¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’?

Some people appear to be mind-readers because of their uncanny ability to extrapolate people’s thinking from their facial expressions, voice intonations and body language. Others make a living in carnivals with trickery and mind manipulation techniques. Jesus, however, actually knew what people were thinking as though He were connected to a sensor implanted in their brains. Even more, as God, He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13). Early in His ministry we find, “Jesus knowing their thoughts said, ‘Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?’” (Matt 9:4).

The Psalmist writes, “The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are a mere breath” (Ps 94:11). David, the man of God’s heart wrote, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways” (Ps 139:1–3).

This idea that God can read our minds can be either unsettling or encouraging. If we harbor evil or shameful thoughts, God knows—and we should just as soon bring those out in the open to Him now or wait until the judgment. Some might insist that his or her own thoughts are private, and even God doesn’t have a right to know them. But how can the creature say or think such things about his or her Creator? Of course He has the right, He is our maker.

But the knowledge that God knows our thoughts can be tremendously comforting. There is relief in being fully exposed before God; there can be no further exposure that God will discover something which will change His love toward me. While I was still a sinner, and while Christ knew every thought of my heart both past, present and future, He died for me (Rom 5:8). I have absolutely nothing to fear.

God also helps us in the deepest issues of our heart. “The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:26–27). So like the Psalmist we pray:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” (Ps 139:23–24).