Tuesday March 12
The LORD Knows and Understands Me
Psalm 139:1-6
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.
Psalm 139 is one of the more well-known psalms in the collection of psalms. It answers so many questions about life, such as, who we are, where we came from, where are we going, what is our purpose, and what is our value. From the title we know that David was the writer. He is obviously a poetic genius and a man who knew and loved God. God is referred to by name six times and by personal pronoun thirty times. The psalmist refers to himself fifty times. It is a song of profound spiritual experience. All such experience is, by its nature, personal and intimate. David gave it to the “Chief Musician”, to be sung by the sanctuary choir in worship of our great and glorious God!
It is important to remember that what we think about God and our relationship to Him determines what we think about everything else that makes up our busy world. How we view other people, the universe, God's Word, God's will, sin, faith, and obedience all come from our thoughts of God. Wrong ideas about God will ultimately lead to wrong ideas about who we are and what we should do, and this leads to a wrong life on the wrong path toward the wrong destiny. In other words, our theology, which is the right knowledge of God, is essential to a fulfilled life in this world. David contemplated God and wrote for us a psalm whose message can only encourage us to be in a right relationship with Him.
First in verses 1-6, David reminds us that God knows us intimately and we cannot deceive Him. I’ve been told that the number one major that students chose to take in college is psychology. A degree that few will actually use in their professional life after college. The reason is that the students are at a stage in life where they are searching for themselves and their purpose in life. What would be better for them to know is that God is “searching” them according to verse 1. The verb "search" means "to examine with pain and care." The Jewish people used this word to describe digging deep into a mine, exploring a land, and investigating a legal case.
Our friends see the outside, but God sees the heart, and we cannot deceive Him. Adam and Eve tried it (Gen. 3:7-24), Cain tried it (Gen. 4:1-15), and even David tried it (2 Sam. 11-12), and all of them discovered that God knew all about them. "Understand" in verse 2 means "to distinguish and discern with insight" and not just gather raw data. " Comprehend " in verse 3 is a picture of winnowing grain, and "try" in verse 23 means "to test metal."
The fact that God knows us intimately and exhaustively is asserted in verses 1, 2, 4, 14, and 23. He knows our actions, our locations, our thoughts and words, our ways, and our motives. "All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13). But even more, He knows what is best for us and does all He can to guide us that way. He hems us in behind and before and puts His hand on us to steady us and direct us.
In verse 5, the word translated "hedged" means God has "enclosed" us and “guards us as a valuable object". In other words, God's knowledge and guidance are for our protection. What should be our response to this? We should be overwhelmed by the height and depth of God's knowledge and be thankful that He knows us perfectly. When David thought about this he could not help but exclaimed, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.”
My friend, even with 8 billion people on planet earth, God knows you, loves you, and cares so much for you that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to make a way for you to know Him and experience an abundant life! You are of tremendous value to Him!
God bless!