The latest developments in facial recognition technology has caused many to wear frowns on their faces. This high-tech programme works by measuring facial features in images and videos in order to identify people. Facial recognition software is embedded into your smartphone, employed by workplace security systems to identify employees, and utilized by law enforcement to track down wanted persons using CCTV footage. But this doesn’t put a smile on everyone’s faces, including some legislators in Massachusetts who passed laws in 2020 regulating its use on the grounds that it invaded personal privacy. One political activist, writing for the New York Times, expressed their reservations by saying, “One of my concerns was that we would wake up one day in a world resembling that depicted in the Philip K. Dick novel The Minority Report, where everywhere you go, your body is tracked; your physical movements, habits, activities, and locations are secretly compiled and tracked in a searchable database available to god knows who.” Evidently, many people don’t want the whole world to know all about them—including their faces.

However, the fact we all must face is that there is a God who knows everything about us—whether we like it or not. The omniscient Lord knows and sees everything that you do, think, and feel (1 John 3:20). Indeed, His knowledge of you is so complete and comprehensive that He cannot learn anything new (Isaiah 40:13-14). He knows your past, present, and even your future before it happens (Psalm 139:16). The God who named all the stars knows your name, and yes, even your face as well (Psalm 147:4).

Those who have transgressed His law should find this terrifying. No sin or sinner is hidden from His studious sight (Heb. 4:13). All of our evils are committed under the watchful eye of His just judgment. He knows all of our deepest (and darkest) secrets (Psalm 44:21). Because of His unsearchable and inscrutable ways, we cannot escape His all-encompassing knowledge of our many iniquities: “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Prov. 15:3).

But those who are heart-broken should find this heart-comforting. The Lord understands what you are going through more than anybody, and He knows what you need before you even ask Him (Matt. 6:8). Even the number of hairs on your head are known to Him, if you are His child (Luke 12:7). He also carefully records your many sorrows in a detailed record book: “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” (Psalm 56:8). His eye is on the sparrow, and His eye is upon you (Matt. 10:29-31).

Knowing that God knows you ought to produce a humbling cry which says, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4a, KJV).

Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky. 

For more devotional entries like this, check out Brandon’s latest book, Bible Gleanings Volume II, which features 100 daily devotionals gleaned from God’s word: