Psalms 139:1-21

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.