In our study next week we will see how David responded to his meditation on God's omniscience and omnipresence. It is the response of one who has learned what it is to be known by God and to be loved by him anyway, to be always with God and not to fear his presence. But what of those who do not know God in this way? What about those who are still trying to get away from him? What about you if you have not yet come face to face with God in Jesus Christ and surrendered to him? Do you really think you can escape from the omnipresent God or hide from the Omniscient?
H. C. Leupold denies that the psalmist is actually trying to flee from God, and he is right. David is not wanting to flee from God at all. But he is thinking about what would be the case if a person should attempt it. Leupold suggests that the right idea would be conveyed more effectively by translating verse 7 as, “Where could I go” from your presence...Well, where? In verses 8-12 David imagines three areas in which escape from God might be thought to be possible, but he dismisses each one.
What are we to do with a God “before whom all hearts are open, all desires known"? An all-knowing God is immensely threatening, which is why we try to banish him from our minds. Arthur W. Pink, whom I quoted yesterday, notes that the thought of divine omniscience "fills us with uneasiness."
The theme of the first six verses is the omniscience of God, the proper term for the fact that God sees and knows everything. But omniscience is not expressed here as mere doctrine. It is confessed in wonder and adoration, as the other doctrines (omnipresence and omnipotence) will also be. We should remember that confession is one way in which we worship God.
Somewhere in J. I. Packer’s writings there is a reference to the Puritan theology as theology of that “older, better, wiser and more practical sort.” That applies to the Puritans, but it applies even more to the theology of Psalm 139. For here is theology that is even older, even better, even wiser and even more practical. It is theology of the very best sort.
