Reflections on Psalm 139

 

Psalms 139 (Contemporary English Version)


1. (A psalm by David for the music leader.) You have looked deep into my heart, LORD, and you know all about me.
   
2. You know when I am resting or when I am working, and from heaven you discover my thoughts.
   
3. You notice everything I do and everywhere I go.
   
4. Before I even speak a word, you know what I will say,
   
5. and with your powerful arm you protect me from every side.
   
6. I can't understand all of this! Such wonderful knowledge is far above me.
   
7. Where could I go to escape from your Spirit or from your sight?
   
8. If I were to climb up to the highest heavens, you would be there. If I were to dig down to the world of the dead you would also be there.
   
9. Suppose I had wings like the dawning day and flew across the ocean.
   
10. Even then your powerful arm would guide and protect me.
    
11. Or suppose I said, "I'll hide in the dark until night comes to cover me over."
    
12. But you see in the dark because daylight and dark are all the same to you.
    
13. You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body,
    
14. and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt.
    
15. Nothing about me is hidden from you! I was secretly woven together deep in the earth below,
    
16. but with your own eyes you saw my body being formed. Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do.
    
17. Your thoughts are far beyond my understanding, much more than I could ever imagine.
    
18. I try to count your thoughts, but they outnumber the grains of sand on the beach. And when I awake, I will find you nearby.
    
19. How I wish that you would kill all cruel and heartless people and protect me from them!
    
20. They are always rebelling and speaking evil of you.
    
21. You know I hate anyone who hates you, LORD, and refuses to obey.
    
22. They are my enemies too, and I truly hate them.
    
23. Look deep into my heart, God, and find out everything I am thinking.
    
24. Don't let me follow evil ways, but lead me in the way that time has proven true.
    

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Depending on one's view of God and one's own character, this psalm could be either comforting or distressing. Does it bring comfort to the heart to know that God knows everything about you? He knows when you sit and when you stand. He understands your thoughts and observes your travels. He even knows what you will say before you say it. Trying to hide from God would be futile. Everywhere we might go - God is there. Nor will hiding under cover of dark be of any use for dark is not dark to God. The night shines like day to Him. For those who love and worship God and understand Him for who He is, all this should bring comfort. For they know there is nowhere they can go or be taken that God will not also be there to care for them. There is nowhere we will be apart from God's presence. I suppose there is also a sense of accountability in the knowledge that God knows what we will say before we say it. It gives cause to guard our thoughts, our words, and our actions for nothing we do is in secret - at least from God. He also knows our motives, which should make us realize that to say one thing because we know God is listening but to think something else is of no use. It is the thought and motive that will register with God, not the words.

But none of this is of concern to the one who seeks to please God and obey Him. Such a person understands it is like trying to please a parent who loves you and wants only the best for you. Even when we don't understand the reason they insist on a certain behavior we understand it is for our own good. All of this applies to God and His desire for our behavior. Not only is it what He desires, but it is what will best benefit us. Even though our parents don't always get it right, God always gets it right.

Verses 13-16 give us a word about the sanctity of life from conception. Point one is that it is God who forms us and knits us together in our mother's womb. That is sufficient to give sanctity to life just conceived. However, it will not likely register much concern to one who sees life as formed only by chance and natural selection as if nature acts on its own independent of any outside source or creator. Point two is that even before we were conceived God had all our days "written in Your (His) book and planned before a single one of them began." Regardless of the circumstances of conception or the intentions of the parents for that life, God has purpose and intentions for that life and it therefore has sanctity and purpose.

How do we understand and deal with verses 19-22 which speak of hating and killing the wicked who are enemies of God?  It seems to be out of step with the teaching of Jesus to love even our enemies. However, one commentator puts a different perspective to it which I believe is worthy of consideration. Young says, "David hated, but his hatred was like God's hatred; it proceeded from no evil emotion, but rather from the earnest and thoroughly sincere desire that the purposes of God must stand and that wickedness must perish. Had David not hated, he would have desired the success of evil and the downfall of God Himself. It is well to keep these thoughts in mind when we consider the nature of David's hatred."

The concluding words are no less comforting that the first part of the psalm to one whose motives are more driven to please himself than to please God. The psalmist prays that God would search his heart and test him to see if there is any offensive way in him. For one who seeks God and desires to be pleasing to God, recognizing that it is also good for himself, this will be a prayer they wish to pray. If I am such a person, and I believe I am, I want to know if there is anything in me that I am unaware of that would hinder my relationship with God.