Ps 139:1-6 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
This is not just analytical knowledge but the relational knowledge that comes from intimacy. The Lord has searched me (penetrated; investigated; examined intimately). He doesn’t just know what we think; He understands what we think and knows every hidden motive behind our thoughts; everything that is our heart. In the Hebrew (yada) the connotation of known is: winnowed or spread out that which has been threshed and exposed it to the current of wind—searched out to the very bottom. The Lord knows every path, every stop, and every detour of every day. He knows every word before we utter it; exactly what is said and what is “meant” … His Omniscience.
He knows us better than we know ourselves. No wonder David said Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. The original reading is: This knowledge is beyond or above me. This knowledge, God’s knowledge that takes in all things and their reasons, essences, tendencies, and issues, is far beyond me. The Lord is fully acquainted with our past life.
In verse 5 the original Hebrew paints a more detailed picture of God being on every side; we cannot escape in any direction. It is like an army besieged in a city without any means of escape … His Omnipresence. Now add to all this that He knew it all before you were formed in your mother’s womb (Jer 1:5). Yet in light of all that He knows about us He loves us anyway.
David’s words challenge me to consider my thoughts and words. I wonder how they would change if I truly believed them and acknowledged His active presence in my life moment by moment. Paul certainly understood David … We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Cor 10:5).
What a wonderful description of how close God wants to be to us and shower us with His Unconditional Love … The Perfect Love of God!