Psalm 139
All things are naked and open to the omniscience of God.
His presence is all-pervading. Suitable prayer concludes the hymn.
1-5. "O Lord, You have searched me, and known me. You
know my down-sitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar of. You
compass my path, and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For
there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, You know it altogether.
You have beset me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me."
God's all-seeing eye and all-pervading presence are
indisputable. His thorough knowledge of all the events in which we are
intermixed, His close reading of every movement of the inner man, His
observation of the characters, His distinct perception of every thought, of
every word and deed, of every step taken, of every wish conceived, are
acknowledged truths. Never do we come in or go out, never do we rise or sit
down, but His eye marks us. Our lips never open, no utterance ever sounds,
but His all-hearing ear discerns the significance. A recording book is
written. We are always surrounded by His power, and never can escape His
hand.
6. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is
high, I cannot attain unto it."
This knowledge is quite infinite, and therefore cannot be
comprehended by finite mind. We can only ponder, wonder, and adore. But when
duly pondered, what comfort springs to the believer! Amid all his countless
transgressions, he knows that he desires to walk at each moment in the faith
and fear of God, and his constant prayer is, Lord, what will You have me do?
Thus he thinks on God, and peace is his soft pillow.
7-12. "Where shall I go from Your Spirit? or where
shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there;
if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the
morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there shall Your
hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the
darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yes, the
darkness hides not from You; but the night shines as the day; the darkness
and the light are both alike to You."
No terms can fully describe God's omnipotence. There is
no spot in heaven or earth which He does not fill. There is no covert which
affords concealment. He sits above the highest heavens. He descends below
the lowest depths.
Alas! the folly of poor blinded man, who deceives himself
by hopes that he can elude discovery. His every step is in the clear light
of God's countenance. The day is near when all shall be proclaimed. Oh! that
the Holy Spirit would write this truth with power on our minds! The thought
would operate as a strong warning against sin. The check would constantly
operate, "how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"
13-16. "For you created my inmost being; you knit me
together in my mother's womb. praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 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, our eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them
came to be."
God's thorough knowledge of us and all our ways is patent
from His creative power. Before we breathed, His will arranged our incipient
being. What mechanism can be more exquisite in all its parts than the
formation of our bodies! Divine skill is manifested in the design of its
innumerable members. Wonder is exhausted in the contemplation. Select any
part, it proclaims that infinite wisdom devised the plan, and infinite power
brought it to perfection. Can this great Creator not have most intimate
acquaintance with the beings which He thus formed?
17-18. "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O
God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in
number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You."
There is much transport in the knowledge that God thinks
on us. If we cannot escape His observant eye, so too we cannot be hidden
from His vigilant love. He loved His people before their bodies were framed,
and never has His love relaxed. The value of this knowledge is inestimable,
even as the multitude of His thoughts exceed enumeration. The child of God
delightedly ponders this truth throughout his waking hours. They attend him
until he closes his eyes in nightly repose, and when perception again
returns, and the mind resumes its exercise, the same truth continues to
gladden.
19-22. "Surely You will slay the wicked, O God; depart
from me therefore, you bloody men. For they speak against You wickedly, and
Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate those, O Lord, who hate
You? and am not I grieved with those who rise up against You? I hate them
with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies."
When we remember how great is God's love, and how
countless His fatherly thoughts, the mind mournfully turns to those who have
no part in this precious portion. Alas! there are many who must be reckoned
as haters of God. Terrible, indeed, is their doom. It is denounced, "Bring
here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay
them before me." If their steps are in the way of destruction, surely we
shall refuse to walk with them. Love to God will estrange from all who hate
Him.
23-24. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me,
and know my thoughts; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me
in the way everlasting."
Faith boldly calls upon God to thoroughly investigate the
heart, and to search its recesses with the lamp of divine truth. The desire
glows, that every detected error may be slain, and that the feet may be
guided into the way of eternal life. May this be our constant prayer, and
may the outcome of our walk through life be the heavenly home and the joys
at God's right hand forevermore!