How does Psalm 73:11 challenge our understanding of God's awareness of actions? Setting the Scene Psalm 73 is Asaph’s honest journal entry. He looks at arrogant evildoers thriving and feels the tension between what he sees and what he believes. Verse 11 captures the taunt he hears from them: “The wicked say, ‘How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?’” (Psalm 73:11) The Deceptive Question in Verse 11 • It is not genuine curiosity; it is mockery. • By framing their rebellion as a question, the wicked try to erase accountability. • Their logic: “If God doesn’t notice, I can do whatever I want.” Why This Challenges Our Thinking • We may silently wonder the same when injustice seems unchecked. • The verse exposes our temptation to shrink God to human limits. • It forces us to decide: trust appearances or trust revelation? Scripture’s Unambiguous Answer: God Sees All • Proverbs 5:21 — “For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.” • Hebrews 4:13 — “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight, but everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” • Psalm 139:1-4 — “O LORD, You have searched me and known me… You discern my thoughts from afar.” • Jeremiah 23:23-24 — “Am I only a God nearby… and not a God far away? … Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” • Job 34:21 — “His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step.” What Psalm 73 Reveals About God’s Awareness 1. God’s knowledge is comprehensive—He sees motives, not just actions. 2. His awareness is continual—there are no blind spots or time gaps. 3. His knowledge guarantees justice—verse 18-20 shows the wicked’s downfall. 4. His omniscience is relational—verse 23, “Yet I am always with You,” underscores that His seeing is also His shepherding. Living in Light of God’s Perfect Knowledge • Examine motives: ask, “If God already knows, why am I hiding?” • Embrace integrity: knowing He watches transforms private life into worship. • Find comfort: the same eye that judges also guards (2 Chronicles 16:9). • Cultivate patience: apparent delays are not ignorance but mercy (2 Peter 3:9). • Stay near: “It is good to draw near to God” (Psalm 73:28). Summary Psalm 73:11 voices the skeptic’s claim that God is oblivious. The rest of Scripture—and the rest of the psalm—answers with thunderous clarity: God sees, knows, and will act. Trusting that truth steadies the believer when appearances say otherwise. |
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