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.