YHWH (Exodus 3) 7- God Is Omniscient

Good to see you in the house of the Lord today.

It's so good to see that nobody melted on their way to church today because sometimes, you know, when when you get wet like that, you might melt, but we are all good in Jesus' name.

It is so good to be in the house of the Lord.

Welcome to August, right?

Uh, it is uh probably the hottest month of the year, but fall is on the way.

It's gonna be good.

It is so good to see you.

If you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to the final part of our series entitled Yahweh.

Uh, last week we had talked about it being the last one, but we had so much fun.

We're gonna do one more in Jesus' name.

And so we're gonna have a lot of fun with this one.

And so get your message notes out, all the different things.

And if this is your first time joining us, welcome.

It is so good to see you.

Uh, please make sure before you leave to fill out your connect card and drop it off at the Welcome Center because we have a free gift for you today, and we want to invite you to next week, which is our RLC Connect, and it's an opportunity to kind of get to know you a little bit more, okay?

All right.

I want to tell you something real quick, and then we're gonna jump into this final part of the series because next week is kind of a big week for us here at RLC in that we've got a couple of new things coming.

Now, first of all, we've got a brand new series coming next week called Built Different.

Somebody say, Built different.

We're gonna be walking through the book of Nehemiah, and it's gonna be absolutely wonderful.

It's one of my favorite books in the whole Bible, not just the Old Testament.

I can't wait.

It's gonna be so much fun.

The other thing is, is next week we're gonna be built different in another kind of way.

And that is that if you have a personality who notices such things, you might have noticed that there are some new outlets on our stage.

I'm just curious how many like super observant people, how many notice those?

How many don't care in Jesus' name?

Yeah, most of you.

Okay.

Well, here's the thing I got amazing news for you, and it won't make sense till next week, but we have actually got a new screen coming next week.

Uh, there was a church who actually gave us an LED screen.

So it was amazing.

It's awesome.

I got a longer version of that, I'll tell you next week, but that is coming next week, and it is going to be huge, okay?

And the reason why I love it is I'm gonna use the whole thing to put my notes on.

And so, for some of you in the back that's a little nearsighted, and you've been telling me that you can't see my notes, help is on the way in Jesus' name.

We're gonna have a font that's gonna be that big, okay?

So you're gonna better see it.

It's gonna be awesome.

But I just want you to, when you come in next week and it looks a little bit different on stage, you you heard it first here.

Everything's okay and it's all good.

And make sure to pray for Pastor Derek.

Uh, he's been working on this for months now.

Uh, only then will you realize that he's gonna sleep for the first time soundly next Monday, okay?

But it's it's awesome.

He's got an amazing team.

But wanted you to know that before you see it for the first time, okay?

All right.

Now, this is the final part of our series on the attributes of God, the characteristics of who he is.

And what we've been saying throughout this series is that for most of us, we we love God.

We we love the things of God, we have a pretty high idea of who God is, but what happens over time is our view of God stays kind of fixed, but our problems get bigger and bigger and bigger.

I don't know if you ever heard this before, but everybody you know has a private battle that only they know about.

Look at your neighbor and say, he's still talking about you.

We've all got them, right?

But here's the thing if we're not careful, those things get bigger and bigger and bigger.

And before we know it, our view of God is about the same size as our problems.

And so it's it's difficult.

And so the idea is we just want to remind ourselves at how truly awesome God is.

And kind of the idea of what my hope is for all of us in this series is that you would have an encounter like I saw back several years ago when I took my family to the most expensive, I mean the most wonderful place on earth.

Uh, I took my girls to uh to Disney World, and they told us that when you go to Disney World, you have to go see the fireworks at the castle.

And so we did.

We we got ready and we were there and we started seeing the fireworks, and I was sufficiently impressed.

I told you I'm I'm colorblind, so all I see is a bunch of you know, popping and noise, you know.

But but other people, I could hear them going ooh and ah, right?

It was it was it was good.

I was sufficiently impressed.

But then they did something that just took it to a whole other level.

And this is an actual picture.

They took the castle, and I don't know how they did this, but they started changing the color of it and doing different designs and things, and it even had some of the scenes of some of the famous cartoons on it, and and it was really cool.

And so I went from that's pretty cool to that's awesome, but it wasn't as awesome as the lady in front of us.

Now, I didn't take uh take a picture of her because it would have been creepy and weird to take a picture of a stranger in public, right?

And but if I had of this would have been her because we were all sufficiently impressed, and all of a sudden all that started to happen, and she just threw her hands up, like, whoa! And I was like, I agree, because it just took something that was already great, and all the only thing she could do is have a physical reaction and go, that's awesome! And that's been my hope for us in this series is that at some point in this series, you would hear something about God that you didn't know or something that you had forgotten, and you're already sufficiently impressed with God, but you would hear something that would make you go, that's awesome! As a matter of fact, I want you to practice it with me.

When I count to three, I want you to say that's awesome, super, super loud.

One, two, three.

That's awesome.

That's awesome.

That's what I want you to think of when I when you think of God.

And if you have at any moment during this service that you are just amazed by the goodness of God, I want you to yell out, that's awesome.

Because some of us might have missed that point.

And the and the reality of it is, is we need series that will remind us about the goodness of God because I think the two most important truths we believe are what we believe about God and who He says we are.

Because we need to have a view of God that is accurate and it is bigger than all of our problems, our issues.

Because if we don't see God clearly and difficulties come, we feel uncertain, afraid, stressed, angry, worried, agitated, we feel alone, we feel like nobody understands.

And it's just a difficult time when we don't have a proper view of who God is.

But the Bible promises us that if we have a clear view of God, we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our life, the outflow of that, the fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

And I know that you're doing just fine.

But how many of you are sitting by somebody who could use a little bit of all of that?

Let me see your hands right now.

Yeah, I see some of that.

And now you're gonna get, you know, hit in the shoulder right there.

But we could all use a little bit more love, a little bit more joy, a little bit more patience, a little bit more kindness.

And that happens as we begin to see God clearly.

And so, if you're taking notes one more time, the goal of this series is that the more we see God clearly, the more we can see everything else.

That if we get a proper view of God, the byproduct of that is it actually helps us get a proper view of everything else.

And so what we have been doing is we've just been letting God kind of reintroduce himself to us.

And the scripture we have been jumping off from is when God did this to the nation of Israel.

We know that between the end of Genesis and the first of Exodus, 400 plus years had passed.

And when the nation of Israel first went to Egypt, you know, they had a high view of God, Yahweh was their king.

But then while they were in Egypt, they became slaves.

And over the course of 400 years, they lived in a polytheistic culture, which means they believed in different gods.

And slowly, slowly, slowly, the gap probably started to go back toward the middle, where now God is just in amongst all these other beliefs and different things.

And so God wants to remind them of his greatness because he still has a big idea for them and he wants to deliver them.

And he begins this by actually revealing himself to Moses.

And because Moses is going to be his mouthpiece to reintroduce himself to the nation of Israel.

And he does it like this.

The Bible said that he he made a um a burning bush happen to get his attention.

And then when the Lord saw that Moses was coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, here I am, Moses replied.

Take off your sandals, for you were standing on holy ground.

I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

And he starts to say, And I am going to send you back so that you can be my mouthpiece to remind them of how great I am, and I'm going to use you to set them free.

To which Moses says, No, thank you.

He wanted nothing to do with it.

And Moses starts going off on all these different things.

And finally, he's like, Wait a minute.

There's all these gods that are here.

And he says, This if I go to the people of Israel, they will ask me, What is his name?

What should I tell them?

In other words, he's like, Listen, we got all these different gods that do these different things.

Which one of these should I tell them you are?

And God replied to Moses and said, I am who I am.

Say to the people of Israel, I am, has sent me to you.

Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, has sent me to you.

This is my eternal name to remember for all generations.

And oh, and tell them, I see how the Egyptians are treating you.

So what he tells Moses, he said, The reason why you can't see me is you're not looking in the right place.

You're looking down here with all these others.

You got to look up.

Like I am greater than all of these.

Let me reintroduce myself to you.

He said, My name is I am who I am.

The Hebrew for that is Yahweh, which is actually a verb.

He uses a verb as a noun because he's like, It's the best way that for you to understand who I am.

And he says, I am the eternally present one, I am unique, I am the sustainer of all things.

In other words, I am not one amongst all these other gods, I am the one true and living God.

And what I wanted us to do, and what we have been doing over this series, is to remind ourselves of how great our God is, that He is not in amongst all these other problems and things that we face, but He is greater than we can imagine.

And the more we see God clearly, the more we can see everything else.

And so we've been talking about different characteristics of God.

And I've got one more for you, and I am curious if you've ever even heard this word before.

So here we go.

First time, right?

Omniscient.

When I count to three, I want you to say it with me.

One, two, three.

Very good.

Yeah, it took me, it took me a while to not lisp when I say it, right?

It's God is omniscient.

So he is omniscient in all of his ways.

And there's a lot of ways to say this, but it actually omni means all.

Sentia, which is where that comes from, is the word knowledge.

And so the most basic way to understand this is that omniscient is our God knows all things.

Our God knows all things, he has perfect knowledge.

God does not have a learning curve, God has never failed a test.

God does not need to be trained on how to love us.

As a matter of fact, many theologians say that it is his perfect knowledge that is actually the greatest characteristic of his love because he knows us completely and he still likes us.

Think about that for just a moment.

If you amen, that's awesome.

If you already knew somebody was gonna be foolish, would you trust them?

Give you an example.

Let's say somebody came up and asked you if they could borrow your car, and you already knew they were gonna steal it.

Would you give them the keys?

No, I'm not gonna give you the keys.

As a matter of fact, I'm gonna ask you to leave.

Okay, don't, I'm not giving you my keys.

And but the reality is, is God knew.

You know what he knew?

He knew that we're gonna come to him, we're gonna say, God, I am so sorry for all my sin.

I am so thankful for your salvation, and I promise I am never gonna sin again.

Well, he's like, that's a lie, and I still love you anyway.

Come on into the family, right?

He knows us completely, yet he still loves us completely.

And I know that that actually can bring up other questions, which is why coming up in just a couple of weeks, it's just it's August 22nd.

We have got our next RLC conference coming up.

And if you've not already signed up for it, you need to make sure you do that because the sessions are filling up, and there's a couple of sessions that will help us talk about the character of God and knowing who God is and what does that mean when it comes to God's knowledge of all things.

So make sure you sign up for that because we want to dig into that deeper.

But I want to tell you, first of all, three reasons why God being a know-it-all is a good thing.

He is the only person that we love him more because he's a know-it-all.

You ever been around a know-it-all before?

You don't like them that much because they think they know it all.

The good thing is God does, and it's good news.

Let me give you three reasons why.

The first one is this the reason why it's good is because his he has foreknowledge.

The reason why this is good news is because he has foreknowledge.

That means he already knows.

He already knows all things.

We see this when David talks about this in a psalm.

He actually wrote this song for the entire nation to sing.

The Holy Spirit inspired him to write it.

And he said this: he said, Oh Lord, you have examined my heart and you 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.

He says, You have foreknowledge.

You already know, and you're leading the way.

One of the great things about God is that he knows what's coming.

And so he knows how to lead us in the right direction.

One of my favorite things about the foreknowledge of God is how all throughout the Old Testament, God kept promising them that one day the Messiah was going to come.

One day, don't give up, don't quit.

One day.

Did you realize that the Old Testament contains over 300 prophecies predicting that Jesus would come, and all of them came true?

That's isn't it though?

I mean, come on.

There's that's 300 dots right there, and every single one of them represents when God said, Don't give up, I'm coming, don't give up, I'm coming, don't give up, I'm coming.

And when the right time came, he proved that he knows what he's talking about.

He knows the way.

Here's the second reason why it's good news, and that is because he is just.

He is just.

The Bible says in Psalm 147, it says, How great is our Lord, his power is absolute, his understanding is beyond comprehension.

In other words, he knows.

He is just, he has all the details, so he is able to make the right decision because he has details we don't have.

You know, I I saw this the first time when I realized that when I first had children, when I had one kid, it was so easy to be just because if something was broke, I know who did it.

There was one child in the house, that child did it.

But as soon as we had two children, politics entered the canon home, and we had to start uh just uh analyzing the data and doing the best we can because none, neither one of my children have ever done a single thing wrong in their life.

And so we had to analyze the data, and sometimes I would be unjust because I didn't know the details.

And so reality was I would get it wrong sometimes, and that's in every area of life because we don't have perfect knowledge.

I saw this this past week that in 2025 in the US, 97 people were exonerated after wrongful convictions with an average of 14.2 years in prison.

So, in other words, for 14.2 years, they were saying, I didn't do it.

Sorry, bro, I didn't do it.

The problem was is there were thousands of people beside them saying, I didn't do it either.

The difference was they were guilty.

And these people were not.

And we don't always get it right.

Can I tell you, God's never got it wrong?

God has details that we don't have, so no one is ever gonna slip one past him.

You don't have to wonder if God is gonna make the right call because he has perfect knowledge, therefore he sees what's coming ahead, that he has all the details, and then here's one more.

It also means he does not get lost.

God has never forgot about you when he left somewhere.

God has never decided, well, I got all these other babies, I got all these other children, they'll be fine, I'm sure.

He's never lost them.

It says in Job 23, he says, He knows where I am going, and when he has tested me, I will come out as pure gold.

In other words, God has never needed a GPS, he does not get lost.

I find another statistic that said that in 2025, over 86 uh percent of people surveyed admitted that they had gotten lost while driving, which means the other 14% are liars.

Okay.

But the reality of it is because we're not God, we get lost.

I turn on my GPS now and I'm going through bowling green, okay?

Because I never know the quickest way to get where I want to go.

God knows.

God has perfect knowledge, he has complete knowledge of the future, he is just, he never gets lost.

Therefore, our response to God's omniscience is that because God knows all things, we can be assured that he knows us.

Somebody say amen.

Because he has foreknowledge, because he has all the details, and because he does not get lost, we don't have to wonder, we don't have to worry, but we can have confidence that he knows who we are, he knows everything about us, and that's one of the greatest acts of love is that he knows us and he still loves us.

And so here's the question of the day, and that is how does God's knowing all things nature give us hope in our constantly confusing world?

Which is easy for us to get our minds around how he's all powerful and how that can be helpful, and that he is good and that can be helpful, but what is it about his knowledge?

The fact that he knows all things, how does that give us hope in a constantly changing world?

Well, to do that, we can go all throughout the Bible, but we can go right back to what I was telling you that David wrote.

David wrote this song to be sung by the entire nation, and he spent the first six verses that we read a second ago talking about how God knows all things, and that when I think about how God knows all things, it's too wonderful for me to even get my mind around.

And then he finishes the rest of the song saying, and this is why it's such a good thing.

He says this he says, I can never escape from your spirit, I can never get away from your presence.

If I go up to heaven, you are there.

If I go down to the grave, you are there.

If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest ocean, even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me.

I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night, but even in the darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines bright as day.

You made all the delicate and inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex.

Your workmanship is marvelous.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, and I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They cannot be numbered.

I can't even count them.

They number, outnumber the grains of sand.

And when I wake up, you are still with me.

Therefore, search me, O God, and know my heart.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

David is looking at this and he's going, Man, when I think about the fact that God knows, that he has this foreknowledge, that he has all the details.

And when I think about it and I see God more clearly, it helps me to see everything else.

And our response is that because God sees all things, then we know that he sees all of us.

And what I want to do is I want to pull out real quickly the three of the things that he said that my hope is is that when all of those battles come in our life, that we can get this view of God and we can see them through the lens.

And it's about God's omniscience.

So I want you to look at your neighbor and say, omniscience.

Because we ain't never gonna say that word again.

We might as well get all the mileage out of it we can.

Look at somebody else and say, omniscience.

Yeah, what does that mean?

Is it means that God knows all things, which means three things.

First of all, that He knows where we are.

Can I give you some great news?

God knows where you are.

God doesn't get lost.

God's got all the details, God's got foreknowledge, he knows where we are.

I love how David said it like this.

He says, I can never escape from your spirit.

If I go up to heaven, if I go down to the grave, you're already there.

If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, your strength will support me.

I could ask the darkness to hide me, but darkness and light are the same to you.

I love this because right here it says, I never can escape from your spirit, but actually, what the the wording doesn't mean escape as though he's trying to get away and he can't ever quite get away from God.

It's not that.

It's the word is I can't ever wander on.

Off from your presence.

It's like I can't that even if I get distracted, if I start going to the left or to the right, that I'm never going to wander off and now find myself not in your presence.

And that's so important because isn't it true that we live in a world where sometimes we can be in a crowd but feel like nobody knows us?

Nobody knows where we are.

That if we had a problem, if we had a need, no one would be there to help us.

No one knows where we are.

It reminds us of being one of those old school where's Waldo pictures.

Like I don't know if you ever saw any of these before, but there's these where's Waldo pictures, and what would happen is poor Waldo was this guy with a striped shirt on, and he'd be in amongst all of this.

And the goal of the game was to try to find him.

And sometimes you would think Waldo would be easy to find.

That joker hides, man.

Even though, and then when you finally find him, he's waving at you.

It's like, how did I not see him before?

And the reality of it is, is many times we're we're looking for, well, we're we're hoping that someone will find us, even though we don't.

Well, I actually made this and I asked for uh I asked for AI to put me in there.

And I would give you time, and if I'd let you come up here, and I'm not, so don't come up here because I don't want you to find it.

You're ruining my point.

All right.

But um, if you look for me in there, I would be there.

But the thing is, is that we don't always see.

But you know what's amazing?

Is that in this, God knows where you are, He knows that I was right there the whole time.

And if you knew me, you would know that I was right by Hobe Cafe with a cup of coffee in my hand, okay?

Come on.

That he knew that I was right there the entire time.

Can I tell you some good news?

The good news is that God knows all things, which means God cannot and will not ever lose you in the crowd.

Yes, he's answering prayers in China, in Russia, and Australia.

He's got all kinds of people, he's doing all kinds of things for, but he never loses you in a crowd.

God knows where you are, and we see that all throughout the ministry of Jesus.

One of my favorite examples of this is actually in John 5.

He reminds us that Jesus can see you in a crowd.

There was this amazing moment where Jesus knew exactly where this gentleman was when nobody else seemed to know where he was.

The Bible says that Jesus returned to Jerusalem, and inside the city, near the sheepgate, crowds of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, lay on these different porches around this pool.

And one of the men lying there had been sick for 38 years.

How many years would you have to be sick lying somewhere before you think people would forget about you?

But he'd been there for 38 years.

The Bible doesn't even say his name.

They'd been forgotten, possibly.

He was there by himself.

But you know what's amazing?

It's Jesus came to Jerusalem, went straight to the pool where he was, and the Bible says when Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time.

Everybody else might have forgotten about him.

He'd been there for 38 years.

Now his identity was probably his issue because he'd been there so long that he couldn't remember maybe even how he got there.

But Jesus knew.

Jesus saw him, and Jesus went right up to him, started talking to him, and then Jesus told him, Stand up, pick up your mat and walk.

Instantly, the man was healed, and he rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking.

Jesus knew.

Jesus didn't identify him by his issue.

He knew where he really was.

He knew what was really going on in his life, and he knew he had the capacity to do more, even though everybody else had seen him only do one thing for 38 years.

Can I tell you one of the greatest things about God is that God knows everything and he knows where you are.

Never think that you're ever alone.

Here's the greatest news I can give you in that since God knows all things, even if you think you have lost sight of him, he will never lose sight of you.

It reminds me of when I was uh when my kids were little, I used to say this to them all the time, and that was this we go places, and I had two little adventurers, you know what I'm saying?

Like they they didn't like to be with dad, they like to be without that.

They would just go, and I would always tell them, I would always say, if you can't see me, exactly.

And so I would tell them, and and I had one daughter, and she was like, Okay, dad, and I'd always see her just peek around the corner.

She could see me.

The other one never looked back.

She just kept going.

And she'd still be going today if I didn't find her.

You know what I mean?

And that was just the way it was.

But you know, and sometimes we think that God's like that.

We think that as long as we got our hands on God, God sees us.

But you know what's amazing about God?

Even when we let go, even when we find ourselves adrift, even when we don't know how to find our way back home, he knows right where we are.

I remember a couple times when I couldn't find my daughter, and I'd say, Marco, do you know what you got to do to God?

Is say, Jesus, he knows right where you are.

He doesn't come running, he's right there.

Hey, buddy, I never lost you.

Come on back home.

He knows where you are.

Here's the second thing, and that is this he doesn't just know where you are, he knows who you are.

You don't have to put a hello, my name is tag when you're in the presence of God.

You know, one of the things that I love about RLC Connect is that we we come to this together and people put hello, my name is tags.

And I look at that and I get to memorize your name because I got to look at it like 12 times before I get it.

But you know, when you come into God's presence, you don't have to do that.

He knows who you are, he knows where you are and he knows who you are.

This is how how David wrote about it.

He said, You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex.

He sounds a little bit proud of himself on that one.

Yes, absolutely he does.

But he's like, Look at this.

This is amazing.

This is awesome.

He says, You watched me as I was being formed, woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

How precious are your thoughts about me, oh God.

They cannot even be numbered.

I can't even count them.

They outnumber the grains of sand.

And when I wake up, you are still with me.

For for pro-life advocates like myself, I love this verse because this says that before you were even born, when you were in your mother's womb, before anyone else had a chance to meet you, God saw you.

That God already knew your name.

And that while you are still being formed in your mother's womb, he's like, I can't wait for them to get here.

I can't wait for everybody to meet them.

I can't wait for all the all the adventures we're gonna have together.

Before your mother felt you kick, he saw you, and he knew you, and he knew you by name, sung you to sleep every day.

That's how much your God loves you, and God knows who you are.

God has never mistaken you for someone else.

He sees you.

That's one of the reasons why I love life groups at Real Life Church, is because not only does God see us, but but we want to see you as well.

Like everybody needs a place where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came.

People want to be where we all can see the troubles are all the same.

We all want to go to a place where everybody knows your name.

Is anyone that old that remembers that TV show?

Absolutely.

We're talking about bars up in the church.

Y'all pray for us, okay?

Yes.

But the reality is everybody needs that place.

God knows us, but we want to know you.

And because we are the body of Christ together, it's one of the reasons why I love life groups, it's an opportunity for us to learn who one another is.

And so that I would encourage you.

In a couple weeks, we got life groups that are coming up, the preview days.

You need to start thinking about how you're gonna arrange your schedule to be part of a life group because it's a chance to get to know one another and actually learn somebody's name.

Unlike myself, okay.

I'm gonna tell my life group real quick because I need them to stop making fun of me about something, okay?

So I was in a life group this past summer, and it was one of our men's life groups.

And men, you got to get one of these life groups.

They're so much fun.

And we were in this group, and I was in charge of the group that night, and we were having a great time.

We were talking about everything.

And I don't know if you ever met a guy named James Ewer.

He's part of our church.

Tether is also, they work at Hope Cafe.

If you see this big smile, it's probably James and Tether, okay, along with uh with Amy Ron and all those amazing team.

And James is just, he's just a calming presence.

He's so much fun.

And he was sitting right beside me, and we've been in life group now for a little while, and I look over at him and I said, and I'm I'm getting ready to talk to James.

And I said, So, what do you think about that, Jeff?

And he waits about two seconds, and only as someone who loves you could do.

He said, Well, I don't know about Jeff, but I thought it was pretty good, you know.

And I'm talking about, I was certain that he was wrong.

Until I looked in his face and I was like, No, his name's James, and it's been James for quite a while, you know.

And and as only someone who loves you can.

He hasn't let it go yet, or he still makes fun of me.

And so he'll tell me all the time, Jeff had a good day today.

How about you?

You know, everybody needs a place where there's forgiveness in Jesus' name, okay?

But here's the thing God knows wherever Jeff is, and God knows who James is.

And you know what's amazing about it is that God loves both of them, even the Jeff.

We haven't met yet, okay?

You know one of the things I love about Jesus is that he also sees Jesus sees us and our faithfulness when no one else does.

There's an amazing story in the life of Jesus.

The Bible said one day that while Jesus was in the temple, he watched the rich people dropping off their gifts in the collection boxes.

In other words, they were they were making sure everybody saw what they were giving in the offering.

Just like if you were sitting in church and you make sure and you tilt that checkbook real quick so everybody can see how much you wrote.

That's what they were doing, is praise the Lord, you know, and putting that in there.

And then while they were doing that, getting all the attention, then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.

I tell you the truth, Jesus said.

This poor widow has given more than all the rest of them, for they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything that she has.

In other words, yeah, I see all that, proud of all that, but I also see her, and I'm so proud of her.

You know what Jesus sees?

He knows where you are, and he knows who you are, and he knows when you're faithful, when other people would have left.

He knows when you're consistent, when nobody else does.

He knows when everybody else thought you were wrong and you were just trying to have integrity.

He knows everything, and he knows and he sees, and he's right there with you.

Here's some of the best news I can give you, and that is because God knows all things, we never have to worry if he will forget about us.

God does not get distracted, he sees what other people do, but it doesn't mean that his eyes are ever off of you.

He knows where you are, and he knows who you are.

And when the more we see God clearly, the more we can see everything else.

And we see that God has perfect knowledge.

We see that he does not miss any of the details, and we see that he never gets lost.

Therefore, our response is God, I'm so thankful that you know us, that you know where we are, and you know who we are because of your omniscience.

So, one more time, look at somebody and say, omniscience.

Getting all that we can out of that one word because here's one word that he knows where we are, who we are, and I love this one so much.

He knows the pathway to healing.

God knows the pathway to healing.

God does not use you as a science experiment.

He doesn't go, well, I don't know if this is gonna work or not, but why don't they just try it and we'll see how it goes?

He is not experimenting with you.

Instead, he loves you and he knows exactly the direction you need to go on to find healing for every broken place in your soul.

And because God has perfect knowledge, even when he takes a left-hand turn, when you thought he should have taken a right, you can trust him because he knows the pathway to healing.

Notice how David has been talking about in verse one through six.

It's like God knows all things.

And then in seven through twelve, he says, Therefore, I'm so thankful that God knows where I am at all times.

And then the next section he says, and I'm so thankful that he knows who I am at all times.

And then he says, Because of all of that, God, here's my prayer.

Search me, oh God, know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See what everybody else doesn't see.

Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path to everlasting life.

What he does is he when he sees that God knows where he is and knows who he is, it's not intimidating to him, but rather he says, Well, then here I am.

I trust you.

I trust that you are the one who knows the pathway to healing.

And here is some good news, and that is that God knows the healing that we need.

He is the doctor who always has the right prescription.

Do you know what I don't ever do?

I don't ever go, I've had the same doctor for about 10 years now.

I don't ever make an appointment, go see him and tell him I am doing just fine.

Hey, listen, I'm taking all my vitamins, I'm doing all the things.

I just want to let you know I don't need you right now, so I'm just gonna go and go now.

He doesn't, he doesn't do that.

I go see my doctor when I got a problem and when I can't heal myself.

A couple of Tylenol didn't work.

And you know what my doctor always says when I get there?

Because usually by the time I get there, I got snot everywhere, and I got all this kind of stuff.

And he always says the same thing.

Mr.

Cannon, why did it take you so long to get here?

I don't know, man.

Just give me a shot.

I'm gonna get out of here.

You know, I mean it's always, he's always, why did it take you so long to get here?

Do you know what I think happens to us sometimes?

It's because our view of God, it's not that it gets smaller, it's just our problems get so big that we don't know if we can trust him.

We don't know if he has the answers.

And so we try to go everywhere else to find the answers.

And then finally, we come before him in prayer.

And the only thing our Heavenly Father says is, I've been waiting for you.

I've got what you need.

I've been waiting for you.

Why did it take you so long?

But it's not out of judgment, it's I've been wanting to fellowship with you.

That's one reason why I love this scripture that says, Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.

This high priest, speaking of Jesus of ours, understands our weaknesses.

For he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.

There we will receive his mercy when we find the grace, and we will find the grace to help us when we need it most.

So, in other words, he's saying that when you come to God, he doesn't go, when are you gonna get better?

When are you gonna stop this?

Instead, because Jesus walked among us for 33 years and he experienced all the same things we experienced, then when that happens, he goes, Oof, yeah, that one's hard.

Oof, that's a hard one.

Come on, buddy, I got you.

I got you.

I know what you need.

He understands what we need.

And David, understanding that, says, Therefore then, search me, God, see the broken places in me that I don't see.

I don't know how to fix me, but you do.

And since you have this foreknowledge, since you see all the details, and since you never make a wrong turn, God, know me, help me.

We get to see that this week.

If you've been reading God's word with us, we're going through the book of Psalms together, one chapter at a time.

And if you want to join us, you can text RLC Bible to 94,000.

And God says this to us over and over again.

I want to walk with you through life.

I want to walk with you toward healing.

This week we're gonna read this.

I think it's on Thursday.

We're gonna read that the Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.

I will advise you and watch over you.

He's saying, I want to be there.

God doesn't go off somewhere in the future and say, Come find me.

Instead, he says, Let's go.

And he walks with us along the pathway.

And that's why we can trust him.

Because when he takes us through the easy streets of life, we can trust him.

But we can trust him the most when we can't see our way ahead.

When the Bible says, Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid.

Not because I've got a good flashlight, but because he goes with me and he knows the way.

He knows the pathway.

And that's why it's important that we take time out from time to time and we remember how big our God is.

Because if we don't see how big he is, then we can't see everything else.

But if we see how big he is, and everything else starts to show themselves for what they really are.

And when we get to that place, we don't glory in all these other things, but we glory in how great God is.

Because that's the promise that he gave us in Jeremiah chapter 9, he says, Those who wish to boast should boast in this alone.

Jeremiah 9 · chapter mention

So this is what you should be proud of.

That they truly know me, says God, and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love.

In other words, he said, You know what?

You know what can get you excited?

You know what can fill you with encouragement is when you come to know me and to realize that I am the God who demonstrates.

I don't just show you or tell you about my love, I show it to you.

And one of the best ways he shows us his love is in the fact that he knows you.

He has not changed his mind about you.

The enemy wants you to think that you have to earn his love.

God already knows, and he's already decided to love you.

That's been the point of this series.

The goal is that when we see God clearly, we can see everything else.

Why does this matter?

Well, it's because everybody you know has a private battle that only they know about.

Look at your neighbor one more time and say, He's still talking about you.

And you know what comes with those battles?

Those are not just just math problems to be solved, they come with feelings, they come with anxiety and fear, discouragement, and worry.

And here's the here's why this matters is that we can be informed by our emotions, but we have to live according to the truth.

Somebody give me a better amen.

You know what?

Because emotions are fun, but they will lie to you.

They will lie to you all the time.

Wait till you watch your team win the Super Bowl this year.

You're gonna think you can go out there and play with them.

That's a lie.

That they can, you can cheer with them.

Emotions will lie to you.

That's why we have to have a clear view of who God is, so that when we face our private battles and our emotions lie to us, and the enemy will use those emotions to lie about God, we can know the truth.

For instance, our emotions will tell us no one can help.

The truth is our God is all powerful.

Our emotions will tell us I feel so alone.

The truth is our God is always present, our emotions will tell us that everything feels hopeless.

The truth is our God is in control, our emotions will tell us that there's evil everywhere.

The truth is our God is always good, our emotions will tell us that everything changes.

The truth is our God never changes, and here's today our emotions tell us I feel lost, but the truth is our God knows your name.

God knows who you are, He knows your name is not Jeff, it's James, but He knows your name.

You know, it doesn't matter what other people know, it doesn't have any followers you have on social media, it doesn't matter any of that kind of stuff.

What matters is that God knows your name.

And here's the thing He loves you.

You're probably doing better than you realize.

You know why?

Because you haven't given up yet, and God is with you more than you can imagine, and because of his foreknowledge, because he sees what's ahead, we can trust him because he has all the details, he knows, he knows what nobody else knows.

You can trust him, and because he doesn't get lost, we can trust him as he leads the way, and when we see God clearly, we can see everything else.