When I was a little girl, we had a beautiful candy jar that had belonged to my grandmother. At Christmas, my mother would fill the jar with hard candy. I looked forward to being allowed to have a piece or two, of course, only with permission. One day I decided I would try to sneak a piece of candy without my mother’s knowledge, much less permission. When she went to the back of the house, I quietly went into the kitchen to the shelf where she kept the jar, quietly took off the lid, and got my piece of candy. Then I hid under the bed to eat it. A little later, I asked if I could have a piece of candy, but the answer was no. My mother explained that I had already had a piece. How did she know? She probably heard me replace the lid on the candy jar. The sound of glass lids being replaced is hard to hide. Maybe I just looked guilty. The point was that she knew, and I was convinced she knew everything I did, good or bad.
We sometimes forget that God knows everything we do. The Bible shows us clearly that He knows what we are doing, what we are thinking, and why we behave the way we do.
From the beginning of time, God proves that He knows all. In the Garden of Eden when Eve and then Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, God knew what they had done. They hid themselves, but they could not hide from their creator.
In Genesis 18, when the Lord and the two angels visited Abraham, they told Abraham that Sarah would have a son. Sarah laughed to herself (verse 12), and the Lord told Abraham that she had laughed. He knew, because He knows all things.
In First Samuel 15, God gave specific instructions to King Saul about the destruction of the Amalekites. He was told to completely destroy them, all of them. Saul, because of his greed and desire for power, took King Agag, the choice animals, and other spoils from the battle. God knew what Saul had done, and He sent Samuel, the prophet, to carry the message of his rejection as king.
In Second Samuel 11, David’s sin of adultery was witnessed by God. The Lord sent Nathan to confront David, and that which David thought was hidden was brought out into the open.
Jesus often surprised the Pharisees and Scribes with His knowledge of what they were thinking. We can read His challenge to them when He healed the palsied man in Luke 5:22-23, when He healed the man with the withered hand in Luke 6:8, when He was casting out demons in Luke 11:17, and when they tried to trick Him about paying taxes in Matthew 22:18. Each time, He knew exactly what they were thinking, and He let them know that He had full knowledge of their thoughts as well as their actions.
In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira tried to hide their true motives for contributing money from the sale of their property. Not only were their motives not right, but they lied about the amount of money they received from the sale. God knew the truth, and He equipped Peter with the knowledge of their lies. Both died.
David gives us a clear picture of how the Lord knew His heart. He says in Psalm 139, “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.”
David gave a charge to his son, Solomon, when it was confirmed that Solomon would be king in his place. “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever” (Second Chronicles 28:9).
When the Lord foretold the restoration of Israel, He said, “For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes” (Jeremiah 16:17).
The Lord has always known our thoughts. He has always known our actions. He has always seen our secret behavior. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 12:14, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Sandra Oliver