Psalm 139
An opportunity to reflect phrase by phrase as we meditate on David`s Psalm that reveals how much God knows you -- Yes YOU!
Scripture is taken mainly from The Passion Translation, unless otherwise stated.
NIV
1. You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying
down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for
me, too lofty for me to attain.
The Passion Translation
1 Lord, you know everything there is to know about me.
2 You perceive every movement of my heart and soul,
and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind.
3-4 You are so intimately aware of me, Lord.
You read my heart like an open book
and you know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence!
You know every step I will take before my journey even begins.
5 You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness
you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past.
You have laid your hand on me!
6 This is just too wonderful, deep, and incomprehensible!
Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength.
Psalm 139, was written by King David, the man
after God’s own heart and the greatest King of Israel.
The Psalm shows God’s knowledge of man.
1 Lord, you know everything there is to know about me.
We are unique as nature does not repeat itself. Every snowflake differs. Every zebra stripe produces a different pattern. Every fingerprint differs. YOU ARE UNIQUE!
Safe in the Potter`s hands
You are God`s masterpiece. Created and sculpted the way He wanted you to be.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
Reflect: What feelings does this provoke in you?
2 You perceive every movement of my heart and
soul, and you understand my every thought
before it even enters my mind.
Not just physical but our emotions, and spiritual activity, revealing our motivation. Our soul is the essence of who we are including our intellect, will, emotions, conscious thought. It means life, and desires, feelings, and passions.
Reflect Is the fact that God knows everything—more comforting or convicting to you? Why?
3. You are so intimately aware of me, Lord. You read my heart like an open book
To have identity by being known and understood is a longing humans have. We are sociable people - even the most shy amongst us. When not received we may react to prevent ourselves being hurt afresh.
Reflect Is there anything that deep in your heart of hearts you think God
might not understand about you or you don`t want Him to?
3. You know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence!
We can have 2500 thoughts an hour! - How many of these we forget within minutes! We speak at least 7000 words a day which are our personal imprint on the world.
Reflect What are some of the advantages of God knowing everything about you? How could this be a source of motivation in your life?
4. You know every step I will take before my journey even begins.
Not only does God know everything, but He “sees” everything as well.
He is not confined by time so also knows what our future holds.
What implications for our prayer lives does this make?
5 You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past
We often can see for ourselves how events of the past have shaped our current and future life. The past can shape both positively and negatively and when the latter, it can be good to deal with that now so that it does not continue to influence our future.
What are some of the advantages of God knowing everything about you? How could this be a source of motivation in your life?
5 You have laid your hand on me!
As David addresses God he recognizes he is addressing the Almighty, who surrounds him like a hedge of protection, yet is intimate and close, to lay a hand upon him, drawing us into His protection and care
James 4:8 tells us, “Come near to God and He will come near to you”
Do you ever feel alone? How does God’s omnipresence—the fact that He is everywhere at the same time—change the way you think about that area of your life in which you feel alone?
6 This is just too wonderful, deep, and incomprehensible!
Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength.
God is omnipresent. There is no place that He is not present. He is in every place that you go to.
How is God forming us spiritually? What does God want you to become? What are your dreams, your goals, your special abilities, your spiritual gifts? How does God want to use them? Dare to pray boldly. Dare to dream boldly.
NIV
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
The Passion Translation
7 Where could I go from your Spirit?
Where could I run and hide from your face?
8 If I go up to heaven, you’re there!
If I go down to the realm of the dead, you’re there too!
9 If I fly with wings into the shining dawn, you’re there!
If I fly into the radiant sunset, you’re there waiting!
10 Wherever I go, your hand will guide me;
your strength will empower me.
11 It’s impossible to disappear from you
or to ask the darkness to hide me,
for your presence is everywhere, bringing light into my night.
12 There is no such thing as darkness with you.
The night, to you, is as bright as the day;
there’s no difference between the two.
7 Where could I go from your Spirit?
Where could I run and hide from your face?
King David is asking where he can go to avoid God - the short answer is "Nowhere!"
Jonah found that to be true when he chose to go in a different way from the one God directed.
Moses once said to the God, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place.” Exodus 33:15 NLT.
We need God`s involvement and presence to walk this earth in the way He created us to be.
Even though we can't 'get away' from God, what do you do to sometimes hold him at a distance?
God is everywhere and watches us at all times after all He is omnipresent. Though sometimes it appears like He isn’t watching that should not stop us from seeking His face.
8 If I go up to heaven, you’re there!
If I go down to the realm of the dead, you’re there too!
Is there any place you go, or any activity you regularly engage in that you might think gives you a 'break' from God, something he's not really a part of? If there is, what should you do about it?
The Hebrew word translated "morning" in this verse means "daybreak." At daybreak light moves rapidly across the sky from east to west, but even that cannot outrun God's presence.
9 If I fly with wings into the shining dawn, you’re there!
If I fly into the radiant sunset, you’re there waiting!
The psalm poetically explains God's immense power and knowledge
Have you ever thought you want to escape God? Consider the circumstances you were in and the reasons you did not want Him involved. Reflecting now, how does that make you feel and what might you do?
10 Wherever I go, your hand will guide me; your strength will empower me.
In Psalm 139:11 God’s presence is promised but also His power, indicating we have no need to go it alone.
Since God is omnipotent (all-powerful), in what part of your life would you like Him to unleash His power
11 It’s impossible to disappear from you or to ask the darkness to hide
me, for your presence is everywhere, bringing light into my night.
12 There is no such thing as darkness with you. The night, to you, is as
bright as the day; there’s no difference between the two.
When trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour then God promises to be with us .. in good times and bad. His love is abundant and steady. Therefore, we can trust Him to lead us in our life, through the good times and the difficult times.
Pray, thanking God that not only does he know us very well (that was Psalm 139:1-6), but thank Him that He is with you and will guide you. Ask Him to make you sensitive to His leading, that you would know his voice and follow him (as in John 10:27)
NIV
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
The Passion Translation
13 You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside
and my intricate outside,
and wove them all together in my mother’s womb.
14 I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex!
Everything you do is marvellously breath taking.
It simply amazes me to think about it!
How thoroughly you know me, Lord!
15 You even formed every bone in my body
when you created me in the secret place; carefully, skill-fully
you shaped me from nothing to something.
16 You saw who you created me to be before I became me!
Before I’d ever seen the light of day,
the number of days you planned for me were already recorded
in your book.
17-18 Every single moment you are thinking of me!
How precious and wonderful to consider
that you cherish me constantly in your every thought!
O God, your desires toward me are more
than the grains of sand on every shore!
When I awake each morning, you’re still with me.
13 You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside and my intricate outside, and wove them all together in my mother’s womb.
Being the Creator, God has perfect knowledge of those he created. He knows their innermost thoughts as well as their physical characteristics, and has a detailed knowledge of their lives from the beginning and that are yet to be. Even before we have conscious thought whilst still being formed in the womb, God knew us intricately.
Are there parts of us that we are not keen on? Can you acknowledge that God created you with those parts to?
14 I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex!
Everything you do is marvellously breath taking.
It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord!
God`s creation and plans are amazing but revelation of His character - just and true - also help us to acknowledge His good intentions towards us.
"Great and marvellous are your deeds, LORD God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways, King of the nations." Revelation 15:3
Do you stop to consider that God has been interested in you even before you were born, and so he is intensely interested in the outcome of your life? How might knowing this shape your behaviour and decisions?
15 You even formed every bone in my body
when you created me in the secret place; carefully, skill-fully
you shaped me from nothing to something.
These verses remind us of another Biblical image of the potter and clay or a sculptor who sees a block of wood or marble and can see what it might become.
Do you ever question why God made you the way he did?
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5
According to verse 16, our life and its duration, appear to be predetermined.
What life principles can we extract from this?
16 You saw who you created me to be before I became me!
Before I’d ever seen the light of day,
God knew what you would be like and what you would do. This is a great mystery and does not negate the paradoxical truth that we have free choice. He tests us. He calls to us and awaits our response.
16b the number of days you planned for
me were already recorded in your book.
Ephesians 2:8 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
How do we come to know what the works are that “God prepared in advance for us to do”?
17 Every single moment you are thinking of me!
How precious and wonderful to consider
that you cherish me constantly in your every thought!
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5
To be known by God intimately whatever you are going through can be a comfort as we all need to be known to know our existance
God knows you and is thinking of you - now! How well do you know Him and remember Him through the day?
18. O God, your desires toward me are more
than the grains of sand on every shore!
When I awake each morning, you’re still with me.
Are you willing to ask Him to search you to see if there is any offensive way in you?
NIV
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Passion TranslationPassion Translation
19 O God, come and slay these bloodthirsty, murderous men!
For I cry out, “Depart from me, you wicked ones!”
20 See how they blaspheme your sacred name
and lift up themselves against you, but all in vain!
21 Lord, can’t you see how I despise those who despise you?
For I grieve when I see them rise up against you.
22 I have nothing but complete hatred and disgust for them.
Your enemies shall be my enemies!
23 God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart.
Examine me through and through; find out everything that
may be hidden within me.
Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares.
24 See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on,
and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting way—
the path that brings me back to you.
v 19-22 The Psalmist rants at what he sees as the unfairness of the accusations, and seeks God`s judgement. Judgment belongs to God alone.
Much of the Psalms teach us to love our enemies
and pray to God on their behalf.
Read Psalm 139:19-22. Are you more frustrated about not seeing God’s justice
or grateful for experiencing His mercy?
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
There is infinitely more happening in the world and our lives than we can plausibly see. But God’s view is limitless, transcending time and space. He has numbered our days, and nothing can change or alter His good plan for our lives. His will trumps what we want.
How do you feel about submitting to someone else`s control?
