Psalm 139

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

This song is unique in the Psalter. It is almost entirely descriptive of YHWH and his actions, and yet it’s power is in what it says about us and the profound effect that YHWH’s actions have on us. It is a very personal psalm with “I, me, and my” in practically every verse (the exceptions are 12 and 20), but it is “to the choirmaster”, suggesting its use by the community in gathered worship. It is addressed to YHWH and the use of the pronouns “you” and “yours” is almost as common as “I, me, and my” (exceptions in 6,9,11,22-24). This has the effect of communicating intimacy as well as David speaks directly to God, not just about God. The central theme is stated in the first verse, literally, “you have searched me and known [me]”. David acknowledges the reality that everything that can be known about himself is also known by YHWH, and that God is actively examining every aspect of his life. God’s comprehensive knowledge is then described in these three areas: He knows my every action and thought, He is present wherever I am (space), He has been with me from conception, and He will be with me until the end of my days (time). There is no escape from this reality. It can be both comforting and terrifying depending on one’s relationship with God at any given time. Verse 2 notes the comprehensiveness of God’s knowledge. The Hebrew places the “you” in an emphatic position. “YOU know my sitting down and my rising up.” When I go to bed at night, and close my eyes in sleep, God notes the time as I drift off. When I wake in the morning, YHWH is already awake because he has been watching me while I sleep. If I nap during the day, he’s still on guard. I think of the times I tucked my children into bed and they slipped off to rest while I remained awake doing the things that parents do. God’s knowledge of us doesn’t end with our ups and downs, He even “knows our thoughts from a distance.” He knows what no one else knows. He knows more than parents, more than a spouse, more than a best friend. We are good at hiding our thoughts and feelings from others. Some have dark secrets that they will take to the grave. Be assured that God is not blindsided by such things. These statements about God’s intimate knowledge of our coming and going, our thoughts and feelings can bring us great comfort. To be known by another and to be fully accepted by them is at the heart of love. To be known and loved by the Greatest Being in the cosmos is beyond wonderful. 

3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

The Hebrew of these verses is literally, “My path and my lying down you winnow, all my ways you are intimately acquainted with. For not a word on my tongue, behold, YHWH, you know it altogether.” Similar to “my sitting down” and “my rising up” of verse 2, “my path and my lying down” suggest daily activities. YHWH knows my way of life, my habits, the ruts that I have worn along the way. He knows when I’m tired and ready to quit. The word “winnow” refers to the sifting that takes place when the grain is separated from the chaff. Everything is tossed in the air by a winnowing fork and that which is lightweight (the chaff) is moved away by the wind, allowing the life-giving seed to fall to the ground. YHWH sifts and separates the good and bad in my life. His discernment is applied to the whole of my life, but particularly my lifestyle and habits. There are no secrets with him certainly, nor am I immune from his judgment. When it comes to my language, not only does God track every word, but he anticipates them. He is unbound by time, knowing what I will say before I say it. We speak of spouses who have been married for decades who can predict one anothers words, thoughts, and actions. There’s truth to that given the time spent living together and knowing one another. However well spouses may know each other, and it is probably the most intimate relationship we will experience in this life, it doesn’t compare to God’s perfect knowledge of us. We can work as hard as possible to manage our life and our words, but we will fail. Divine knowledge and judgment of our actions and speech is absolutely certain. This should make us more careful in every way. What we do and say matters a great deal, enough for the Creator of the Universe to take notice and take notes.

5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

This is my literal translation of this verse, “Behind and before you have confined me and set upon me the hollow of your hand. Incomprehensible knowledge, for me it is high, I can’t even.” Not only is God inside our heads, knowing our thoughts and words before they are spoken, he completely surrounds us in physical space. The emphasis in verse 5 seems to be the confining nature of God’s presence, illustrated by the way we might confine something like an ant or insect with our hands. The ant wanders around, looking for a way out, but at each turn, our hand is there to force it another direction. There is no escape because the creature is in the hands of a much higher order of being with incomprehensibly greater power and wisdom. God’s presence can feel stifling and limiting because our sin nature makes us prone to wander, but reality is there at every turn. It reminds me of Romans 1 where Paul describes the human condition as knowing the truth, but suppressing it and exchanging it for a lie. Our actions do not change reality, they merely push against an immovable object. God is the immovable object that we cannot get around. We have two options: resist until we wear ourselves out, or accept that we are in the hands of a loving Father and receive his guidance, trusting his infinite wisdom rather than our own limited view. Verse 6 provides a summary response to the first five verses, and it is one of worship. It’s too wonderful, it’s unbelievable, and at some point, words fail. That seems to be the grammar of the final phrase, literally, “I cannot to it” which doesn’t sound complete in English so we supply another verb like “reach” or “attain” as in “I cannot [reach] to it” The verb is simply, “I cannot”, which is why I like my own modern interpretation, “I can’t even”. The psalmist is at a point where he is trying to express something that is beyond words. May I be so overwhelmed with God’s presence and reality that I am speechless but fully aware of his comprehensive knowledge of me and his constant presence before and behind me. God may have his hand upon us, but he is not heavy handed in dealing with us. After all, those same mighty hands formed us in our mothers’ womb and knit us together (vss. 13-14). He can be trusted to gently steer us in the direction we should go and cover us with his protection. 

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

The psalmist asks two questions in verse 7 and then answers them indirectly in the following verse. “Where can I go from your spirit? And where from your presence (lit. face) can I flee?” These questions parallel each other perfectly helping us understand what is meant by the Spirit. The New Testament teaches that God is three-in-one, Father-Son-Spirit, but that wasn’t the understanding of the Jewish people in the OT. And yet this word “Spirit” pops up occasionally, particularly in relation to David. In Psalm 51:11 he asks that God not remove his Spirit from him (as he had from Saul). The parallel “presence” suggests that David understood God’s Spirit as his influence, his voice speaking into David’s heart. In Romans 2, Paul describes how God’s word is written on the hearts of every human being. Deep down inside, we all know there is a God and we experience his presence. Some may call it a conscience, and even though it can be suppressed (Romans 1), we cannot eliminate it. There’s no escaping the reality of God. He will do what He will do. In verse 8 David writes, “If I ascend into the highest heavens (shamayim), there you are, If I make my bed in Sheol, behold you!” Citing the vertical extremes of space, David declares that there is no space too high or too low where God cannot be found. Of course there was no way David could ascend to the heavens so that was an impossibility as well. Shamayim is the Hebrew word for heaven, and it is in the dual form, suggesting that there are two parts to heaven. God’s temple is in the highest heaven above it all, and the celestial objects (sun, moon, and stars) reside below him. Sheol is the Hebrew word for the realm of the dead. Because no one has ever gone there and come back to report on it, it’s a mysterious place, a door that you enter from which you never return. Unlike the heavens, David will go to Sheol, as we all will. And even there, David will not be alone. This verse gives me great comfort in knowing that when a person dies and they are no longer in our presence, they remain in God’s presence. Sheol was thought to be under the earth (where we bury people), so this is why David contrasts it with the heavens. More likely, Sheol is another dimension in time and space. Paul writes that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6) and that to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:22-24). For the believer Sheol is an entrance into the fuller presence of God. When David’s son dies, David says, “He cannot come to me, but I will go to him”, indicating that Sheol is a place where we will be reunited with loved ones. In life and death, we are never separated from God (Romans 8:38-39)

9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

Having speculated on going to vertical extremes to flee from God’s presence, the psalmist contemplates the horizontal means of escape. He looks to the east, to the dawn and ponders a journey to the sunrise to seek its origin. He looks to the west and the Mediterranean Sea, endless and vast. Were he to sail as far as possible and settle there, he would still not be beyond God’s presence and reach. Even in those distant places on earth, those unknown spaces, God’s hand would still lead him, his right hand holding on to him. This word “lead” is the same that is found in the 23rd Psalm, “You lead me in paths of righteousness” as well as many other places in the Psalms. The word “hold” can also be translated as “grasp” as if the hold is firm, and even against our will, much as a parent will hold onto the hand of a child when walking through a crowd or any place that involves risk. I don’t think David is addressing the question of predestination and free will here, just acknowledging that God is constantly present and influencing our lives and the choices we make. The prodigal son took his inheritance and ran away to the far country, and even there God kept him alive and spoke to him. Jonah hopped on a ship to take him thousands of miles from home in his spring away from God, but God was with him and brought him back. Elijah ran to the desert to die, but God wasn’t finished with him yet. Throughout history, when men and women have run from God, they find themselves right back in his hands because he never lets go of them. It is futile to attempt escape from the hand of God. His strong right hand has a grip on you. David knows this to be true of himself, and I believe it is true of everyone. Some embrace this truth and fine rest in God’s grip, and others try to squirm out and hurt themselves in the process. I don’t understand the mysteries of divine will and free will, but I believe both are true. God is absolutely sovereign and at the same time we have the free will to say “no” to him. I think that is what the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 is all about. David seems to be contemplating running away from God, but in his meditation he recognizes that it is futile. It makes more sense to embrace the reality of a loving Father holding your hand than to see his hand as a restraint on your freedom. 

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”

12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

David’s last chance at escaping from the face of God is to hide in the dark. Surely in the nighttime, David can do things that God will never see. Unfortunately, a lot of things are done under the cover of darkness that wouldn’t normally be done as we convince ourselves that no one will see, no one will know. But David recognizes that God is light and his presence illuminates even the darkest places. “Darkness is not dark, for darkness is as light with you.” “The night is bright as the day.” These statements are obviously metaphorical, and they are meant to communicate that we are always and forever known by God. Just as his hand is forever around us, guiding and protecting, so his light is ever with us, revealing that which we attempt to hide. We cannot escape the penetrating light of moral truth. A well-formed conscience will not allow sin to go unnoticed. The truth can be suppressed and exchanged for a lie (Romans 1:18-32), but it remains the truth. This is good news if your desire is to strive for moral excellence. God’s light will continually light the way, his spirit guiding your conscience into doing what is right. On the other hand, if you are bent on going your own way, that light will get in your eyes, frustrate, and blind you as you stumble around in the darkness. It will always be there, beckoning you to be free and transparent and leave behind the dark clothing and darkened thinking. May those who have run to the darkness to hide from you today experience the warmth of your presence and the illumination of your word in their hearts. May I be a source of light as I speak truth in love to those living in darkness today. 

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. [Or for I am fearfully set apart] Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

The literal translation of verse 13 is “You brought forth (possessed) my kidneys, You covered (wove) me in my mother’s womb.” The kidneys are critical internal organs, deep in the body, and yet God had his hands on that part of us when we were being made in our mother’s womb. God possessed them, they were his, he manufactured them from a single cell into the blood purifiers of the body. This process of bringing forth is likened to weaving, taking one thread at a time and working it in with others to form a unique and beautiful tapestry. It requires time, patience, skill, and creativity. A human being is the pinnacle of God’s creation (and that’s saying a lot!) There are many marvelous creatures on this planet (and in the universe?), but none as extraordinary as a human baby. We marvel as we hold them and caress their little feet and toes. Such were we all at one time. From a single union of egg and sperm, a new life with unique DNA blueprints begins. David can’t help but stop and worship at that moment. “I praise you, I am fearfully and wonderfully made (set apart).” This is not the usual word for “made”, but rather “set apart, distinguished.” This may refer to the uniqueness of every individual. There are almost eight billion of us alive on the planet right now, and none of us the same, even though we all contain the same types of parts and we’re made of the same ingredients. Finite materials, infinite possibilities -- such is the creativity of God. “Extraordinary” is the word that describes God’s work as a creator of life. We know this in our soul. The heart-breaking battle over the right to terminate pregnancy has raged in the west for over 50 years now, with over 60 million babies legally aborted to date in the US. The loss to our society and our collective soul is incalculable. A culture that has exchanged the truth of God for a lie cannot be expected to cherish the life that God gifts. The right of a woman to “control her body” is said to be a greater right than the right to live for the voiceless person inside of her. I long for the day when every pregnancy is celebrated for what it is -- a miracle of God to be cherished. God loves babies so much that he became one. Surely those that never see the light of life are forever in his presence.  

15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

The “frame” of the psalmist is his skeleton, his bones, onto which everything else in his body is connected. Thus, the deepest part of him was known to God in the process of gestation. The womb was a sacred place, no ultrasound could reveal its contents and workings. It was dark and unknown, the home of a miracle in the works. Babies weren’t made in the depths of the earth, rather the womb was like the depths of the earth in that it was unknown. Yet even in this dark and known place, God was at work with his hands, skillfully crafting each of us and his eyes saw our “unformed substance.” This is the only occurrence of this word in the Old Testament, and it might just as well be translated embryo. From observations made from miscarriages, the ancients must have understood that the embryo, this unformed substance was a nascent human being. Everything was there for life to be completed. Like a seed that has all that it needs to grow into a tree, all that is missing for the embryo is time and environment. That embryo may not have a heartbeat and may not resemble the newborn that it will be in nine months, but the substance is the same. As Horton the elephant wisely said, “a person’s a person no matter how small.” All the days of every person are “formed for me” as a potter would fashion the clay, shaped by his hands, guided to where it is to go. This verse raises the question of free will and God’s sovereignty. I’m not sure that this is the question that David is attempting to address here, so we should probably leave it at that. The text means what David meant for it to say, and in the context, David is simply describing how he feels God’s all-encompassing presence and hand in his life. God manipulating everything his way suggests that we are mere robots who can’t freely respond, and where is the love of God in that? To love is to risk not having that love returned. By the same token, David still feels God’s guiding hand (vss. 5, 10), hemming him in and holding his fast. I have no trouble accepting this as a paradox wherein we exercise free will in following or rejecting the ways of God to the best of our ability. In addition, God’s Holy Spirit has moved into our hearts and so we hear his voice and experience his power in making decisions and obeying his word as He fashions us into his holy people. We yield to the shaping of his hand, the “ordaining” of our days, acknowledging his superior knowledge. This becomes difficult when “bad” things happen that don’t seem to jive with what we think a good life should be. But this is where faith comes in. 

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

Once again David pauses to worship, bursting out “Toward me how prized, appraised, and valued are your purposes, your aims, O El, How vast the sum of them!” If God is ordaining our days for us as the previous verse tells us, then David declares that He has good aims for us, valued, prized, and numerous. Attempting to count God’s thoughts toward us is as impossible as counting the grains of sand on the earth. (I googled it, and that number is 75,000,000,000,000,000,000). For comparison, there are 2.5 billion seconds in the average lifespan (80 years), so God is thinking of us multiples of times per second. Not only are God’s hands hemming us in, grasping us wherever we go, his thoughts (and presumably actions) are towards us constantly. I say “presumably actions” because what good are thoughts without actions? God’s engagement with each of the nearly 8 billion people on this planet is constant and complete. If thinking about it makes you tired, then go to sleep. When you wake up, He’s still thinking about you. It’s another way of expressing the fact that God does all of this without our awareness. Even when we are asleep His thoughts toward us go on and one. The deepest human desire is to be loved. Yet often love is conditioned on our appearance, our health, our winsomeness and a host of other factors. Even those who love us most do not love us perfectly. And we fear that if they really knew our deepest thoughts and feelings, the words that are on our tongues that we catch and don’t say, if they knew those things they certainly wouldn’t love us. And so we spend our days attempting to earn and keep the love of others by managing our words and our lives, hoping to remain in their favor. The beauty of God’s love is that not only are we fully loved, but we are fully known. To be fully loved and fully known is the most wonderful experience in the world, and it is the greatest gift of God to those who will receive it. If you doubt the love of God, just look at the cross. This is what God was willing to do to demonstrate his own love for you while you were still sinners (Romans 5:8). Language fails to capture the magnitude, the breadth and depth of God’s precious thoughts toward us. Perhaps for this reason he gave us a picture, the cross.

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!

20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. [Hebrew lacks your name]

While these verses seem out of place to modern ears, they fit quite naturally in the ancient world as the language of covenant. David wants nothing to do with those who are enemies of God. God has bound himself so completely to David, sticking with him night and day and in every place he goes. He’s been with him from the beginning when He formed David in his mother’s womb, and he will be with him until his days on earth are no more. Because God has bound himself to David, David desires to bind himself to God in this oath. The enemies of God speak against Him wickedly and blaspheme His name. How do you feel when someone speaks in such a way about someone that you love? Would you tolerate someone verbally ripping up your spouse, your son or daughter, your friend? We instinctively react in anger and even violence when the honor and reputation of those we love. This is precisely what David is doing here. He is expressing solidarity with God. He is frustrated by the impunity with which the wicked can disregard One so great and wonderful as YHWH. David has spent the last 18 verses marveling at the wonders of God and to think that someone would spit in the face of that is beyond understanding and sympathy to him. He will not tolerate the abuse of One that he loves. How do we feel about defending the reputation of God? Not that he needs our help, but Jesus did say that if we confess Him before men, He will confess us before the father in heaven. And if we deny him before men, He will deny us before the father. David is drawing a line, and in our culture, this is not considered a polite thing to do. We are supposed to approve of anything and everything out of niceness, not to hurt the feelings or fragile self-perception of others. David calls it what it is -- wickedness and blasphemy -- and he longs for the day when such men are silenced by the judgment of God. If you truly love God, stand up for him, even at personal cost. He does the same for you. 

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.

David continues expressing his solidarity with YHWH, stating his hatred for those who hate Him. The word “loathing” is found only in the psalms and Ezekiel where it is sometimes translated with the sense of grieving. It’s used in Psalm 95:10 where God is grieved with the people of Israel who rebelled in the desert. In that context it seems to be a mixture of anger and sadness. David is both angry and sad that others don’t see the joy and satisfaction that is found from having a relationship with God. They take this great gift of grace and reject it in the strongest way by rising up against the One who loves them most. Their rebellion is heartbreaking and David wants nothing to do with them. His hatred for them is complete, full, right up to the limits of what is possible. He is absolutely on God’s side. This raises the question of when is it okay to hate someone? In light of Jesus’ New Testament ethic to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”, and Paul’s teaching about revenge in Romans 12:20 (quoting Deuteronomy) “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Paul’s approach seems to be to kill them with kindness and let God deal with the judgment. This represents a superior ethic, but we mustn’t judge David by this standard that didn’t exist in his day, and we must consider the context of this as a loyalty oath, not as a teaching on how to deal with one’s enemies. The proper response to the enemies of God seems to be first to acknowledge them as enemies. They are not neutral third parties, and if they are opposing God, they are going to inflict harm on themselves and others. For this we should be grieved and be willing to take appropriate action to convince them of their folly (with gentleness and respect). 

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!Try me and know my thoughts![Or cares]

24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! [Or in the ancient way (compare Jeremiah 6:16)]

David concludes his prayer by returning to the language of the first verse where he acknowledges that YHWH has searched him and He knows him (vs. 1). As he considers this reality throughout the first half of the psalm, there is some hesitancy about the confining nature of this complete knowledge (hemming in, desire to flee). But now his heart is fully captivated by the One who fully knows and loves him. David invites the searching eye of God into his heart and mind. He uses the more general and universal name of God, El, here, rather than YHWH as elsewhere in the psalm, perhaps reflecting the all-encompassing, universal presence of the divine. David now desires to show God everything, his heart (the center of his being) as well as his anxieties. He even invites testing. He is asking for challenges to come so that he can demonstrate his fealty under pressure. He desires to have a pure heart, a life of integrity, asking for God to reveal to him any wickedness that might be lurking inside. Finally, he asks for God to lead him in the everlasting way, the way to life that has always existed and will always exist. There is both a future and a past in this word, eternal. This is highlighted in Jeremiah 6:16 where the same word is used and translated as ancient. “Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” God’s way always has been and forever will be “the good way.” Jesus claimed to be THE Way, reminding us that living God’s way is living in the imitation of Christ. May the same eyes that saw my unformed body when I was being knit together in the secret place, penetrate the deepest part of my soul, revealing what needs to be removed and replacing it with the presence of your Spirit.