my thought afar off.” However great the distance between God and man may seem to be, yet He is “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of his heart.” Calvin: “God is not shut up in heaven, as if He delighted in an idle repose (as the Epicureans feigned), and neglected human affairs; but though we live at a great distance from Him, still He is not far from us.” All worthy thoughts and pure and generous feelings He knows, and all evil thoughts and impure and malignant feelings He also knows. “Before men we stand,” says Beecher, “as opaque beehives. They can see the thoughts go in and out of us; but what work they do inside of a man they cannot tell. Before God we are as glass beehives, and all that our thoughts are doing within us He perfectly sees and understands.”

III. God knows all men constantly. At all times and under all circumstances He is perfectly acquainted with us. He knows us in work and in rest, in our daily walk and in our nightly repose. ‘Thou knowest my down sitting” for rest, “and mine uprising” for action. “Thou compassest my path and my lying down.” Perowne: “My path and my bed Thou hast examined.” Lit. “Thou hast winnowed,” or “sifted.” Hengstenberg: “זָרָה, properly, to sift, then poetically, to prove, to know.” God knows our “path,” our way of active life, and our “couch” or “bed,” our thoughts and feelings in our place of rest. We are altogether and always perfectly known unto Him. God’s knowledge of us differs from our knowledge of each other not only in its extent and completeness, but in other respects.

First, His knowledge is underived and independent. We receive instruction from tutors and information from books. But He receives not his knowledge from anything without Him. His knowledge is as independent as Himself and His own essence. “Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, being His counsellor, hath taught Him?” “Our knowledge,” says Charnock, “depends upon the object, but all created objects depend upon God’s knowledge and will: we could not know creatures unless they were; but creatures could not be unless God knew them.”

Second, His knowledge is clear and perfect. “We see through a glass, darkly;” and only “know in part.” He knows all things clearly and distinctly, intimately and thoroughly, infallibly and perfectly. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” “His understanding is infinite.”Let us endeavour to point out the practical bearing of this knowledge on us and on our life. It ought to prove—

1. An antidote to the pride of intellect. “Such knowlege is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” We cannot comprehend the Divine omniscience. Our attempts to do so end in ignominious failure. We can but cry, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” &c. How vain and ridiculous it is for any man to pride himself in his intellectual attainments or acquisitions! What we know is almost as nothing in contrast to what we do not know. “We have a drop of knowledge, but nothing to the Divine ocean. What a vain thing is it fo a shallow brook to boast of its streams before a sea, whose depths are unfathomable!”

2. An effectual restraint from sins both of heart and of action. The eye of man often imposes a restraint upon the evil-doer; and shall the eye of God, which is ever upon us, be disregarded? Men seek to hide their evil doings by the darkness of night, saying, “How doth God know? can He judge through the dark cloud?” But darkness cannot hide from Him. He knows the evil thought, the dark design, the impure feeling. Secret sin is impossible. Let the fact of God’s omniscience check evil in its first beginnings.

3. A solemn warning to the sinner. Secrecy does not hide from God, hypocrisy does not deceive Him, the lapse of time does not cause Him to forget, all sins are known to Him, and will be visited upon the sinners unless they are pardoned. “What a terrible consideration is it to think that the sins of a day are upon record in an infallible understanding, much more the sins of a week: what a number, then, do the sins of a month, a year, ten or forty years arise to!” Sinner, take warning.

4. The utter impossibility of any man justifying himself in the sight of God. God knows all and everything. “Our secret sins are in the light of His countenance.” He sees defects and imperfections even in our best deeds. “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant; for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.”

5. A comfort to the people of God when misjudged by man. Men frequently mistake the motives of their fellow-men and judge them harshly. But how comforting it is to turn from man unto God. “Behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. He knoweth the way that I take,” &c. Our cause is in the hands of the Omniscient and All-Merciful.

6. A guarantee of the well-being of the people of God. God not only knows, but also cares for His people. “As providence infers omniscience as the guide of it, so omniscience infers providence as the end of it.” He knows them in their weakness to sustain them, in their need to provide for them, in their dangers to rescue them, in their sorrows to comfort them, &c. Our Lord Himself set forth the Divine knowledge as an encouragement to His people to trust in God. “Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things,” &c. (Matt. 6:31, 32).

7. A pledge of the triumph of the Divine government. All the dark and cunning designs of His enemies are known to Him. Their most secret plans cannot surprise Him. Their most subtle plans cannot baffle Him. He will make their counsel of no effect, and frustrate their deepest schemes. His omniscience assures us of the triumph of His cause. All things are under His control. He, and He alone, can say, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.”