God the Mind-Searcher.
Foolish indeed are they who "seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord." The first reference of this warning may be to the secret schemes of the party in Jerusalem which advocated an offensive and defensive alliance with Egypt in the national emergency. Such a policy was so evidently untheocratic that, in the days of the good Hezekiah, they were obliged to work in the dark. It may be noticed that the Divine omniscience of all events and circumstances is a much more familiar and readily recognized truth than the Divine omniscience of all thoughts of mind and decisions of will. Yet we are to understand that, as the psalmist expresses it, "Thou understandest my thought afar off …. For before a word is yet on my tongue, lo! O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether." By our "thoughts" is not meant the passing set of mental associations from which we have to select, but the selections we make, the things we cherish. The omniscience of God is most searching to us when we regard it as his "knowledge of the deepest thoughts and most secret workings of the human heart."
I. THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE AS A CHECK. A boy was required to accompany his father when out stealing potatoes from a field. The boy was set to watch while the man dug. Presently he called out, as if there was danger. "Where? where?" said the man, who could see no signs of any one approaching. "Look up!" replied the boy. This should always be taken into consideration in our thinking and our planning—God sees; God knows. We all need that check of the Divine eye upon us, reading our very hearts.
II. THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE AS A TERROR. Such it must always be to the evildoer, to the man who wants to do wrong. It checks the good man; it frightens the bad man. A servant-girl was accustomed to pilfer when dusting her master's room, but there was a portrait on the walls, the eyes of which seemed to be always following and watching her; so, to relieve herself of her terror, the foolish girl cut out the eyes. An oppressive picture of the terror of God's looking at and into evil-doers is given in the description of the judgment, when men wilt call on the rocks and hills to hide them from the face of God—as if they could!
III. THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE AS A CONSOLATION AND STRENGTH. This it is to all who wish to be good. The best source of illustration is Psalms 139:1-24. See especially the restfulness and the joy breathed in the prayer of Psalms 139:23, Psalms 139:24. As Calvin says, "That man must have a rare confidence who offers himself so boldly to the scrutiny of God's righteous judgment."—R.T.