Scripture: Psalm 139:1-18
When I was a kid growing up in the Atlanta area in the ’70s and ’80s, the Omniwas an important sports coliseum. Do you remember the Omni? The Atlanta Flames—the hockey team—played there before the team moved to Calgary. The Atlanta Hawks played there. For at least a couple of years, a professional soccer team, the Atlanta Chiefs, played indoor soccer in the Omni. Remember the Chiefs?
Tennis legends like John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, and Martina Navratilova played tennis there. The Omni had monster truck rallies… and professional wrestling matches. And—most importantly for my generation—the Omni was where all the biggest bands and singers played concerts.
You knew you were on top of the music world if you were big enough to play the Omni! I saw Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Omni in the summer of 1985!
And I’m guessing this is why its builders called it the Omni: because the word “Omni” comes from the Latin word meaning “all”: The Omni arena could host all kinds of events.
And believe it or not, that word “omni” is also often used in connection with today’s scripture—in describing some important attributes of God, each of which begins with the prefix “omni-”. God’s omniscience—meaning, God is all knowing; God has complete and perfect knowledge of everything. We see this mostly in verses 1 to 6. God’s omnipresence—meaning, God is fully present everywhere. We see this in verses 7 through 12. And finally, God’s omnipotence: God is all powerful. We see this mostly in verses 13 to 15.
In today’s sermon, however, we’re going to look at the first of these “omni’s”: God’s perfect and complete knowledge—his omniscience… and why this should be a great encouragement to us Christians, especially in our prayer life. If you do not leave this sanctuary feeling encouraged, I have failed. So I want to make three encouraging points: Point Number One: Why God’s knowledge of us shouldn’t scare us. Point Number Two: Why God’s knowledge of us should encourage us to pray. And Point Number Three: What God’s foreknowledge means for us.
But Point Number One: Why God’s knowledge of us shouldn’t scare us…
Let’s look at verses 1 and 2: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.”
God’s Word tells us there’s no hiding who we really are from God. He knows literally everything about us. He knows infinitely more about us than what meets the eye. He knows all our thoughts; he hears all our words; he sees all our actions… at all times. And he knows what motivates those thoughts, words, and actions.
God knows us infinitely better than we know ourselves.
So… Does that bother us… or even frighten us?
My dad died when I was 25. And one of his sisters, my Aunt Mary, would always tell me—during some important life event—like a new job, a graduation from college, the birth of my children… She would always say, “You know Alton is looking down on you right now and he’s just filled with pride.” I know Aunt Mary meant well in saying that, but I was not comforted by the thought that my dad was “looking down on me”… Why? Because… if he’s able to see me at my best, does that mean he can see also me at my worst? No thank you!
I don’t want anyone to see me at my worst! I don’t want anyone to know me that well! Poor Lisa doesn’t have a choice in the matter. She’s been married to me for 30 years!
Speaking of which, I’ve told you before that the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond is the smartest, and wisest, show about marriage… ever! In one episode, Ray and his wife, Debra, are getting rid of some old junk from the basement, when Debra finds a cassette tape in a box of Ray’s old things. The tape is labeled “Karen 1982.” Karen, we learn, was a girlfriend of Ray’s in college, and the tape was from Ray’s answering machine. Debra plays the tape, and it’s a recording of Karen… breaking up with Ray… on the answering machine… back in 1982. She didn’t give Ray a reason for the breakup; she just said she thought they needed to start seeing other people. Pretty harsh!
Anyway, Debra wants to know why Ray held onto this tape after all these years—it had been twenty years at this point. And Ray acts like he doesn’t know why he still has it… But it’s no big deal, he tells her… The tape doesn’t mean anything…
But by the end of the episode, we learn the truth: Ray tells Debra that he kept the tape because he wanted to solve a mystery: He has wondered all these years what he did wrong… what was it about himself that Karen found so objectionable. Things were going well between them—or so he thought—and then… Karen left this message. Was there some clue on this tape about what was wrong with Raymond… “Why did she break up with me?” he asks Debra. “Do you hear anything in her message? What did I do wrong?”
And Debra picks up the tape, puts it in a nearby boombox that belonged to their kids, and presses “record.” She says the following, mimicking Karen’s voice from before:
Hi, Ray. This is Debra. Um, l’ve been doing some thinking, and these are the reasons why we should break up. You’re obsessive, insecure, and selfish. You don’t always have the best judgment with your children… and yet I’m never gonna leave you, ever, because you happen to be perfect for me. And I love you very much, you stupid, stupid man. Beep!
And Ray says, “That’s the best message anybody’s ever left me!”
The point is, Ray didn’t have to feel insecure: There was no hidden flaw within Ray that Debra was going to uncover that was going to make her stop loving Ray. She wasn’t going to leave him, no matter what… even in spite of his many flaws.
And by the way, that’s an amazing thing about being married to Lisa… maybe this is a good Valentine’s Day message. But I’m not exaggerating when I say that Lisa has seen me at my worst,on multiple occasions, yet most of the time, she not only loves me… she even likes me… more than that, she believes in me. Most of the time, she would tell you in perfect sincerity that she thinks I’m pretty terrific.
And except for God himself, Lisa knows me better than anyone!
My point is, if that’s true in a human relationship between husband and wife, it’s even more true in our relationship with God: In God’s eyes, we are perfect… not because we don’t sin; we do. But we’re perfect in God’s eyes because Christ has made us perfect in our relationship with God. His substitutionary death on the cross means that Christ paid the penalty for our sins. And in return, he gave us his righteousness as a free gift. Our Father no longer condemns us for our sins—he no longer has wrath toward our sins: because Jesus was condemned for us, in our place; because Jesus bore God’s wrath… in our place. And he did it willingly… Out of a love for us we can scarcely comprehend… Now it’s as if, when our Father looks at us, he sees only the perfect righteousness of his Son Jesus!
Our Father loves us, accepts us, and shows us his favor on the basis of Christ and what he did for us, not what we do ourselves.
All that to say, if we’re Christians, we simply don’t have to be afraid that our sin will ever cause God to stop loving us!
Gregory of Nyssa was a theologian from the fourth century, and he prayed an amazing prayer. In it, he referred back to humanity’s first sin in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve hid from God, out of shame. Gregory prayed:
Never again, after all [Christ has done through his atoning death on the cross], will Adam blush when you call him, never will he try to hide because his conscience reproaches him, never will he seek concealment under the trees in the garden. The flaming sword will nevermore whirl about the walls of paradise and cut off the entrance from those who approach it.
You are forgiven… if you are in Christ! All of your sins—past, present, and future—all of them, at one time, wiped out, forgiven, forgotten. The Bible says that God no longer remembers our sins when we trust in Jesus! And you may say, “Pastor Brent, I’m sure that’s true for most people… But you don’t know me!” No, but God does and he says you’re forgiven!
Think of it this way: When God the Father purchased you with the precious, infinitely costly blood of his only begotten Son Jesus, the Father’s purchase did not come with a money-back guarantee! Like… “Yes, I’ll take the risk of purchasing you now, but let’s wait and see how you perform later on. Let’s see whether or not you clean up your act sufficiently. I’m purchasing you now, but I might have to return you back to the devil if you don’t measure up!”
That’s what we’re afraid of. I’m telling you, it’s not going to happen…
Because that ain’t the gospel! There’s a sign at the exit of the historic St. George’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan, New York City… I was there for a conference a couple of years ago… And the sign reads, “Now, go and enjoy your forgiveness.”
That’s a good message for us!
And that’s Point Number One… We no longer have to be afraid because of how well God knows us!
Point Number Two…
God’s omniscience should be an encouragement to our prayer life. David writes, “You have searched me and known me… You search out my path…” And then later, in verse 23, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!”
Elsewhere in scripture, in Romans chapter 8, Paul talks about how God searches us. He even calls God a “searcher of hearts”—and far from making us afraid, Paul says it ought to instill deeper confidence and trust in God… not to mention deeper confidence in prayer!
In Romans 8, verses 26 and 27, Paul writes, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
“Intercedes” is just a another word for what? For prayer. God the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, prays for us! And to whom is the Holy Spirit praying? The next verse tells us: “And he who searches hearts”—by which Paul means “our Father who searches our hearts.” God the Father, “who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Notice those words: “according to the will of God”… God will only give us what we pray for if our prayers are “according to the will of God.” Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that if possible, his Father would take away his upcoming “cup of suffering,” which he experienced on the cross? Then after praying that, Jesus said, “but not my will but thine be done.” In his humanity, Jesus didn’t know for sure what his Father’s will was in that moment: “If it’s your will, take this cup from me.” Regardless, he said he was willing to submit to his Father’s will. And the Father’s answer to Jesus’ prayer was “no”: it wasn’t his Father’s will to take away his suffering.
God only gives us what we pray for when it’s his will to do so.
But notice what Paul says in verse 27: When the Holy Spirit prays for us, his prayers are always “according to the will of God.” Therefore what? Therefore the Holy Spirit’s prayers for us always get answered with a resounding “yes”! Always and every time!
Do you get the picture?
In the mystery of the Trinity, Paul says, because God searches our hearts the way David says he does in Psalm 139, God always knows precisely what we need. He knows what we need far better than we ourselves know what we need… And God, through the Holy Spirit, prays for those things that we really need… which often won’t correspond to exactly what we pray for.
I’ve heard it said before that God hears the prayer underneath our prayer. And he gives us that thing… or those things.
Back in 1995, my dad was dying of cancer… This was before I sensed God was calling me into pastoral ministry… But Dad experienced a reawakening or a deepening of his Christian faith. He may even have been converted to Christianity during that last year of his life—who knows? But during that final year, he told me once that he had been praying… a lot. And he said, “But I get so distracted in prayer. My mind is going in a hundred different directions. I have trouble concentrating.” And while I didn’t know my Bible back then nearly as well as I know it now, I did remember these verses from Romans 8. And I said, “The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” 1
And that seemed to help him. I encouraged Dad to pray in spite of his difficulties and trust that God was hearing the prayer “underneath” the prayer, underneath the words that we pray… and God was sure to answer that prayer.
I shared this on Wednesday night, and I’ve shared this with you before… but I do love this quote from the late pastor Tim Keller on prayer: “When we pray, God will either give us what we pray for, or what we would have prayed for if we knew everything that God knows.”
I believe that this is a pretty good summary of what Jesus and the New Testament teaches us about the power of prayer: When we pray, God will either give us what we pray for, or what we would have prayed for if we knew everything that God knows.
And here’s something that God—the One who searches our hearts the way Psalm 139 says that he does… here’s something that God knows: God knows exactly what we need… all the time!
But notice what Keller doesn’t say: He doesn’t say, “God will either give us what we pray for, or what we would have prayed for… you know, if we’d only bothered to pray in the first place.”
By all means, the Holy Spirit prays through our prayers, but we have no assurance that he prays in spite of our lack of prayer!
So we must pray!
That’s Point Number Two… Point Number Three…
Let’s notice something else about God’s omniscience: It also includes knowing the future… It includes God’s foreknowledge. In fact, theologically speaking, from God’s perspective, it’s as if he sees all of time laid out in front of him like a map. He sees all of time all at once… because while God operates in time, he is over and above all time.
But we see God’s foreknowledge in two places in this psalm. In verse 4, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.” And then, most dramatically, in verse 16: “in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” This is one reason I often speak confidently about God’s having a plan for each of our lives.
But God’s foreknowledge helps us understand how God usually answers our prayers. And by the way, C.S. Lewis discusses this idea in his wonderful book, Miracles…
Think about how God usually answers our prayers. Usually he answers our prayers not in supernatural, miraculous ways that defy the laws of physics. God may do that occasionally, of course. We Methodists believe in miracles… and more than a few of you have seen God work in this way. I know that!
But usually when God answers our prayers, he does so through perfectly normal, scientifically explainable, natural means. God works in this way most of the time to accomplish his will on earth—and this is called the doctrine of providence. Providence happens, for instance, when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Most of the time, God isn’t performing a miraculous “feeding of the five thousand”-type miracle in order to give us daily bread. And he isn’t usually feeding us with manna from heaven! No, when we go to the store and find that we are able to purchase bread with money—or even when someone supplies us with bread if we can’t afford it—we can be confident that God has answered our prayer for “daily bread”!
Even though God didn’t require a miracle to give us this bread. That’s what the doctrine of “providence” means.
Okay, but often when God answers our prayers in this natural way, he has to set events into motion—sometimes days, months, years… decades… before we even make our prayer requests known to God. Let me give you two small examples, one from scripture and one from my own life.
Think about David himself, the author of today’s scripture. Remember when he took on Goliath, back in 1 Samuel 17? Do you think that there were Israelites who had been praying that Israel would defeat Goliath and the Philistines. Of course. I’m sure David himself was praying. Did God answer that prayer? Yes. How did God answer that prayer? By sending David. And what made David confident that he could defeat Goliath? First Samuel 17:34-36 tells us. In his conversation with King Saul, David said:
“I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God!
So think about it: On that day that David faced Goliath, David and his fellow Israelites were praying that God would give them victory over their enemy. But God began answering that prayer months or years earlier, by training David as a shepherd and having him first defeat lions and bears!
In other words, when David was a shepherd, protecting his sheep from lions and bears, God knew that at some point in the future David and the Israelites would pray for victory over Goliath. So God set into motion a chain of events that would enable their prayer… months or years in the future…to be answered with a “yes.”
Because God knew these prayers in the future, God used David’s experience as a shepherd to prepare him to be the answer to that prayer.
I hope that makes sense. I think it’s cool!
Closer to home, I remember an important event in my life when I was eleven years old. I played rec-league football. I played center on the offensive line. At the end of the season, we had a team banquet at the Old Hickory House barbecue restaurant where I grew up. All the coaches, players, and families were invited to the banquet. And there was podium with a microphone set up. And I was asked to speak in public for the first time: to stand in front of dozens of people—a hundred people?—and give a short speech thanking the offensive line coach, on behalf of the team, for all of his hard work and dedication. And to present him with a plaque.
I was terrified to do this. I was so nervous. But I did it anyway. And I remember practically quaking in my boots as I did so.
On the drive home, however, my parents—who normally weren’t the most encouraging couple of people you’d ever meet, who didn’t hand out compliments quickly or easily—told me that they were impressed by my speech—that it so much more thoughtful, mature, confident than my other teammates who had to give speeches. I somehow impressed my parents! I made them proud! Maybe I’m not terrible at speaking in public? Even that small event planted a seed.
Because God knew back then about the plan that he had for my life—he knew he would call me to be a pastor, a large part of whose job is to stand in front of people and talk. He was preparing me for that back when I was eleven years old, in the banquet room of the Old Hickory House, in 1981. I didn’t go into ministry until 2004… And that happened only after much prayer. But he started answering that prayer decades earlier.
God does this sort of thing all the time! Because he knows the future… Because he’s working his plan for our lives… Because in his “book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
What a relief! God is always working his plan!
I happen to be watching a television drama right now in which one of the characters is obsessed with someone—she is always thinking about this man in her past who hurt her. And her family keeps begging her to please stop thinking about him. “You’ve got to put him out of your mind,” they say. “You’ve got to stop letting him live ‘rent-free’ in your head!” Have you heard that before? But her family is concerned about her because she obviously still loves him… to think about him so much! And he doesn’t deserve her love!
Well… God thinks about you… much, much more than that. That’s precisely what verses 17 and 18 mean. The New Living Translation puts it like this:
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
If God thinks about you that much, then God must really, really love you!
Good news! He does!