Psalms Reading – 5.9.2022
Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
This beautiful psalm, a favorite of many, has four major sections of six verses each. Verses 1-6 speak of God’s omniscience. Verses 7-12 speak of God’s omnipresence. Verses 13-18 reveal David’s awe and praise of God as creator. Verses 19-24 speak of David’s enemies who hate the Lord and his final prayer for God to search him for any sin so that he may walk in God’s holy way.
“Know” is a key word in this psalm. David found encouragement and security living in a hostile world because he was confident that the Lord knew all about him. God knows our every thought, our every word even before we speak it. God has a GPS location on us at all times. Not only does he know where we are, He is right there with us. He has us surrounded. He is before and behind us. His hand is upon us. To envision God’s holy and loving presence in such a way should give us courage for the facing of each day and each circumstance in which we find ourselves.
As David said, such a thought of what God knows is too wonderful and lofty to grasp. All thanks and praise be to the Lord for being such a God who cares so intimately about the details of our lives.
Memory Verse: Psalm 139:5, You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Question(s) to Consider: What encouragement does it give you that you are known so well by God?