Psalm 139
1For the choir director: A psalm of David. O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.2You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away.3You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am.4You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD.5You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!7I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence!8If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there.9If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans,10even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.11I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night --12but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.13You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.14Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous -- and how well I know it.15You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.16You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.17How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable!18I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!19O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers!20They blaspheme you; your enemies take your name in vain.21O LORD, shouldn't I hate those who hate you? Shouldn't I despise those who resist you?22Yes, I hate them with complete hatred, for your enemies are my enemies.23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.24Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary -- www.christnotes.org)
"Chapter Contents
God knows all things. (1-6) He is every where present. (7-16) The psalmist's hatred to sin, and desire to be led aright. (17-24)
Commentary on Psalm 139:1-6
God has perfect knowledge of us, and all our thoughts and actions are open before him. It is more profitable to meditate on Divine truths, applying them to our own cases, and with hearts lifted to God in prayer, than with a curious or disputing frame of mind. That God knows all things, is omniscient; that he is every where, is omnipresent; are truths acknowledged by all, yet they are seldom rightly believed in by mankind. God takes strict notice of every step we take, every right step and every by step. He knows what rule we walk by, what end we walk toward, what company we walk with. When I am withdrawn from all company, thou knowest what I have in my heart. There is not a vain word, not a good word, but thou knowest from what thought it came, and with what design it was uttered. Wherever we are, we are under the eye and hand of God. We cannot by searching find how God searches us out; nor do we know how we are known. Such thoughts should restrain us from sin.
Commentary on Psalm 139:7-16
We cannot see God, but he can see us. The psalmist did not desire to go from the Lord. Whither can I go? In the most distant corners of the world, in heaven, or in hell, I cannot go out of thy reach. No veil can hide us from God; not the thickest darkness. No disguise can save any person or action from being seen in the true light by him. Secret haunts of sin are as open before God as the most open villanies. On the other hand, the believer cannot be removed from the supporting, comforting presence of his Almighty Friend. Should the persecutor take his life, his soul will the sooner ascend to heaven. The grave cannot separate his body from the love of his Saviour, who will raise it a glorious body. No outward circumstances can separate him from his Lord. While in the path of duty, he may be happy in any situation, by the exercise of faith, hope, and prayer.
Commentary on Psalm 139:17-24
God's counsels concerning us and our welfare are deep, such as cannot be known. We cannot think how many mercies we have received from him. It would help to keep us in the fear of the Lord all the day long, if, when we wake in the morning, our first thoughts were of him: and how shall we admire and bless our God for his precious salvation, when we awake in the world of glory! Surely we ought not to use our members and senses, which are so curiously fashioned, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. But our immortal and rational souls are a still more noble work and gift of God. Yet if it were not for his precious thoughts of love to us, our reason and our living for ever would, through our sins, prove the occasion of our eternal misery. How should we then delight to meditate on God's love to sinners in Jesus Christ, the sum of which exceeds all reckoning! Sin is hated, and sinners lamented, by all who fear the Lord. Yet while we shun them we should pray for them; with God their conversion and salvation are possible. As the Lord knows us thoroughly, and we are strangers to ourselves, we should earnestly desire and pray to be searched and proved by his word and Spirit. if there be any wicked way in me, let me see it; and do thou root it out of me. The way of godliness is pleasing to God, and profitable to us; and will end in everlasting life. It is the good old way. All the saints desire to be kept and led in this way, that they may not miss it, turn out of it, or tire in it."
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