"Omniscience" in the Sermon on the Mount: Opening our eyes to see God

"God sees everything," and "God knows everything," -- and that fuels our distrust of him. Human experience is that reputations are fenced off with privacy, on managing what people know, on hiding our faults. If hiding is no protection against the Omniscient One, where does that leave us? 

We may start with misguided thoughts about God that can mislead us about God's character. As one theologian has said, everyone thinks about God sometimes so everyone is a theologian; the question is not whether we are theologians but whether we do it well or badly. Do we actually understand God? Consider how Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount:

"Let your alms be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly." (Matthew 6:4)

"When you pray, enter a closed room and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly." (Matthew 6:6)

"Your father knows what you need before you ask him." (Matthew 6:8)

"When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that you do not appear to fast to the people, but to your father who is in secret. And your father, who sees in secret, shall reward you openly." (Matthew 6:17-18)

In each case where Jesus mentions the Father seeing what is done in secret -- alms, prayers, fasting -- he is talking about God seeing even the most hidden and quiet things that are to our credit. He sees our prayers. He sees our alms. He sees when we abstain from self-indulgence. He pays attention. Yes, he watches, and yes, he notices; but he is not our enemy. When Jesus talks about the Father seeing what we are doing behind closed doors, Jesus is talking about the Father seeing everything good thing we have ever done. Even including that poorly-worded, struggling prayer. Does he know us? He knows us better than we know ourselves. Jesus tells us that he chooses to know our needs before we ask, the better to bless our prayers. Jesus shows us another way of seeing omniscience.