Psalm 139
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God knows us
God knows us
He knows all about us because He is omniscient - Verse 1
“God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell.” —A W Tozer
He knows us because He is omniscient
He doesn’t really have to search but the Psalmist uses human terms so our feeble and finite minds can comprehend how well God knows us
His searching is a continual action
He knows our physical position and our thoughts before we think them - Verse 2
We are transparent before Him
Our physical activities are viewed by Him
This is a fact to be remembered every moment: sitting down to consider, or rising up to act, we are still seen, known, and read by Jehovah our Lord. —Charles Spurgeon
He knows our entire day - Verse 3
He surrounds us like the “air” Charles Spurgeon
All day is “within the circle of thine observation” Charles Spurgeon
Where were going
When we will stop and rest
Where our ways will take us for all the days of our life
Planned or unplanned
Unplanned
Good or evil
Safe or dangerous
The Lord judges our active life and our quiet life; he discriminates our action and our repose, and marks that in them which is good and also that which is evil. —Charles Spurgeon
He knows what we are going to say
Even before our tongue utters it
Would that we would think before we utter it
He is eternal therefore He is with us in space and in time - Verse 5
Hedged = enclosed, besieged, encircle
No escape from God’s knowledge of us
Behind = back, of dwelling , of God ;—2. sg. directional, behind adv. pānîm weʾāḥôr before and behind , nāfal ʾāḥôr fall backward ;—3. metaph. adv. hēšîb … āḥôr turn (wise men) back ;—4. sg. west: mēʾāḥôr from the west ;—5. temporal: leʾāḥôr for the future , beʾāḥôr at last .
back, of dwelling , of God ;—2. sg. directional, behind adv. pānîm weʾāḥôr before and behind , nāfal ʾāḥôr fall backward ;—3. metaph. adv. hēšîb … āḥôr turn (wise men) back ;—4. sg. west: mēʾāḥôr from the west ;—5. temporal: leʾāḥôr for the future , beʾāḥôr at last .
Holladay, W. L., & Köhler, L. (2000). A concise Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament (p. 9). Leiden: Brill.
Before = 1. in front ; miqqedem from the front ;—2. in front = east: in the east ; eastward ; miqqedem from the east , miqqedem le east of ;—3. east (as a geographical region) ; benê qedem Easterners ; har haqqedem Eastern Mountains = northern border of Sinai ;—4. temporal: before, earlier, ancient times (adv.) keqedem as of old ; miqqedem for the first time , from ancient times ;—5. (noun) antiquity, primeval times: ʾelōhê qedem God from primeval times = eternal God .
1. in front ; miqqedem from the front ;—2. in front = east: in the east ; eastward ; miqqedem from the east , miqqedem le east of ;—3. east (as a geographical region) ; benê qedem Easterners ; har haqqedem Eastern Mountains = northern border of Sinai ;—4. temporal: before, earlier, ancient times (adv.) keqedem as of old ; miqqedem for the first time , from ancient times ;—5. (noun) antiquity, primeval times: ʾelōhê qedem God from primeval times = eternal God .
Holladay, W. L., & Köhler, L. (2000). A concise Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament (p. 313). Leiden: Brill.
He is before us
The eternal God is your refuge,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;
He will thrust out the enemy from before you,
And will say, ‘Destroy!’
Deuteronomy
Laid = He has arrested us. We are His prisoners
God is the God of the past, the God of the present, and the God of the future
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
Isaiah 49:
Shall we not alter the figure, and say that our heavenly Father has folded his arms around us, and caressed us with his hand It is even so with those who are by faith the children of the Most High. —Charles Spurgeon
All of this is beyond my comprehension - Verse 6
In our pursuit of knowing God we will never ever come to full conclusion of knowing Him completely
Every thing David just said about God is beyond our full understanding.
It is definitely wonderful but such a wonder we can never fully grasp
God is with us
God is with us
Introduction to God’s omnipresence with a question - Verse 7
Spirit = His active presence
face = His personal presence
When we sin is as though we sin in His face. His back is not turned nor do we take Him by surprise
Run or walk, forward or retreat He is there (ask Jonah)
He uses contrasts in the following verses to emphasis the truth there is no place God is not present - Verses 8-12
Heaven or hell - Verse 8
Heavenlies or heaven where the throne of God is
Hell the grave or the the place of the condemned
Fly to a remote spot in the sea - Verses 9-10
From the east to the west - dawn/west —Alec Motyer
He shall lead the way and hold onto us
The Lord would be leading, covering, preserving, sustaining us even when we were fugitives from him. —Charles Spurgeon
God’s self-sustaining power is able to meet all our needs because He has no needs
Night and darkness cannot hide us from Him - Verses 11-12
Night is not different than light for God
God made us
God made us
He brought us into existence - Verse 13
He formed our internal organs
He covered us with skin
His making of us should cause praise - Verse 14
Science has discovered much about the human body but it will never fully discover the wonder of God’s creative power
We should never be ashamed of our looks for we are made directly by God
He from our beginning observed us - Verses 15-16
Frame = bones; God sees all the details of our body including our bones
Though no one else saw him formed and developed God was an eye witness
God is a Master builder = skillfully wrought
God saw to the very details of our design
An architect draws his plans, and makes out his specifications; even so did the great Maker of our frame write down all our members in the book of his purposes. That we have eyes, and ears, and hands, and feet, is all due to the wise and gracious purpose of heaven: —Charles Spurgeon
God’s designing of the human body prepared Him to enter one as the Son the second person of the Trinity
He’s always thinking of us - Verses 17-18
God thoughts toward him are a precious treasure
The sum is great
He can’t even count them because there are so many
When I awake, I am still with thee. Thy thoughts of love are so many that my mind never gets away from them, they surround me at all hours. I go to my bed, and God is my last thought; and when I wake I find my mind still hovering about his palace gates; God is ever with me, and I am ever with him. This is life indeed. If during sleep my mind wanders away into dreams, yet it only wanders upon holy ground, and the moment I wake my heart is back with its Lord. The Psalmist does not say, "When I awake, I return to thee", but, "I am still with thee"; as if his meditations were continuous, and his communion unbroken. Soon we shall lie down to sleep for the last time: God grant that when the trumpet of the archangel shall waken us we may find ourselves still with him. —Charles Spurgeon
David’s prayer
David’s prayer
A call for justice and a separation from evil - Verse 19
We should desire the day when God will judge all evil and destroy it
We should pledge with our own will not to associate we those who commit this evil
It bothers him that the conversations of the evil speak blasphemy against God - Verse 20
They scheme a plan
They dishonor His name
He hates those who hate God - Verse 21
Do we hate sin like God hates sin
Do we loathe sin? Loathe = feel a disgust
He hates them completely - Verse 22
Do we see sin as our enemy
He calls on God to search his own heart - Verse 23
He finishes where he started in verse 1
We should on a daily basis ask God to search us and reveal to us unknown sin
He’s ready to repent if need be - Verse 24