-
Psalms 139:1-18 open_in_new
Psalms 139:1. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
«Thou hast explored me, as men dig in mines, and make subterranean excavations. Thou hast searched into my secret parts, and known me.»
Psalms 139:2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,
«My simplest acts, those which I scarcely premeditated.»
Psalms 139:2. Thou understandest my thought afar off.
«Before I think it, when I think it, and when I forget it, thou dost understand my every thought.»
Psalms 139:3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down,
Making a ring around me, so that I am entirely under thine observation. My roving and my resting are both known to thee.»
Psalms 139:3. And art acquainted with all my ways.
«My habits, and the exceptions from my habits, are all known to thee.»
Psalms 139:4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
«When it is in my tongue, and not spoken, like a seed sown, hidden away, not yet sprouted, thou, O Jehovah, knowest it altogether!»
Psalms 139:5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
«I am like a prisoner, with guards before me and behind me, and the officer's hand upon my shoulder all the while. Thou hast arrested me, O Lord; I can never get away from thee.»
Psalms 139:6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain up to it.
«I believe it, but I cannot understand it; even my imagination cannot picture it to me.»
Psalms 139:7. Wither shall I go from thy spirit?
«If I want to do so, if I desire to avoid thee, where can I go to escape from thine omnipresent Spirit?»
Psalms 139:7-19. Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
The true glory of that bright world.
Psalms 139:8. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
«The terror of that place of woe, in the land of death-shadow and darkness, thou art living, whoever else is dead. If I make my abode in Hades, in Hell, thou art there.»
Psalms 139:9-10. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me,
«If the breath of the morning breeze should bear me far away across the pathless sea, thou art there before me; if I ride upon a flash of light, thou art swifter than the sunbeam: even there shall thy hand lead me.» The lone missionary in the furthest parts of the earth is led by God. When, he knows not his way, God leads him; and when he has no companion to cheer him Gods hand upholds him. What a comfort to any of you who have to journey far away from your kindred! You cannot be alone, for God is there; be of good comfort, and go as bravely as if you walked the crowded streets of this great city.
Psalms 139:10-12. And thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
It is impossible to conceive that God should need the light in order to see. He can see as well in the midnight shades as in the blaze of noon. Let no man think that he may sin in secret, because he is not seen of the eye of man; God's eye is on him in the dark as much as in the light.
Psalms 139:13-14. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
He was no agnostic, he never dreamed of being a know-nothing.
Psalms 139:15-17. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine 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. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
How sweet to be thought of by God! How charming and how cheering to be the perpetual object of the Lord's thoughts! The psalmist does not tell us how precious are God's thoughts; but he sets a note of admiration to them: «How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!» He does not try to calculate the total of their value; but he says, «How great is the sum of them!»
Psalms 139:18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
«Thou hast thought of me when I was asleep, and when I wake, I think of thee.» Happy living, happy dying, to feel that, if we never wake again on earth, we shall wake up with God! How precious it is to think that when good and useful men fall asleep, when they awake, they are for ever with the Lord! Our turn will come soon, my brothers and sisters. May it be our portion to die in harness, and to be taken away while yet we have the light of God's sustenance resting upon our work!
-
Psalms 139:1-21 open_in_new
Psalms 139:1. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
God does not need to «search» us, for that implies a want of knowledge, a knowledge obtained by search. But the meaning of the text is, that God knows us as well as if he had examined us through and through, just as an excise officer searches a house to find contraband goods. «O Lord, thou has searched me, and known me.»
Psalms 139:2. Thou knowest my downsitting, and mine uprising,
«Such common-place things as these, my sitting down at home, my rising up to go to my business, thou, O Lord, dost observe and know even such minor matters as these.»
Psalms 139:2. Thou understandest my thought afar off.
«Before the thought has entered my mind, thou knowest what it will be. When I run far away from thee in my own apprehension, thou art still so near to me that thou canst hear my mind think, and thou knowest the meaning of my thought when I try to think crookedly.»
Psalms 139:3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down,
«Thou surroundest me when I go out, or when I rest at home; when I labour, or when I sleep. Thou dost set a ring-fence round about my every action and my non-action, too.»
Psalms 139:3. And art acquainted with all my ways.
«Thou knowest all that I do, as one that is most intimate and familiar with me. Thou, great God, ‘ art acquainted with all my ways.'»
Psalms 139:4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
«Not only the words of my tongue, but the words in my tongue, are known to thee, O Lord.» As we sang just now,
«My thoughts, before they are my own,
Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the words I mean to speak,
Ere from my opening lips they break.»
Psalms 139:5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
«I am taken as in an ambush: I am held captive; I cannot get away. ‘Thou hast beset me behind and before more than that, thou hast arrested me, ‘laid thine hand upon me.'»
Psalms 139:6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
«Thou hast it, but I cannot reach it. Thou hast it, but ‘I cannot attain unto it.'»
Psalms 139:7-19. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
For so it runs in the Hebrew. The translators put in the word «art», as you can see by the italics. «If I ascend up into heaven, thou there,» that is all the psalmist says.
Psalms 139:8. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou.
Again it is more emphatic without the words supplied by the translators. «Thou, O God, art in the depths as well as in the heights, Thou art everything in every place, all in all art thou.»
Psalms 139:9-10. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me,
«I cannot go anywhere except thou dost enable me to go.»
Psalms 139:10-11. And thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
«There is no escaping that way, for the night shall be transformed into light; and I shall be as clearly perceived in the darkness as in the daylight.»
Psalms 139:12. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee;
It hides from eyes which are but mortal; but thou art pure spirit, and thou discernest not through the impinging of light upon the retina of the eye.»
Psalms 139:12. But the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Now the psalmist goes back to the very foundation and origin of his being.
Psalms 139:13. For thou hast possessed my reins:
«Thou art within the secret portions of my bodily frame.»
Psalms 139:13-14. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Hence Galen, the oldest and the best-known of the ancient surgeons, was wont to say that an undevout anatomist must be mad, as another said that an undevout astronomer was mad, for there is such a marvellous display of skill and wisdom, delicacy and force, in the making of a man, that we may each one say, «I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.»
Psalms 139:14-16. Marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine 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.
Still he dwells upon his birth, and all that went before it, and he did well to speak of those marvels. We are too apt to forget God's goodness to us in our infant days; but we should remember that we come not into this world without a Creator, and in that Creator we find a Friend, the best we have ever had, the best we ever can have. Oh, for grace never to wish to stray away from him in whom we live, and move, and have our being!
Psalms 139:17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
How often God has thought of each one of us! Remember that, if you were the only man in all the world, he would not think more of you than he does now that you are only one of myriads of myriads. The infinite mind of God is not divided by the multiplicity of the objects brought before it, but his whole mind goes forth to contemplate each individual. What deep thoughts, what bright thoughts, what faithful thoughts, God has had concerning us! ‘How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!»
Psalms 139:18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
«Whether I sleep or wake, thou art with me; but, better still, I am with thee. Ere I fell asleep, I put my soul into thy hands; and when I awoke, I found it there.»
Psalms 139:19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God:
It cannot be that God, who sees everything, will for ever endure the wickedness of men. It cannot be that he will suffer all crime and villainy and blasphemy to escape with impunity: «Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.»
Psalms 139:19. Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
«I do not want to be with you, or to have you with me, in the day when God metes out vengeance upon the ungodly.»
Psalms 139:20 ; Psalms 139:22. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
We are bound to love our own enemies, but we are not bound to love God's enemies. We are to wish them, as enemies, a complete overthrow; but to wish them, as men, a gracious conversion, that they may obtain God's pardon, and become his friends, and followers, and servants.
Psalms 139:23. Search me, O God,
Is it not wonderful that what the psalmist started with as a doctrine, now becomes a prayer? Before, he said, «O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.» Now he cries, «Search me, O God,»
Psalms 139:23. And know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Every attribute of God works for the good of those who trust him; if you are a believer, you may ask for his infinite power to protect you, and his infinite knowledge to search you.
Psalms 139:24. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
May God first make that our prayer, and then graciously hear it, for his great name's sake! Amen.
-
Psalms 139:1-22 open_in_new
May the all-seeing God, of whom this Psalm speaks, look down upon us and bless us richly while we read it!
Psalms 139:1. O LORD thou hast searched me, and known me.
«Known me perfectly, far better than I know myself. Thou hast made an inquisition, and investigated every secret thing concerning me: ‘Thou hast searched me, and known me.'»
Psalms 139:2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
«Before I think it, while as yet it is not actually my thought, while it is still unformed, and far away, thou understandest it. Thou not only knowest what it is, but thou understandest it; the motive from which it springs, the state of mind out of which it arises, and whereunto it tendeth: ‘Thou understandest my thought afar off'»
Psalms 139:3. Thou compassest my path
«Thou art all round me, behind, before, above, beneath, «Awake, asleep, at home, abroad, I am surrounded still with God.»
Psalms 139:3. And my lying down,
«When wearied by my journey I lie down to rest, thou dost still bless my lying down.»
Psalms 139:3. And art acquainted with all my ways.
«I cannot tell thee anything which thou dost not know; nor can I hide anything from thee. Whatsoever I have done, or am doing, or shall do, ‘Thou art acquainted with all my ways.'»
Psalms 139:4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
He knows the words I mean to speak,
Ere from my opening lips they break.
God sees the word that is lying quietly on the tongue as well as the word which has been uttered by the tongue. «Thou knowest it altogether.» God's knowledge is not partial or imperfect. He never misjudges any, for he is acquainted with every part of every man.
Psalms 139:5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
«Thou hast come so near me that thou dost touch me. Thou not only knowest my thoughts and my words, but thou dost come into contact with me. Thou dost know me as I know a thing when I feel it with my hand: ‘Thou hast laid thine hand upon me.'»
Psalms 139:6-19. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
Not that David desired to go away from God, but he wished to show the impossibility of escaping from the eye of God: «Whither shall I go from thy spirit?»
Psalms 139:7. Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
«Thou art everywhere, and thy far-seeing eye will behold me in every place; vain is it, therefore, for me to think that I can ever flee from thy presence.» Is it not a very striking thought that every sin is committed in the presence of God? He must be a very bold rebel who would insult his monarch to his face; men are generally on their best behavior when they stand upon the palace floor; yet the whole earth is but the habitation of the great King eternal, immortal, invisible, and every time we sin, we sin in his very presence, and with his eye resting upon us.
Psalms 139:8-10. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Well did Dr. Watts write,
If mounted on a morning ray,?
I fly beyond the western sea,
Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest thy fugitive.
There is no hope of escaping from God by any speed to which we may attain, for if we could fly with the rapidity of light, yet would Jehovah be beforehand with us; his hand would lead us, and his right hand would hold us.
Psalms 139:11. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
It shall be light to the eyes of God, for he depends not upon the light in order that he may see. Light is a most welcome aid to our poor optics; but God sees just as well in the darkness: «Even the night shall be light about me.»
Psalms 139:12. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
This is a very commonplace truth, and yet how seldom do men realize it! They still fancy that, when the night comes on, and they are not perceived by mortal eyes, they may do what they will; but there is no curtain in the night that can hide a deed of guilt from the eye of the omniscient Jehovah: «The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.»
Almighty God, thy piercing eye
Strikes through the shades of night;
And our most secret actions lies
All open to thy sight.
Psalms 139:13. For thou hast possessed my reins:
«The innermost parts of my being, thou hast possessed them as thine own. Thou knowest as much about them as a man knows of the rooms in his own house: ‘Thon hast possessed my reins:'»
Psalms 139:13-14. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee;
That is a very sweet thing for the psalmist to say. Just when he felt stricken with awe by reason of this august attribute of the omniscience of Jehovah, he looks up to his God, and says, «I will praise thee;»
Psalms 139:14. For I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Anyone who understands anatomy will tell you that man is strangely formed. So fearfully are we made that our life stands in constant jeopardy; it looks as if every breath might be our last, and every pulse might speedily end our life. You cannot examine a blood vessel especially some of the very small ones through a microscope, without being utterly astonished. Any medical man will tell you that there are many times in an hour, perhaps even in a minute, in which a very simple thing would put our life in imminent peril of destruction; truly, we are «fearfully and wonderfully made.»
Our life contains a thousand springs,
And dies if one be gone.
Strange, that a harp of thousand strings
Should creep in tune so long.
Every man is a world of wonders; he need not go abroad for miracles, for he is himself a marvellous and miraculous combination.
Psalms 139:14. Marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
How there can be a compound of spirit and matter, how the earth on which we tread should enter into our composition, and yet we should be akin to angels, how there can be something about us that links us with the dust, yet much about us that joins us to God himself, these are extraordinary things which we do not understand. Where is the point in which the spirit touches materialism? How is it that the will can move the hand or the finger? How does spirit act on matter? Those are questions much more easily asked than answered.
Psalms 139:15. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought
Embroidered, as it were, with a needle. So extraordinary is the body of man, that it may be compared to the needlework of God: «curiously wrought»
Psalms 139:15-16. In the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members mere written,
Just as an architect sketches his plan for a building, and specifies so much of this and that, so the psalmist represents God as writing down in a book all the members of our body.
Psalms 139:16. Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
God mapped out what he intended that we should be, even when as yet we were not in existence, and from our earliest days he cared for us. If we look back upon our infancy, that considerable period of life in which we were utterly helpless, and could do nothing whatever for ourselves, it ought to check our unbelief, because, if God took charge of us then, and found means for our protection and our upgrowing when we were but little babes, if we should live to a second infancy, we may fairly trust that God will take care of us again; and if we should ever, through sickness, be reduced to such a helpless state that we can do nothing for ourselves, yet he that cared for us before we saw the light, and when we saw it with feeble trembling eyes, will take care of us still.
Psalms 139:17-19. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God:
It must be so; God cannot let sinners continue to live, and provoke him to his face. He must, one day, take down the sword of justice, unsheathe it, and smite the foes of righteousness: «Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God:»
Psalms 139:19. Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
«Get you gone, lest, when he comes to smite you, I should have to see you die.»
Psalms 139:20-22. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
We are to love our own enemies, but we are not to love God's enemies. We are to forgive our personal enemies, but we cannot forgive God's enemies. That man loves not truth who does not hate a lie; and he loves not the right who has no anger against wrong. We are living in an age in which we are practically told that truth and error are the same, that the devil's lie and the Divine Revelation may lie down together. If we will not endorse this falsehood, men call us bigoted or dogmatic. Bless the Lord, we mean to be a great deal more dogmatic than we have been, and to stick even closer to the truth of God than we have hitherto done, if that be possible.
Psalms 139:23-24. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
That is a blessed prayer; may God hear it in the case of each one of us, for his dear Son's sake! Amen.
-
Psalms 139:1-23 open_in_new
In this Psalm, David praises God by specially dwelling upon the one attribute of omniscience. If we really wish to praise God, we must think of him as he is, and it is the best praise that we can render to God to describe him as he is; and any one of his many attributes is so full of glory that, if we give due honour to it, we shall have much to say upon it.
Psalms 139:1. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
It is true that God knows everything, but that is not what David says here. He makes a personal application of the universal truth: «O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.» He does not talk about God's knowledge of other men, but he speaks to God concerning himself: «O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me ;» «thou hast searched me as if thou wert looking for contraband goods. Thou hast ransacked me, thou hast gone down into my very heart, and hast spread out every secret part of my being: ‘Thou hast searched me, and known me.'»
«Lord, thou hast seareh'd and seen me through,
Thine eye commands with piercing view
My rising and my resting hours,
My heart and flesh, with all their powers.»
Psalms 139:2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
«What I do, and what I do not do; my downsitting for rest, and my uprising for action; thou knowest me altogether, my most trivial deeds, and my most important movements. My thoughts are so well known to thee that, even before I think them, thou knowest what they will be. Thou needest not to come near to me in order to know me; so strong is thine eye that if thou only lookest at me from a vast distance as a man looks at a star in the midnight airy, ‘ thou understandest my thought afar off.' What I think, and why I think it, whether it be sorrowful or hopeful, thou understandest my thought. Sometimes, I cannot understand it myself, but thou always understandest it.»
Psalms 139:3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
«Thou hast put a ring round me both in my stayings and my goings. I go to sleep, but thou dost not sleep. I cannot think of thee while I slumber, but thou dost think of me, and thou ‘ art acquainted with all my ways.'»
«Great God, thy penetrating eye
Pervades my inmost powers;
With awe profound my wondering soul
Falls prostrate, and adores.
To be encompass'd round with God,
The holy and the just;
Arm'd with omnipotence to save,
Or crush me into dust!
Oh, how tremendous is the thought!
Deep may it be impress'd!
And may the Spirit firmly grave,
This truth within my breast!»
Psalms 139:4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
«Thou not only knowest what it is, but thou knowest all about it; even the word which I have not yet spoken, the word that is in my tongue, as well as the word that is on my tongue. Those seeds of speech, that have as yet not grown into words, thou knowest them altogether.»
Psalms 139:5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
«Like men lying in ambush, ‘thou hast beset me behind and before.' All that I have ever done, and all that I shall ever do, thou knowest it all. I am like one under arrest, upon whom the officer lays his hand so that he may have no opportunity of escaping. I am in thy grip; thou hast taken such a firm hold upon me that I cannot get away from thee. In another sense, I am like a child enfolded in his mother's arms, for thou hast ‘laid thine hand upon me.'»
Psalms 139:6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me! it is too high, I cannot attain unto it.
«I cannot climb up to thy glorious throne; the very lowest step of it is far higher than my feet can reach: ‘I cannot attain unto it.'»
Psalms 139:7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit! or whither shall I flee from thy presence ?
«I do not want to do so, but it would be quite impossible for me to flee from thy presence even it I wished to do so. Neither by steady marching, nor by rapid flight, can I get away from thee.»
Psalms 139:8. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
The Hebrew is, «Thou there;» as if there was nothing else there but God.
Psalms 139:8. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
This seemed even more wonderful to the psalmist than that God was in heaven; so he put in a «behold « « Behold, thou.»
Psalms 139:9. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
«If I fly on the wings of light, which travels with inconceivable rapidity,»
Psalms 139:10. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
«I cannot go there except by thy leading, and I shall not be there except by thine uplifting. There is no way by which I can keep away from God even if I try to do so. If, instead of living in the light, I seek to hide myself in the darkness, what then ?»
Psalms 139:11. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
«The very night shall change its nature, and turn from darkness into light.»
Psalms 139:12. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
See, my dear brethren, how we dwell continually under the inspection of God. You have seen bees in a glass hive, and watched all their movements, or you have put an insect under a powerful microscope, and examined every part of it. Even so doth the omniscient God watch and examine you; nothing is done by you that he does not observe. The poet speaks of the fierce light that beats about the throne of man, but you dwell in that far fiercer light which beats about the throne of God.
Psalms 139:13. For thou hast possessed my reins:
«Those secret organs of my body which I cannot see, and whose working I can only imperfectly comprehend.»
Psalms 139:13. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
«Even before I came on the stage of action, thou wast exercising wondrous care over me.»
Psalms 139:14. I will praise thee;
That is a good resolution for each one of us, as well as the psalmist, to make. As God sees me, let me praise him; it will be pleasing to him to hear me praising him: «I will praise thee; «
Psalms 139:14. For I am fearfully and wonderfully made :
Nobody can rightly study the anatomy of the human body, and see the beautiful arrangement of the various veins, and nerves, and sinews, and muscles, and bones, without saying with the psalmist, «I am fearfully and wonderfully made: «
Psalms 139:14. Marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
To study God's marvelous works, you need not go abroad; for they can be plainly seen in your own body. This earthly house of your tabernacle, in which you dwell so long as you are in this world, is a masterpiece of divine wisdom and skill.
Psalms 139:15. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
God made us in his secret workshop by a marvelous method of divine power.
Psalms 139:16. Thine 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.
God's wonderful foreknowledge enabled him to know us even before we knew ourselves, or anyone else knew us; and in the very making of us, the creation of our body and mind and spirit, God was beforehand with us.
Psalms 139:17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
«l love to remember that thou, my God, art thinking of me. I am not distressed or alarmed by that recollection; I do not say, ‘ How terrible are thy thoughts unto me, O God! ‘but, How precious' how consoling, how full of promises of blessing to me,' are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!»
Psalms 139:18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
«Thou dost lull me to sleep, and thou dost awake me in the morning; and when I open my eyes, thou art still there.» Happy believer, who is always with God! Why should not you and I, dear friends, always be consciously in the presence of God? We are never right unless we are in that condition; and if we ever begin to forget God, we are in a wrong state of heart. If we can live, from day to day, without realizing that God is near us, we are falling into a sad and dangerous condition.
Psalms 139:19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God:
It cannot be that God has seen all their wickedness, and read their evil thoughts, and yet will spare them. When men offend in the very presence of the judge, it is easy work for him to try them.
Psalms 139:19. Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
«Ye men of blood, ye men stained with the blood of your fellows, get away from me, for I do not want to be harboring criminals. God sees my company as well as myself, so depart from me?
Psalms 139:20. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
David could not bear even the thought that men should insult such a God; a want of reverence to the All-seeing One was altogether unbearable to him; so he bade those who were guilty of such wickedness to take themselves away from him.
Psalms 139:21-22. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
We are to love our own enemies, but we are not to love God's enemies, nor willingly to mix with them. How can Christian men associate with the lewd and irreverent without becoming partakers of their evil deeds? Let us take note of what David says, and realize that we cannot be the friends of God if we are the friends of God's enemies. Now the psalmist comes back to his key-note. He began the Psalm with the declaration, «O Lord, thou hast searched me;» and now he prays,
Psalms 139:23. Search me, O God, and know my heart:
«Thou hast searched me, O God; but I pray thee to do it again, and to keep on doing it; never take thy great search-light away from me.»
Psalms 139:23. Try me, and know my thoughts:
«I cannot hide them from thee, and would not if I could.»
Psalms 139:24. And see if there be any wicked way in me,
«Lord, look for the dross, to consume it; look for the spots, to wash them away.»
Psalms 139:24. And lead me in the way everlasting.
«Amen,» our hearts say, «Amen, so let it be.»
-
Psalms 139:1-24 open_in_new
This is a Psalm we can never read too often. It will be to us one of the greatest safeguards against sin if we have its teaching constantly before our mind's eye, and the teaching of this Psalm is simply this, «Thou God seest me.»
Psalms 139:1. O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou hast looked into my most secret parse. The most intricate labyrinths of my spirit are all observed of thee. Thou hast not searched, and yet been unable to discover the secret of my nature but thou hast searched me and known me. Thy search has been an efficient one, thou hast read the secrets of my soul,
Psalms 139:2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off.
It is a common enough thing to sit down and to rise up and I myself oftentimes scarce know why I do the one or the other, but thou knowest and understandest all. «Thou understandest my thought afar off.» My heart forms a thought that never comes to a word or an act, but thou not only dost perceive it, but thou dost translate it; thou understandest my thought.
Psalms 139:3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
I am surrounded by thee as by a ring of observers.
Psalms 139:4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Not only the words on my tongue, but those that slumber in my tongue, the unspoken words, thou knowest them perfectly and altogether.
Psalms 139:5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Thy presence amounts to actual contact. Thou dost not only see, but touch, like the physician, who does not merely look at the wound, but by-and-bye comes to probe it. So dost thou probe my wounds, and see the depths of my sins.
Psalms 139:6-19. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
It seems as if the first impulse was to fly away from a God whose attributes were so lofty. ‘Twas but a transient impression, yet David words it so.
Psalms 139:8 ; Psalms 139:10. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold, me.
How swift he supposes his flight to be, as swift as the light, for he borrows the wings of the morning, and yet the hand of God was controlling his destiny even then. As Watts rhymes it
«If mounted on the morning ray,
I fly beyond the western sea,
Thy swifter hand should first arrive,
And there arrest thy fugitive.»
Psalms 139:11-12. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
For, mystery of mysteries, and more wondrous still, thou not only dost observe, but thou always hast observed, and thou hast not only observed my well-formed being and my visible life but before I had a being thou didst observe what I should be, and when I was yet in embryo thine all-observing eye watched me.
Psalms 139:13-16. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine 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.
In so vivid a manner doth our holy poet sing of the omniscience of God with regard to our creation. Before we had breath he formed and fashioned us.
Psalms 139:17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
How many thoughts has God towards us! We cannot count them, and how kind are those thoughts we cannot estimate them how precious, how great!
Psalms 139:18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
I suppose I had finished the tale, had counted up all thy thoughts to me, and then fell asleep. I should then but begin to count again, for thou continuest to thrust out mercies from thy hand. My God, my numeration shall never overtake thee, much less my gratitude, and the service that is thy due!
Psalms 139:19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
«Surely» here is a solemn inference from the omniscience of God «surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.» Thou hast seen their wickedness. They have committed their wickedness in thy presence. Thou wilt need no witnesses, no jury, thou art all in one. Art thou not the Judge of all the earth, and shalt thou not do right? «Surely thou wilt destroy the wicked, O God.» Then I desire not to have those in my company who are condemned criminals, and are soon to be executed. «Depart from me, therefore, ye bloody men.» See how this sets David upon purging his company and keeping himself clean in his associations, since God, who sees all, and will surely punish, would hold it to be evil on the part of his servant to be found associating with rebellious men.
Psalms 139:20-22. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
We are bound to love our own enemies, but not God's enemies, since they are haters of all that is good and all that is true, and the essentially good One himself. We love them as our fellow-beings, but we hate them as haters of God.
Psalms 139:23-24. Search me, O God. and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.