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.