Psalms 139:1-24
1 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassesta my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hidethb not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 My substancec was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written,d which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wickede way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
The conception of intimate personal relation between God and man is perhaps more remarkably and forcefully dealt with in this song than in any other in the whole collection.
The great facts are first stated. Jehovah's knowledge of personal life is declared. He is familiar with every motion even to the simplest of downsitting and uprising. He knows thought afar off, that is, in the strange and mystic processes of its making. All ways and words are intimately know to the God Who is the nearest environment of human life. And from all this there can be no escape, for the Omniscient is also the Omnipresent. He is in heaven, but Sheol also is full of His presence. Distance is a human term only, and the uttermost parts of the trackless sea are also in the Presence. Darkness is light to Him, and has no hiding place from Him. The deep mysteries of being are not involved to Jehovah, for He presided in wisdom over all the mystic processes of the beginnings of human life. All this does not affright the singer, for he knows the love of Jehovah, and exclaims in glad praise for the presciousness of the unnumbered thoughts of God concerning him.
In view of all this it is hopeless for the wicked to attempt to escape from God, and the singer's desire for separation from all such is the final word of the psalm. The way of separation is that of personal choice. He must and will separate himself. Yet he is also dependent upon God in this matter, and prays for His examination and leading.