Getting Personal

In theological terms we often speak of God being omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent...and all of these affirmations are true. God is the all-knowing, all-present and all-powerful God. Yet, how do these attributes of God intersect with our lives? How does knowing these truths about God actually change the way that you and I think, act and feel? I believe Psalm 139 helps us to see how these deep theological truths about our great God come crashing into our day to day living.

Take a moment to read the first six verses of this Psalm. As you read, take note of what the Psalmist says about God:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it. (ESV, emphasis mine)

Now, take time to read the verses again, this time focusing on the personal pronouns:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it. (ESV, emphasis mine)

This is personal theology at its best. God doesn't simply know all things...he knows all things about me. To some people the thought of such a personal theology is a little unnerving. They were probably okay with God knowing all things about that guy or that girl. But all this "me talk" seems to get a little too close for comfort because we realize that God knows about all the things that we try to hide--all the things that we try to keep out of the sight of others. In other words, we are laid bare before this All-Knowing God.

On this point James Boice writes:

For an unsaved person this powerful, pervasive knowledge seems intrusive and frightening, and with good reason. God is the end-time judge with whom we must reckon. Strikingly, the response of the psalmist is not fear. He is not trembling when he thinks of God's omniscience. On the contrary, he shelters himself in God's knowledge and marvels at it. For the psalmist, God's knowledge is not a threat; it is a refuge (Psalms, Volume 3, 1204).