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4/25/20

Tom Lowe

 

 

 

 

 

Psalm 139

Title: From Everlasting Thou  ART God!

Theme: Above all else the Presence of God.

 

 

Psalm 139 (KJV)

 

1{To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.} O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

11If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

13For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

14I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

15My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

17How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

18If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

19Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

20For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

21Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

22I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

 

 

Background

 

What we think about God and our relationship to Him determines what we think about everything else that makes up our world─ other people, the universe, God’s Word, God’s will, faith, sin, and obedience. Wrong ideas about God will ultimately lead to wrong ideas about who we are and what we should do, and this leads to a wrong life on the wrong path to the wrong destiny. In other words, theology─ the right knowledge of God─ is essential to a fulfilled life in this world. David contemplated God and wrote for us a psalm whose message can only encourage us to be in a right relationship with Him.

The psalm sets forth the Psalmist’s deep convictions, gained from long experience and profound reflection. In worship it would most likely have been uttered in the place of Yahweh’s special Presence, in the Temple of Zion and in the company of the worshipping congregation. Such a setting would have made its message all the more effective, as the psalmist proclaimed in the place to which pilgrims came from afar to experience Yahweh’s Presence that there is no place from which that Presence is absent, and that Yahweh is therefore intimately connected with every man and with all His ways and thoughts.

 

 

Commentary

1{To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.} O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

 

Coming directly to his theme─ Above all else the Presence of God─ the poet begins his prayer with an assertion of the nearness of Yahweh’s Presence. Yahweh has analyzed him and has firsthand knowledge of him. He knows his every movement, from sitting to standing, and He understands his thoughts in advance or from far away.

The word “search” means “to examine with pain and care.” The Jewish people used this word to describe digging deep into a mine, exploring a land, and investigating a legal case. Our friends see the outside but God sees the heart, and we cannot deceive Him. Adam and Eve tried it (Gen. 3:7-24), Cain tried it (Gen. 4:1-15), and even David tried it (2 Sam. 11-12), and all of them discovered that God knew all about them. God sees through all the games people play for exploiting each other and acquiring psychological benefits for themselves. David realized this. 

“Understand” in verse 2 means “to distinguish and discern with understanding and not just gather raw data. “Compassest” in verse 3 is a picture of winnowing grain and “try” in verse 23 means “to test metal.” The fact that God knows us intimately and exhaustively is asserted in verses 1, 2, 4, 14, and 23. He knows our actions, our locations, our thoughts and words, our ways, and our motives. “All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Heb. 4:13). But even more, He knows what is best for us and does all He can to guide us that way. He hems us in behind and before and puts His hand upon us to steady us and direct us. The word translated “beset” means “to guard a valuable object,” so God’s knowledge and guidance are for our protection. How should we respond to this? We should be overwhelmed by the height and depth of God’s knowledge and be thankful that He knows us perfectly. “I am not equal to it,” David exclaimed.

Yahweh has sorted out his route of travel and his resting places along the way, and He is familiar with all his habits. Before he even says what he has in mind, Yahweh knows it, in total. Yahweh has decided to go with him to watch over him from “behind and before” (139:5).

 

 

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

 

This insight by our God can not be one easily reached by the psalmist, and he confesses that he is overwhelmed by it. It is too astonishing, and too lofty, and he feels unable to grasp all that God has in mind for him. Yet it is a real insight and one he will have to think about.

He has thought it over and drawn conclusions which can be tested only by questions addressed to Yahweh. The Presence is so real and such a fact that he has come to realize that it is very inescapable.

 

7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

 

If God knows so much about us, perhaps the wisest thing is to run away and hide, but all escape routes are futile. Therefore, he asks a question, “Where can he go to be away from Yahweh’s Spirit, to flee from His Presence?” It is an important question, not only for its implication, but because the poet has realized that Yahweh’s Spirit and His Presence are one and the same.

The question is rhetorical, as far as the poet can see. If he climbs up to heaven. Yahweh is there. If he makes his bed in sheol, the place of the dead, Yahweh is there. If he lifts up swift, eager wings, and flies to the place where the sun rises or settles down on the back-side of the sea, the place where the sun sets, even there Yahweh’s hand guides him and grasps him firmly. God wants to walk with us and guide us because His plan for us is the absolute best. That is a comforting thought for the child of God. No matter where he goes, that presence is with him. Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Why should we want to run away and hide? In the strength of that promise, men and women have dared untold dangers to spread the gospel to earth’s remotest areas. Adam and Eve tried to live without God and failed (Gen. 3:8), and so did the prophet Jonah, who only went from bad to worse. We need God’s Presence with us if we want to enjoy His love and fulfill His purposes. (see Isa. 43:1-7; Ps. 23:4; Matt. 28:19-20).

 

 

11If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

 

If he should say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me,” he would still not be beyond the Presence; for even darkness cannot make things dark to Yahweh. Night is like the light of day to Him. We cannot hide even in the darkness, for to the Lord, the darkness is the same as the light. The trouble is that “men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.” It is under the cover of darkness that most of the world’s crimes are committed. The darkness effectively hides man from man but it does not hide him from God

 

 

13For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

14I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

15My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

 

David declared that God is present at conception and birth because we are made in the image of God and God has a special purpose for each person who is born. We live in and with our bodies all our lives and we are aware of how amazing they are. God formed us as He wants us to be, and we must accept His will no matter how we feel about our genetic structure, our looks, or our abilities. The verb “covered” (139:13) means “woven together” (see Isa. 32:12), and intricately wrought in verse 15. In the mother’s womb the Lord weaves and embroiders a human being, and abortion interrupts this miracle. What a tragedy!

The psalmist has come to realize that this nearness of Yahweh’s Presence is not anything new. It was a reality long before he discovered it, long before he was even capable of discovering it. Yahweh created his inward parts, the viscera and the seat of intellect and emotion. Yahweh wove him in the womb of his mother.

All but overcome by the marvel of it all, he confesses his praise to Yahweh, because Yahweh is to be revered. Indeed, he is himself a marvel in his own body, which Yahweh Himself has given him. All God’s creations are marvelous. “And,” the poet says, “you know me firsthand and fully!” His body is not a secret to Yahweh, though he was made secretly and formed in stages in the lowest parts of the earth. As the next line makes clear, the poet is talking about the material and formation of his body, thus it is best to understand the reference as a double entendre, referring both to his mother’s womb (139:13) and the womb of the earth, the mother of all life (see Job 1:27, where the earth is called, “my Mother’s womb”).

So, Yahweh’s eyes saw his unformed being, the pre-embryonic substance which was to become his body. Even then, before one of the days allocated to him had arrived, Yahweh had each one of them written in His book, the book of the living.

But the Lord did more than design and form our bodies; He also planned and determined our Days (139:16). This also includes the length of life (Job 14:5) and the tasks He wants us to perform (Eph. 2:10; Phil. 2:12-13). This is not some form of fatalism or heartless predestination, for what we are and what He plans for us come from God’s loving heart (33:11) and are the very best He has for us (Rom. 12:2). If we live foolishly, we might die before the time God has ordained, but God’s faithful children are immortal until their work is done. How can we ignore God when He has given us such a marvelous body and planned for us a wonderful life? Life is not a prison, it is an exciting pilgrimage, and the Lord has prepared for us, what He prepared for us. Our responsibility is to yield ourselves to Him daily, ponder His thoughts found in His Word (92:5; Isa. 55:8-9) and walk in the Spirit. God thinks of us! (Jer. 29:11). Shouldn’t we think of Him?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

17How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

18If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

 

Numbering them, he would find a total in excess of the grains of sand on the earth; and even then, he would still be in Yahweh’s Presence (lit., with you), and  so to have more to think about.

 

 

19Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

20For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

21Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

22I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

 

If we cannot escape God, deceive God, or ignore God would not it make more sense to obey God? Yes, it is reasonable, but there are those who oppose God and dispute what His Word says about them. David called these people “wicked,” violent, liars, blasphemers, and rebels, and He grieved because of them. God also grieves over sinners─ the Father does (Gen. 6:6), the Son does (Mark 3:5; Luke 19:41), and so does the Spirit (Eph. 4:30). Yes, it is difficult to love rebellious sinners and still hate their sins, but we need more holy hatred in this day when blatant sin is a popular form of entertainment. (See 11:5; 45:7; 97:10; Amos 5:14-15; Rom. 12:9, 19-21.)

The psalmist asks God to kill the wicked and that men with blood on their hands might have nothing to do with himself. These men, after all, have spoken of Yahweh only in the interest of some scheme, holding up as worthless the very thoughts which have inspired him.

He asserts, by a rhetorical question, that he hates those who hate Yahweh and that he has only disgust for those who stand against Yahweh. He hates them, indeed, with complete hatred, and considers them his own enemies. There is such a thing as holy hatred, being righteously indignant and angry, loathing those who mount attacks against the creator and sustainer of the universe. David declared that he hates those who hate God.

Whenever we pray “Thy Kingdom Come” we are asking the Lord to judge the wicked, and we leave the matter in His hands.

 

 

23Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

 

It is not a healthy thing to hold hatred in one’s heart. It can easily turn sour and lead to a bitter spirit. David prayed for protection from such a thing. The psalmist was no hypocrite. He knew there were depths of wickedness lurking in his own heart. He knew its secrete lusts. Like a sensible man, faced with the omnificence of God, he did not try to hide his inner thoughts. He opened them up for God’s inspection. He pleaded that the Lord would lead him in the way everlasting—that not only his inner life, but his outer life might be pleasing to the God he cannot escape (and, clearly, from whom he had no desire to escape).

Finally, he longs to be always in Yahweh’s care, and thus kept away from such evil men. And he prays that God will analyze (search his heart) and examine him so that he will know his own heart and his thoughts, his anxiety and concerns, and God will forgive him and lead him. It is his desire that Yahweh will see if there is any offensive tendency in him and guide him along the path through life that he must travel.

The theological insight of this psalm is surely as profound as any in the Psalter. One cannot doubt the poet’s contention that it has come to him from Yahweh, any more than one can doubt the reality for him of Yahweh’s Presence.

 

 

 

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