Sunday School Lesson: Searched and Known by God

Purpose: To marvel at the depth of God’s infinite knowledge of us.

Scripture: Psalm 139:1-14, 23-24.

What is one thing about you or your personality that is totally unique?

One unique character of myself is that I read a lot. It is sometimes scary how much I read. I have gotten to where I will read four or five books simultaneously, much the same way as some folks can watch and keep up with several television programs a week. I also read a couple of monthly magazines and a couple of bi-weekly magazines. I read two bi-weekly newspapers, three weekly newspapers, and one daily newspaper (but only on Sunday). I also read a daily devotional and scriptures. I read my Sunday School Lessons and several commentaries on the lessons. I am a member of a book club and read whatever the group is reading. I am in a group that meets once a week to read the sermons of John Wesley. I am also a husband, father, and businessman and take those responsibilities seriously. It’s amazing that I manage to squeeze in my reading time.

Not only do we possess some unique personality traits, but the human body itself is unique and amazing. Some interesting facts about humans:

An average human scalp has 100,000 hairs. We lose an average of 40 to 100 strands each day.

Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour, about 1.5 pounds a year. By the age of 70 the average person will have lost 105 pounds of skin.

It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown.

There is enough phosphorous in the human body to make about 250 matches.

Humans are born with 300 bones. Adults have 206 bones. There are 29 bones in your head.

Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.

During a 24-hour period, the average human will breath 23,000 times.

Every time you lick a stamp your are consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

By the time you turn 70, your heart will have beat 2.5 billion times.

Human blood travels 60,000 miles per day on its journey through the body.

We sometimes forget just how unique and amazing we are. What is the source of these amazing and unique bodies and personalities that we have?

Psalm 139 celebrates God as the One who creates us in this wonderful, intricate form and who also know us intimately.

Do we sometimes forget the source of our uniqueness?

Just how familiar are we to God? How well does God know us?

Let’s look into the scripture to see how the psalm writer answered those questions.

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. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
(Psa 139:1-6 ESV)

Can anyone tell me what the key word in this psalm is? This word or related words appear in the psalm seven times, four in these first six verses.

The word is "know" and its relatives "known", and "knowledge". According to these verses, who knows who?

And how well does God know us?

What does the knowledge consist of?

The Hebrew word for know suggests a very intimate knowledge. The same word is used in Genesis in reference to sexual intercourse. This knowledge is one of a very intimate relationship.
How well does God know us?

God’s knowledge is detailed and specific. So complete is God’s knowledge of humans that God can discern our thoughts.

What does discern mean?
Discern is a term of measurement. So I guess you could say that God measures our thoughts and how well they measure up with His ideal. The completeness of God’s knowledge is summed up in verse 3: God is "acquainted with all my ways..." We may try to hide our feelings and fail to express our emotions. We may lock our mouths shut, keeping our thoughts to ourselves. But God knows what we are thinking. He is more aware of our motives and desires than even we ourselves are aware of.

God’s omniscience is not some abstract attribute that God can either use or not use. God’s omniscience is personal, always engaged, and intimate. God knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows our faults and our strengths, our sin and our holiness. No part of us, physically or mentally is hidden from God. No part of our personal history, no secret desires, no so-called hidden sin, no so-called private behavior escapes the awareness of God. His knowledge is total, complete, and comprehensive.

Is the thought of God’s personal knowledge of all we are and do disturb us or comfort us?

In what ways can this idea be both comforting and sobering?

Do we acknowledge the fact of God’s intimate knowledge of us as we go about our daily routines?

Do we consider God’s opinion before we think or do the things we think and do?

Have you ever heard anyone make a statement to the effect that if God new what they were really like, He wouldn’t want anything to do with them?

These people recognize their sin and understand that God hates sin. What they fail to understand is that God already knows all about their sin. Not one of our thoughts is a mystery to Him. Nothing we do surprises Him. He may often be disappointed or even angry at our behavior, but He is never surprised.

Here is the part that can offer us comfort: God knows us. God knows our every secret and every sin. Yet, with all of that knowledge, God never abandons us, rejects us, or gives up on us. God loves us just as deeply and intimately as He knows us.

When do we most often want to hide our thoughts, feelings, and deeds from God?

What are some things that Christians do in their daily lives as if God cannot see them?

How successful are we in attempting to hide parts of our lives from God?

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
(Psa 139:7-12 ESV)

Where can we hide from God?

Is there any place that we can possibly be out of God’s spirit or presence?

The first section of this Psalm told us of the unlimited nature of God’s omniscience. This section tells of God’s omnipresence.

In our lesson on March 5 we talked about the vastness of the heavens and that the more we learn of the heavens through our technological advances, the larger they seem to be. Where in the heavens can we hide from God? Verse 8 says that God is there.

Verse 8 also mentions "Sheol". Exactly what or where is Sheol?

Sheol is the most common Old Testament term for the abode of the dead. The Old Testament does not have a formal doctrine about the fate of the dead, but there was a common belief that the dead existed in some form in a region outside the earth, sometimes thought to be beneath the earth. The Hebrews believed Sheol to be a place of darkness and silence, but not a place of punishment. Their belief was that everyone went to Sheol upon death. In several places in the Old Testament Sheol is portrayed as a realm beyond even God’s reach.

What does this psalm writer say about Sheol? Can we hide from God even in Sheol?

Is God’s inescapable presence a good thing or a bad thing?

"If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good."
(Amo 9:2-4 ESV)

I guess it depends. God the righteous judge will pursue those who have earned His judgement and wrath. They cannot hide. In Psalm 139 God’s inescapable presence is celebrated as good. God pursues us wherever we may try to hide in order to lead us and hold us fast. Even in darkness we can’t hide. In Hebrew thought darkness was often associated with death and the absence of God. Yet darkness is not a barrier to God finding us according to the psalmist. Not even darkness can overwhelm God. Darkness obscures our vision and hides what the light reveals to us, but not God. God’s mere presence negates the darkness. The darkness is not dark because the darkness is as light to God. Nothing, not even darkness can impede God’s seeking and finding humans. From the wings of the morning (the rising sun) to the farthest limits of the sea where the sun sets we cannot hide.

After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, what was the first two things they did?

First, realizing their nakedness, they threw on some fig leaves to try to hide their nakedness, and second, they hid from God because they were ashamed of what they had done. Even before calling out for them in the garden, do you think that God already knew exactly where they were and why they were hiding?

Isn’t even the idea of them trying to hide their nakedness from God silly?

After all, God created them. He knew every part of their bodies intimately. Do you think that this psalmist, who certainly was very familiar with the story of Adam and Eve, would have laughed at their futility in attempting to hide from God? According to this psalm, not only can we not physically hide from God, even our innermost thoughts and feelings are an open book to God. God knows us intimately and completely. And why is that?

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
(Psa 139:13-14 ESV)

The phrase "inward parts" refers figuratively to the heart, which we commonly consider to be the seat of our emotions. It is God who created in us hearts of emotion.

With what attitude should we respond to being God’s creation?

With praise, for we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Have you ever thought about just how wonderfully made we are?

Who can study even a small portion of the human anatomy without wonder and awe, marveling at it’s delicacy and trembling at its frailty?

Can we say that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" only if we are fit to model for Ralph Lauren’s mens wear or to make the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue?

The body that is fearfully and wonderfully made is the ordinary body that is also aging, balding, sagging, graying, sometimes limping, sometimes aching, sometimes broken, sometimes desperately ill, and almost always in need of healing of one sort or the other. That ordinary body gives us the inspiration to cry out, "I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made!"

We have already established that there is nothing about us that God does not already know. He has searched us and known us. He knows our thoughts and our intentions. He knows when and where we have tried to hide. How do we get God to cleanse us of all that we wish we could hide?
We have to invite Him in.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
(Psa 139:23-24 ESV)

Have you ever heard of anyone who resisted Christianity because they feel that Christians are being controlled?

Does God control our lives? To what extent?

Can God control us without us first giving up control?

Only by invitation will God come in and cleanse us. God will not impose himself on anyone. If we desire His direction, though, He will lead us into the way everlasting. Us Methodists like to call that sanctification or holiness. Though we may not know completely even our own hearts, God knows and God can lead if only we will follow. Only by God exposing our sins and weaknesses can we be convicted and become conformed to Christ.

God has already searched us and known us. What this psalmist does, and what we should do, is plead with God to continue searching and knowing. We need for this intimate relationship of being known completely by God to continue. If it doesn’t continue then we have been forsaken.
What is our response to God’s intimate knowledge?

Are we comforted by God’s intimate knowledge or are we afraid that God is watching to closely?