Psalm 139:1-16
In the psalm before us, David praises God by stating things which He (the Lord) has done in past times and does in time present.
“O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me” (v. 1). While David’s words literally declare the Lord’s doings to the Lord, the purpose of David’s message is not to provide information to the Lord. His purpose is to reveal that which has been revealed to him.
All scripture exists for God’s purposes (II Tim. 3:16). God wants all to know that He searches the hearts of men and that He knows the hearts of all. When God searched David’s heart, He found belief — belief that He counts for righteousness (Gen. 15:6). God rewards all who believe and diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6). David is joyous because he knows God has found belief in him and that he (David) has found eternal favor with God.
“Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off” (v. 2). That which God knows of David, He knows of all men. Downsettings and uprisings are observable actions. The Lord knows when we sit to rest and when we rise to work and to play. The Lord knows our thoughts when we are resting and when we are working or playing. The Lord knows our every thought and action. Nothing is hidden from Him. The Lord knew that we (man) would fall before He created the earth and all things in the earth. His plan of salvation was in place before He laid down the foundations of the earth (I Pet. 1:20).
“Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways” (v. 3). Compassest means to surround or encircle. The picture is that of God observing David from every possible direction. When we view the night sky in the winter, we see different stars than are visible in the summer because the direction of our view has changed. God sees David from vantage points of every season whether it be winter, spring, summer or fall. God is acquainted with all of David’s ways. No detail of David’s doings is unseen by the Lord, whether they be past, present or future.
“For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether” (v. 4). The words in David’s tongue include the very words before us. This text, in turn, points to us to scriptures which record other words spoken by David. I Samuel 17 is such a record. David stood before Goliath and said: “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands (v. 45-47). God, in His omniscience, knew David would speak these words.
“Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me” (v. 5). To be beset by God means to be covered by God. God has covered David with His protective hand from things before him and things behind him. Again, the scriptures record instance after instance in which the Lord protected David from his enemies. As an unarmed shepherd, David slew both a bear and a lion while tending sheep (I Sam. 17:34-36). God preserved David from Saul (I Sam. 23:26-28) and, later, from Absalom (II Sam. 18:14).
“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it” (v. 6). David had cause to praise the Lord. He was beset by the revelation of God’s omniscience and God’s omnipresence. He is overwhelmed by this knowledge. It is beyond his ability to comprehend. Words fail to describe that which the Spirit reveals.
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” (v. 7). There are physical limits of the locales to which David can go. In verses 8 and 9, David proposes to navigate to the heights of heaven and the depths of hell and then to take the wings of the morning (go east to the limits of east) and to dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea (dwell in the western most part of that which is west). David finds that God’s reach is beyond any place to which he can flee. God’s reach and love extend beyond the limits of heaven and hell and further than west is from east.
In verses 11 and 12, David confesses that he cannot hide in darkness because darkness and light are alike to God. This is the same message which was delivered to New Testament believers one thousand years after David’s walk on earth. The Apostle John wrote: “This then is the message which we have heard from Him and declare unto you: that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (I Jn. 1:5). The Spirit who authored the Old Testament is the author of the New. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb” (v. 13). David states that which the Holy Spirit revealed to Him. God had plans for David (possessed David’s reins) and protected him while he was in his mother’s womb. The mother’s womb is not a place of darkness to God. God is light and looks upon life that is yet to spring from the darkness of the 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” (v. 14-16). David rejoices because God had a plan for the unformed substance in his mother’s womb.
God has a plan for all men but not all choose God’s way. It is God’s plan that “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). God would have all men rejoice as David rejoices.
