HE KNOWS EVERYTHING (Psalm 139)

God knows you better than you know you. There is no one on Earth who knows you as well as God knows you. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ said that He didn’t need anyone to testify about what was in them; He knew what was in them. He is the all-knowing God.

Psalm 139 might be one of the greatest passages in all of Scripture on God’s perfect knowledge. It is 21 verses long, and I want to walk you through it today because, at every twist and turn, line after line, we are reminded that God knows everything. Let’s look at what David wrote about it.

Verses 1-4: “O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.”

The psalm begins simply by acknowledging the fact that God is the Lord who knows everything. The idea here is that God’s knowledge is an active knowledge, not a passive one. By His own will and through His own power and presence, He knows everything.

Verse 5: “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.” Don’t you love this? God is in front of me, behind me, and on me.

Verse 6: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” He knows so much, we realize that we can never know what He knows. It is mind-blowing. We are finite creatures, and our God is an infinite God.

Verses 7-13: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.”

What the psalmist attempted to describe here is the extent of God’s knowledge. He went all the way back to the beginning and then all the way to the end, pointing out that God knew him completely at birth and will know him at death. From sunrise to sunset, from Heaven to Hell — he used these contrasts, these extremes, to show that God’s knowledge is everywhere, is about everyone, and covers everything.

There is nothing God does not know.

I don’t know about you, but in a world where it seems like we have more information and less knowledge or understanding, I am sure glad that God knows everything. His knowledge is perfect; you cannot add anything to it or take anything away from it.

So, the psalmist moved from the fact of God’s knowledge to the praise of it. Verses 14-17:

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!”

Notice that in verse 17 alone, there are two exclamation points. The psalmist was excited, and it should excite you as well to think that God made you. He uniquely designed your life, and He has a very special purpose for you. God knew you when He made you, He knew how He was making you, He knew what He wanted to do with you, and He knows you now.

'God’ knowledge is not just theoretical; it is practical. It is not just a theological truth; it is a personal application. God knew everything from the beginning, and He knows you intimately today.

If you are complaining about some weakness or that thing you wish you had, stop and ponder this: God knows. He knows your inadequacies and your deficiencies perfectly. But He also knows how He has gifted you. He knows why He made you like you are and what He wants to do with you.

Verses 17-18: “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.”

It should just thrill you to know that God is thinking about you today. If you lie down and start thinking about all of God’s thoughts toward you, you will fall asleep. When you wake up, you will find that He is still thinking about you.

Verses 19-22: “Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.”

What was the psalmist saying? “God, I just have to believe that if You know me, You know my enemies. If You know where I am, You know the circumstances I find myself in right now.”

Friend, this should be a great comfort to you today. No one else on Earth may know, but God knows. Stop and praise Him for that today. Don’t just acknowledge the facts; let there be praise on your lips for God’s perfect knowledge and that He thinks of you.

Verses 23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Now, we move to a prayer for His knowledge. We already know He knows everything, but here, the psalmist invited Him to search intimately through every part of his heart and bring him to a knowledge of his sin and his need for God.

The beginning and end of this psalm are like bookends. “Thou hast searched me” (verse 1) is past tense, while “search me, O God” (verse 23) is an invitation to search him again, acknowledging that God has known everything about him up to that point.

Isn’t this beautiful? The truth is not only a comfort but also a challenge. It is convicting. The One who knows us perfectly can judge us and bring us in line with every good thing He would have for us.

May all of us today come to a deeper knowledge of God’s perfect knowledge, and may it change the way we live.