Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20051030.htm

RELISHING THE ESSENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
Part II: The Attributes Of God
A. Treasuring The Omniscience Of God
(Psalm 139:1-6, 23-24)
  1. Introduction
    1. We humans have limited insight, and one area of this ignorance we believers often find challenging is that we are not always sure in ourselves if we are on the best path in life to make our acts bear eternal fruit as God our Judge would evaluate them!
    2. To address this need, David applied his gracious God's omniscience for invaluable help here (as follows):
  2. Treasuring The Omniscience Of God, Psalm 139:1-6, 23-24.
    1. When David wrote Psalm 139, he was concerned that he might unknowingly be guilty of actions that hindered the eternal effectiveness of his earthly life's efforts, cf. Psa. 139:23-24 (cf. 1 John 2:17):
      1. The word for "everlasting" (KJV, NIV, ESV) is olam in the Hebrew text, and it means "most distant times'" in reference "to either the most distant past or to the future or to both," cf. Kittel, Bib. Hebr., p. 1096 (emphases ours); Jenni, E., "Das wort olam im AT," Diss, Theol. Basel 1953 (ZAW 64:197-248; 65:1-35) as cited in Harris, Archer, Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the O. T., vol. II, p. 672.
      2. As we will show in this lesson, David focuses in the context of this psalm on both eternity past and eternity future, so he is concerned about adjusting in his life for eternal worthiness from God's view!
    2. Thus, David considered the omniscience of God, that attribute that revealed how thoroughly God KNEW him, a knowledge that equipped God in INFINITE proficiency to help David with this concern, 139:1-6:
      1. David noted how God had thoroughly examined so as to know all about him (as follows), Psalm 139:1:
        1. The word "searched" (KJV, NIV, ESV) in Psalm 139:1 is from the Hebrew word, haqar, meaning "to explore, examine thoroughly," cf. B. D. B., Hebr. and Engl. Lex. of the O. T. , p. 350.
        2. Thus, God had explored and thoroughly examined so as to acquire full knowledge of David, 139:1!
      2. Detailing this theme in Psalm 139:2-6, David delved into God's knowledge about him so as to bolster his confidence in God's ABILITY to winnow out any hidden, worthless activity in himself as follows:
        1. David noted God knew his "down-sitting and . . . uprising," a description known as a "merism" that includes not only these opposite acts, but all activity in between them, Ps. 139:2a KJV; Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 891; God had thoroughly explored and examined all of David's actions in his life.
        2. Then, God had discerned David's thoughts from afar, meaning He had evaluated them as one would from a distance besides having noted them at close range, Psa. 139:2b. Thus, God had analyzed all of David, ver. 3: (1) the word "compasseth" (KJV) ["discern" (NIV) or "search out" (ESV)] in verse 3a is from the Hebrew word, zarah, meaning to "winnow, sift" as in separating worthless chaff from valuable grain, Ibid., B. D. B., Hebr. and Engl. Lex. of the O. T., p. 280. (2) As this activity is applied to the opposite actions of David's "going out" and "lying down" (NIV), all his acts in between these two opposite deeds are included, meaning God had evaluated the values of each of his acts whether viewed individually or in reference to his entire person and lifespan! (139:2b-3b)
        3. Indeed, even before David had spoken a single word, the most trivial of acts, God knew all about it, whether the word was considered by itself or in the context of David's entire life, 139:4 NIV, ESV!
        4. Having introduced the idea of God's foreknowledge in verse 4, David went further in verse 5 to note God had studied him from His unique views from eternity past ("behind" KJV, NIV, ESV) and eternity future ("before" KJV, NIV, ESV); God had thus fully considered David from both eternity past and eternity future in reference both to the details as well as the whole of his life! (139:2-4, 5)
        5. In dwelling on such infinite insight, David stopped to marvel at its human inaccessibility, 139:6!
    3. Deeply moved, David asked God to apply His omniscience about himself so as to weed out any vain path in him and to redirect him into the respective right path of eternal value, Psalm 139:23-24 (1 John 2:17)!
Lesson: God had omniscience of David and his life; encouraged in dwelling on this truth, David asked God to apply it to expose any worthless path in his life and to direct him in the way that would make his life eternally effective and worthwhile in contrast to such an eternally debilitating course of action!

Application: May we rely upon God's omniscience to protect us from unknown harm in any realm!