Two Will Do
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. Psalm 139:2 NASB
Understand– If God “knows” everything about me, then why do we also read, “You understand”? Isn’t knowing and understanding pretty much the same thing? As it turns out, in Hebrew these two ideas are different, and the difference is precisely why the Psalmist includes both in his description about God’s comprehension of human existence. The Hebrew verb for “know” is yada’, as we mentioned earlier. But now we encounter bîn.
The verb refers to knowledge which is superior to the mere gathering of data. It is necessary to know how to use knowledge one possesses (Pirke Abot 3:12). The verb yādaʿ (q.v.) can also mean “understanding” in the sense of ability (e.g. Esau as a skillful hunter). It can also mean “to be perceptive,” (Ps 73:22). However, yādaʿ generally describes the process whereby one gains knowledge through experience with objects and circumstances. bîn is a power of judgment and perceptive insight and is demonstrated in the use of knowledge.[1]
The lyrics of this song are not only interested in God’s factual information about us. God also has insights into why we do what we do and how that reveals who we are. In other words, God is not an accountant, recording all the external facts about our lives. He is also a therapist who digs deep under the surface to discover what makes us work and how we feel about who we are. God’s expression of His concern about human beings in the Torah is not simply a list of behavior rules to keep us on the straight path. The Torah includes, because it is essential, the stories of human emotions, decisions, consequences, traumas and inherited patterns that contribute to this human frame. He knows that we are dust, and a good deal of who we are wasn’t our choice.
Of course, this is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because God’s intimate comprehension of our total being in the world takes account of all the factors that contribute to our personalities and choices. He doesn’t have a single, wonderful plan for our lives. He has intentions; intentions that can be revised based on any number of occurrences, choices, emotions or unconscious influences. His intentions are always for the good, including our good as it fits into His plans, but that does not mean there is a fixed route to the goal. In fact, direction rather than destination probably describes the process more accurately.
On the other hand, since God knows all the facts and all the insights, we might feel restrained. After all, there is a strong element in our thinking that suggests if we only knew all prior conditions, we could accurately predict every outcome. So, in a way, God’s knowing and understanding might make us feel that we really don’t have much choice after all. We must live and play inside the box, His box. We really aren’t free to choose a life of our own. We’re thrown into this world and we have to make the best of it until, without any choice of our own, we’re snatched away. Worse than this, if God knows it all, we don’t have any excuses or hiding places.
Suddenly the blessing doesn’t seem quite so wonderful. The “Four Spiritual Laws” need a strong dose of reality. And the Psalmist expresses what we feel, “I never had a chance.”
Topical Index: yada’, know, bîn, understand, facts, feelings, Psalm 139:2
[1]Goldberg, L. (1999). 239 בִּין. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (103). Chicago: Moody Press.
SOMETHING FROM JERUSALEM:
If you want to hear Moshe Kempinski talk about Torah for Gentiles, then you can click on this link and listen to a talk he gave to our group a few years ago. Oh, and it’s free. CLICK HERE
The #1 request from the persecuted Body is to know that they are not forgotten: that the rest of the Body has not abandoned them and is standing with them. When we walk through the valley of death, I think the one thing that terrifies us is the thought of being alone; of nobody understanding what we are going through. It is such a profound relief to hear “I understand” that that alone has the power to pull someone out of the insanity (lack of faith) that aloneness produces.
We are instructed to “weep with those who weep” and rejoice with the rejoicers, too. I think to understand is to vicariously experience what another is experiencing, and that is powerful! If we have a friend standing with us, we can go through the fire. It is telling to me that the only one at the crucifixion who seemed to show a proper understanding of the salvation the Saviour was effecting was the thief on the right. What a profound relief that must have been for the dying Saviour to not only feel understood but to have somebody ask Him to save them! He said He would have died to save just one. Perhaps that day, that one was enough.
I have my suspicions that the ancient Hebrews, anyway, perhaps did not suffer from the fixed-future beliefs of the pagans. It is more than funny to me that dichotomies tend to come in pairs. I can see that the Hebrews – who alone relied on history – did not have the problem those around them seemed to have about the future, either. The Hebrews were instructed to ignore the future-tellers, after all (as not being correct). Those who had no clear sense of history, however (like the Egyptians, for example, who, because they rewrote history all the time, rendered their chronicles unreliable as that history), seemed to also suffer from a need to prognosticate (fix) the future. (So very odd.)
I have wondered if we, today, too, might suffer from a need to ‘know’ the future to the extent we have forgotten the past. Further, that we might be equating the broad perspective God actually has with (false) future-fixing to the extent that we are misunderstanding the history He has created with us. Perhaps David was not afraid of God being able to understand him in context of that understanding somehow ‘fixing’ his future choice possibilities as much as he was simply crawling with shame about what there already was about himself (in his history, as well as his present), to be understood (or, vicariously experienced with him). To face the past properly (um, take responsibility for it?) is to no longer fear the future, after all, for that responsibility returns us to the ability to participate in (determine) that future in real time (which is to say, as the future becomes the present). Control (of the future), after all, is only a ‘need’ for those who are disconnected from their past.
Laurita, thank you for sharing these thoughtful insights. I am blessed through your contribution.
+1
Over the years, whether high or low, whether in or out, it has always brought me comfort to know that God understood me. It’s fairly easy to accept that God knows me but much more reassuring that he understands me. He knows my frame, he remembers that I am but dust. I think that’s why I appreciate Hebrews 4:12 because to me that speaks directly into God’s understanding me from the inside out. He knows my wiring. He knows what wires got crossed and how to re-wire us. Submission, in my estimation, is essential in this process. When I don’t submit but hold onto my false self I am seeking to be a god unto myself. This has brought me great help and consolation as I have allowed God to touch me and the word “touch “carries a lot of significance!
Probably not many people would remember an old song, hymn called “No One Understands Like Jesus”….. this song actually kept me sane in a household of abuse when I was a preteen and teenager. My knowing somehow that God understood me more than I understood myself. Somehow, he was Abba to me and I didn’t even know it ! Isn’t He Wonderful!