Psalm 139
Doesn't it feel great to be known by someone?
That warm feeling you get when someone says, "I got this for you because I knew you like _____". How about when someone remembers when your birthday is, or even that moment when the person you only met once or twice remembers your name the next time they see you.
A small act of simply remembering you or something about you has the potential to positively transform your entire day. Personally, there have been small yet incredibly sweet moments like these that have happened years ago that I still look back on. How about you?
Let's think about this now on a much larger scale. In today's Psalm, David is in awe of God for knowing him down to the tiniest detail. We see the omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence of God throughout this chapter. Each aspect of God's character is intently focussed on displaying how active and intentional God is toward His creation.
"O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it."
Psalm 139:1-6
While knowing the actions of a person is one thing; David goes deeper, exclaiming that God also knows the motivations behind our actions. He knows our thoughts, how we think, why we would choose ______ over ______, and what words we would speak from the result of our thought before we could ever think to utter it.
God is omniscient- He knows everything. Because He made everything. It would be foolish for us to think that we know better than the God who created us when we don't even fully know ourselves! I sit here typing on my computer blissfully not at all aware of how the nerves, muscles, and bones in my fingers work together with my brain to successfully hit a key on the keyboard- and yet it is dangerously easy for me to put the weight of knowing my future on my shoulders, as if I am in charge of orchestrating what will happen.
Give up every ounce of stubbornness that clings so closely to you, and let the one who truly knows you take the lead.
"Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them."
Verses 7-16
What we see here is the beauty of God's provision. Not only does God know you better than you know yourself, but He has been so actively involved in your life from before you were even formed. Words like "created" and "knitted" give light to God's sovereignty over the natural process of reproduction. Intimately and actively forming us- having His power magnified in His own creation. What an honor it is to be an image-bearer of the living God! While bearing His image and exhibiting His careful construction, how much more cautious we must be in tearing ourselves down for what we look like. We are offending not only ourselves but the very Creator who made us.
God is omnipresent- He is everywhere.
Nothing can separate us from God (Romans 8:38–39), and His hand will continually lead and comfort those who are His children.
"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!"
Psalm 139:17–24
God is omnipotent- He is all powerful.
God's deep relation to His creation, paired with His sovereignty over their life, is all made possible through His powerful nature. In light of recounting the characteristics of The Lord, David, in closing, dedicates his loyalty to The Lord. Stating that God's enemies are his enemies, and asking Him to search his heart and mind for anything that would hinder his relationship with The Lord.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!"
The last two verses should be the prayer of all of us. Before we read our quietime, before we get out of bed to start our day, and even before we reach for our phone.
We must ask God to examine us. To reveal to us any areas of growth that we must work on, and to ask Him to give us the strength to overcome what is holding us back from pursuing Him.
May we not be neutral in our loyalty to God, but wholly submit to Him as our creator God.
By coming to understand the weight in which God knows and understands you- how more this should affect our day. How much more this should affect our lifetime of living!
The creator of everything you see and don't see. The one who has given you the very air in your lungs to breathe, and who mercifully enables you to live in this very moment-
the God of the universe deeply knows you, intricately designed you and passionately loves you.
The one who knows you best, who has stood beside you, and who is all powerful has marvelously planned your life.
What a beautiful truth.
