“Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:24 (NIV)
God knows us intimately and thoroughly. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Before a word is own our tongue, He knows it full well. God also knows what is done in the most secret places of our hearts – and no place is deprived of His Presence. Our thoughts and the intentions of our hearts are ever before Him. Though we are told this in His Word, it is often difficult for us to conceive of it or comprehend the depth of this Truth that nothing is hidden from His sight. His fullness is everywhere.
How we so often forget this great attribute of God. We tend to live and think and do as if He does not see or care or take to heart. Things we would most assuredly not say or do before the eyes of mere man, we do before Him. Scripture also tells us He not only knows the action but the motivation behind it. Why we do what we do. And yet, amazingly, God knows us fully and thoroughly and yet He loves us still. That is the greatest miracle. The Prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 40:13-14 (NIV): Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?” Indeed, He is incomprehensible in every way.
There is no hiding place from our great God. This should serve as a shield against the temptation to wallow in the ways of the world. We never come out unscathed when we do. Quick repentance is always, always the best. And repentance means to turn back from the point of our departure. He desires for us to walk with Him in the “cool of the day” knowing we are both fully known and fully loved. As Corrie Ten Boom once said, “No pit is so deep that He is not deeper still; with Jesus even in our darkest moments, the best remains and the very best is yet to be.”
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.** Psalms 139:1-10 (NIV)**