Psalms 139
FBMeyerPsalms 139:1-13
the All-seeing God Psalms 139:1-13 The psalmist speaks as if there were only two beings in the universe-God and himself. In all literature there is no nobler conception of the divine attributes. God’ s omniscience, Psalms 139:1-6. The downsittings of life are times of weariness, depression, failure, shortcoming, and inconsistency, when we are far short of our best. Our uprisings are our strongest, happiest, holiest moments, when we are at our best. God knows all. He cannot be surprised. He besets us before-the future is full of Him-and behind, as the wave follows closely in the wake of the bather or the rear guard the march. His hand is laid upon us, shielding and protecting. His winnowing-fan is ever detecting every grain of wheat and extracting it from the chaff. God’ s omnipresence, Psalms 139:7-12. It is impossible to flee from God. However thick the foliage, it cannot separate the sinner from those eyes of love and fire. This thought is terrible to those who are not at peace with Him, but delightful to those who love. Be of good cheer, lonely one; thy night of sorrow is as the day-full of Him.
Thou hast searched me! It is rather interesting to notice the position of this sublime ode on the omniscience and omnipresence of God. In earlier Psalms David has again and again reminded us of the love and mercy of God, which “endure forever.” Here he bids us take heed that we do not make that love an excuse for sin, because his eyes are as a flame of fire. There is the same combination, though in the reverse order, in Hebrews 4:12-16.
Observe: the fact of God’s omniscience (Psalms 139:1-12); its ground on his creatorship of man (Psalms 139:13-18); its consolatory aspect, that as God knows the innocence of his people, so He will not condemn them with the wicked, but lead them in his everlasting way (Psalms 139:19-24). Psalms 139:1.
O Lord, Thou hast known me What ineffable comfort there is in the thought that our hearts closed to all else, are open to Him! Because, as He can detect the secret source of our disease, He can cure it. As He can read our secret sorrow, He can apply the healing balm. “He knows all, but loves us better than He knows.”
Psalms 139:2. Downsitting is our time of quiet rest; uprising, the going forth to work. Afar off perhaps means that God anticipates our thoughts and purposes before they are matured in our mind.
Psalms 139:3. Thou winnowest (marg.); as if God were ever applying the fan of his judgment to our active life and to the thoughts which chase each other across our mind in sleep.
Psalms 139:5. Thou hast beset me The All-knowing is also the All-present. We are God-encompassed, God-environed. Behind, that none may attack in the rear. Before, that He may search out the way and meet our foes. Laid thine hand; as if a child were to put one hand over the hollow of another to keep some frail insect from its pursuer (John 10:28-29).
Psalms 139:6. Too wonderful!We must worship, where we fail to comprehend.
Psalms 139:7-8. Whither shall I go? It used to be said that the whole world was but one vast prison-house for the Roman Emperors, so complete was their power. And what hope can the sinner have in escaping God? (Amos 9:2).
Psalms 139:9-12. The wings of the morning Neither change of hemisphere, nor distance, nor darkness, can at all alter the soul’s proximity to God. What bliss this is to those who know Him as Father and Friend!
Psalms 139:13. Possessed is “formed” The reins are the seat of the desires and feelings. How much transpires on that secret workshop! Nothing can be concealed from our Maker.
Psalms 139:15-16. Not hid from Thee We may refer these words to the mystical body of Christ, which even now is being secretly prepared and composed of many who are as the lowest on the earth. God’s book contains, through his foreknowledge the names of those who are to be incorporated in the one body (Romans 8:29; Revelation 17:8).
Psalms 139:17-18. How precious are thy thoughts unto me! The Psalmist is so occupied with the thoughts of God, which teem in his mind that he pursues his meditations sleeping as well as waking. When he starts from slumber, his first bright waking consciousness is that God is by his side.
Psalms 139:19-22. Am not I grieved? When we are startled at the strong expressions of David, we may well ask ourselves where in our tender pity for sinners.
Psalms 139:23-24. Search me, O God! This prayer is a worthy culmination of the Psalm. Lead me is the one incessant cry of the devout soul. “Lead, kindly Light!” We long to get forward on that way which is everlasting, founded on the permanent principles of Truth, Righteousness, Light, and Love. The way planned from eternity by the Eternal, and leading to the eternal home.
Psalms 139:14-24
God’ s Thoughts and Ours Psalms 139:14-24 God’ s creative power, Psalms 139:14-18. The psalmist goes back to the beginning of life and describes the weaving of our physical nature. Here we may discover a suggestive analogy; for the Church, which is the Body of Christ, has been wrought in secret from its earliest beginnings, and its development continues preparatory to the manifestation in complete beauty and glory at the Lord’ s coming. “ When He shall be manifested, we shall be manifested with Him in glory,” Colossians 3:1-4. Remember, also, that the Christ-life in our hearts is subject to the same secret processes. The psalm closes with the saints’ antagonism to evil, Psalms 139:19-24. The more they meditate on the precious thoughts of God, the more they desire to be freed from the tyranny of evil, whether it shows itself in the ways of evil men or in the inward evil of the heart. Our one cry should be that God would lead us in the way, which is based on eternal principles and which winds ever upward from the lowland valleys, where we have dwelt too long, to those glorious uplands, where God Himself is Sun.
Thou hast searched me! It is rather interesting to notice the position of this sublime ode on the omniscience and omnipresence of God. In earlier Psalms David has again and again reminded us of the love and mercy of God, which “endure forever.” Here he bids us take heed that we do not make that love an excuse for sin, because his eyes are as a flame of fire. There is the same combination, though in the reverse order, in Hebrews 4:12-16.
Observe: the fact of God’s omniscience (Psalms 139:1-12); its ground on his creatorship of man (Psalms 139:13-18); its consolatory aspect, that as God knows the innocence of his people, so He will not condemn them with the wicked, but lead them in his everlasting way (Psalms 139:19-24). Psalms 139:1.
O Lord, Thou hast known me What ineffable comfort there is in the thought that our hearts closed to all else, are open to Him! Because, as He can detect the secret source of our disease, He can cure it. As He can read our secret sorrow, He can apply the healing balm. “He knows all, but loves us better than He knows.”
Psalms 139:2. Downsitting is our time of quiet rest; uprising, the going forth to work. Afar off perhaps means that God anticipates our thoughts and purposes before they are matured in our mind.
Psalms 139:3. Thou winnowest (marg.); as if God were ever applying the fan of his judgment to our active life and to the thoughts which chase each other across our mind in sleep.
Psalms 139:5. Thou hast beset me The All-knowing is also the All-present. We are God-encompassed, God-environed. Behind, that none may attack in the rear. Before, that He may search out the way and meet our foes. Laid thine hand; as if a child were to put one hand over the hollow of another to keep some frail insect from its pursuer (John 10:28-29).
Psalms 139:6. Too wonderful!We must worship, where we fail to comprehend.
Psalms 139:7-8. Whither shall I go? It used to be said that the whole world was but one vast prison-house for the Roman Emperors, so complete was their power. And what hope can the sinner have in escaping God? (Amos 9:2).
Psalms 139:9-12. The wings of the morning Neither change of hemisphere, nor distance, nor darkness, can at all alter the soul’s proximity to God. What bliss this is to those who know Him as Father and Friend!
Psalms 139:13. Possessed is “formed” The reins are the seat of the desires and feelings. How much transpires on that secret workshop! Nothing can be concealed from our Maker.
Psalms 139:15-16. Not hid from Thee We may refer these words to the mystical body of Christ, which even now is being secretly prepared and composed of many who are as the lowest on the earth. God’s book contains, through his foreknowledge the names of those who are to be incorporated in the one body (Romans 8:29; Revelation 17:8).
Psalms 139:17-18. How precious are thy thoughts unto me! The Psalmist is so occupied with the thoughts of God, which teem in his mind that he pursues his meditations sleeping as well as waking. When he starts from slumber, his first bright waking consciousness is that God is by his side.
Psalms 139:19-22. Am not I grieved? When we are startled at the strong expressions of David, we may well ask ourselves where in our tender pity for sinners.
Psalms 139:23-24. Search me, O God! This prayer is a worthy culmination of the Psalm. Lead me is the one incessant cry of the devout soul. “Lead, kindly Light!” We long to get forward on that way which is everlasting, founded on the permanent principles of Truth, Righteousness, Light, and Love. The way planned from eternity by the Eternal, and leading to the eternal home.