Trusting the God who is always in control
O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! Psalm 139:1-6
Do you think God's control over us is total or partial? From the text, the Psalmist asserts that God’s control is total. He makes the point that whether we accept it or not, God's calling the shots. Either He's in full control or He's off His throne. The Psalmist describes God’s incomprehensible knowledge of each and every one of us. He knows us; our thoughts and our ways. Even before we utter words, God knows even before we say them. At times, because of the circumstances we are going through, God seems to be absent yet the Psalmist says, “You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.” God’s profound perception and constant nearness should stir a sense of praise in the one who seeks His control (v. 6). “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,” and he says this because knowledge like this is “too great, “it leaps beyond his imagination. A bit later he is amazed, not by what God knows of his thoughts and ways, but God's thoughts to him. “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!” (vv. 17, 18). Nothing about us is hidden from God. Paul also is astounded by God’s wisdom and knowledge, and says His ways are untraceable. “Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!” (Rom. 11:33). When we think about our faith, as all believers should, comes occasionally to a place where human understanding collides against a barrier. Paul and the Psalmist talking about the depth of God’s wisdom and knowledge, we cannot bear what God can bear, nor can we follow His paths. But despite this human limitations, there should always praise and glory offered to Him. We know that we are saved, and by that fact we know that what Paul is writing is true. Our praise and worship of God should be prompted by accepting the fact that we cannot know all about God as well as by what He does. We cannot hope to understand God completely, since then He would be no greater than we are. At times, we must stop thinking instead we begin worshiping.
Blessings,
