Three of the characteristics that make God who He is are that He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. That means God is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere. We have to understand that even within those terms, there are boundaries, such as God cannot sin. God is limited but only by His very nature, not by any inability or weakness. It is a matter of the philosophical question of whether God can make a rock so big that He cannot move it. Although all three qualities are very important, God’s omniscience answers the question at hand.
Psalm 139 paints the best picture of who God is in relation to how He sees us. All 24 verses paint a vast picture of God’s power and knowledge. The first four verses give us a taste of the entire chapter.
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
God knows us because He is our maker. My wife and I have only been married a year but usually I know when she is upset about something or mad at me by the way she acts. Sometimes I can guess what she is thinking but not always. If you’ve been married a long time, you probably know what to expect from your spouse in most situations. But God made us. He knows exactly what to expect from us because He is our maker and He knows us better than we know ourselves.
But God also sees us and what we do. In the story of Adam and Eve, after they sinned, they tried to hide from God. But of course that didn’t work. Many people think that they can sin and get away with it because no one will ever find out about it. This is why people cheat on their taxes and on their spouses. Often times we discern that we aren’t hurting anyone and no one will find out so it’s ok. But of course it is not. God sees and even if there are no repercussions in this lifetime, there will be a time where people will be held accountable.
The flip side of this is good however. God also sees us when we are in trouble and is always just a cry away when we need help. We’re told to call upon the Lord in all circumstances. Romans 8 even tells us that the Spirit interprets for us when we don’t know what to say. God is not some cosmic spy who is watching and waiting for us to slip up so that He can crush us. Instead He is a friend who is always near us whom we can call upon when we need help.