#891 Searched and Searching

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

5 You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

12 even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!

O men of blood, depart from me!

20 They speak against you with malicious intent;

your enemies take your name in vain.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with complete hatred;

I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalm 139 ESV

A Psalm Of David to the chief musician.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me - The omnipresence and omniscience of God, and this not over times as we observe things, but from eternal design. This is not divided over peoples for His presence and knowledge are everywhere and at all times, even so my access to Him as His child. I am not waiting for my turn as my children would wait for me; it is always my turn and I but turn to Him.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up - All my ways are before God, where I go, what I do, my going out and coming in, nothing is hidden from Him. No action of mine can hinder Him, none is covered up or unexpected. He need not react, for He has spoken knowing all things in advance.

You discern my thoughts from afar - You have cast down every argument of my flesh, even that which did not leave my lips, you are the God Who sees me, whether I pray aloud or my eyes run like faucets in my closet, and even my own thoughts are not coherent for my grief, but you hear and know me better than I understand myself. My silence is still a book unto you, my whimpering as Shakespeare played out upon a stage. 

- Before it is my own it is foreknown and comprehended by thee. Though my thought be invisible to the sight, though as yet I be not myself cognizant of the shape it is assuming, yet thou hast it under thy consideration, and thou perceivest its nature, its source, its drift, its result. Never dost thou misjudge or wrongly interpret me: my inmost thought is perfectly understood by thine impartial mind. Though thou shouldest give but a glance at my heart, and see me as one sees a passing meteor moving afar, yet thou wouldst by that glimpse sum up all the meanings of my soul, so transparent is everything to thy piercing glance. C. H. Spurgeon

…8 He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit. 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure— who can understand it? 10 I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.… Jeremiah 17: 8-10

You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways - There is no activity of mine that falls outside your sovereignty, awake or asleep as I may be, unaware of my surroundings, yet You are there, surrounding me.

…8 Better a little with righteousness than great gain with injustice. 9 A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. 10 A divine verdict is on the lips of a king; his mouth must not betray justice.… Proverbs 16: 8-10

Even before a word is on my tongue - Lord keep my tongue from evil, change my heart so that it will not produce words that dishonor You. That You know me and yet let me live, knowing what sort of man I am and all that is not hidden unto You, how gracious, how marvelous, let me walk, think and speak as unto You.

You hem me in, behind and before -

- As though we were caught in an ambush, or besieged by an army which has wholly beleaguered the city walls, we are surrounded by the Lord. God has set us where we be, and beset us wherever we be. Behind us there is God recording our sins, or in grace blotting out the remembrance of them; and before us there is God foreknowing all our deeds, and providing for all our wants. We cannot turn back and so escape him, for he is behind; we cannot go forward and outmarch him, for he is before. He not only beholds us, but he besets us; and lest there should seem any chance of escape, or lest we should imagine that the surrounding presence is yet a distant one, it is added, --And laid thine hand upon me. C. H. Spurgeon

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me - I remember hearing Sproul's lecture on the Holiness of God, and being quite overwhelmed. I pondered it and still ponder it to this day, but how humbling that all I can come up with, the summation of it, You are holy and I am not. When I look at the creation it is with limited knowledge, yet it is vast to me, and though it is grand, and I haven't the means or the measuring tape for it, it is not without measure. God is infinite and I and the universe are finite, and what is due a Being that is without beginning and end, eternal? God will have His tithe among all people, and there is none, that He has chosen from eternity, whose heart He is unable to conquer. 

…26 Brothers, consider the time of your calling: Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were powerful; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,… 1 Corinthians 1: 26-28

You knitted me together in my mother's womb - Like Jonah in the depths I was not hid from You, You were there at my conception. The call upon my life was knit in even then, and before my time, and before all time, I was known by You. 

Intricately woven in the depths of the earth - You made man from the dust, and then told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Even in our fallen state, You have held that children are a gift from God. There is no where that You are not, even in the secret place of the womb; life belongs to You.

…40 where she entered the home of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!… Luke 1: 40-42

How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is the sum of them - Oh, humility, that is knowledge indeed. I could not know God by my own reason, searching inside myself, all I would find there is an image of me, a finite god, an idol. Staring at nature I could surmise that if there was a Creator He must be majestic. I could ask myself, "what was He thinking here though, or why this?" This is why the poet, the seeker, upholds the words of God so high, why he puts such great emphasis upon them, they are a surer foundation then his perception, and a light unto his path. Through Holy Scripture God has revealed Himself, made Himself known, explained the moral condition, and offered the cure. It is still vast, wonderful and without end for me here; I cannot attain to it's fullness, every time I open His word I am taught again. There is not a philosopher, a king, kingdom, ideal, no man or thought of man that does not find itself in need of conforming to Christ. There is no man or group of men that are above God's word. My feelings, emotions and experiences are not above God's Word.

…15 From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.… 2 Timothy 3: 15 - 17

…18 And we ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 We also have the message of the prophets, which has been confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to this message, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation.… 2 Peter 1: 18-20

O men of blood, depart from me - The Psalmist is taking a side; he wants distance between himself and the enemies of God. He no longer wants to be considered a part of that camp. 

- With earthly sovereigns sin may go unpunished for lack of evidence, or the law may be left without execution from lack of vigour in the judge; but this cannot happen in the case of God, the living God. He beareth not the sword in vain. Such is his love of holiness and hatred of wrong, that he will carry on war to the death with those whose hearts and lives are wicked. God will not always suffer his lovely creation to be defaced and defiled by the presence of wickedness: if anything is sure, this is sure, that he will ease him of his adversaries. Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. Men who delight in cruelty and war are not fit companions for those who walk with God. David chases the men of blood from his court, for he is weary of those of whom God is weary. He seems to say--If God will not let you live with him I will not have you live with me. You would destroy others, and therefore I want you not in my society. You will be destroyed yourselves, I desire you not in my service. Depart from me, for you depart from God. As we delight to have the holy God always near us, so would we eagerly desire to have wicked men removed as far as possible from us. We tremble in the society of the ungodly lest their doom should fall upon them suddenly, and we should see them lie dead at our feet. We do not wish to have our place of intercourse turned into a gallows of execution, therefore let the condemned be removed out of our company. C. H. Spurgeon

Your enemies take Your name in vain - So many men and so many variants of this, some say Your name, but discard or add to Your word. When they find that men are adverse to certain doctrines, cannot stand the thought of self denial, cannot bare with contentment in whatsoever state, that their eyes and hearts are set upon materialism, no matter how different a gospel You have delivered, they preach another yet will not relinquish the use of Your name. They are violent in Your name, greedy in Your name, arrogant in Your name, leading many astray in Your name. 

- What a wonder of sin it is that men should rail against so good a Being as the Lord our God! The impudence of those who talk wickedly is a singular fact, and it is the more singular when we reflect that the Lord against whom they speak is all around them, and lays to heart every dishonour which they render to his holy name. We ought not to wonder that men slander and deride us, for they do the same with the Most High God. C. H. Spurgeon 

…12 But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.… 2 Corinthians 11: 12-14

9 He must hold firmly to the faithful word as it was taught, so that he can encourage others by sound teaching and refute those who contradict it. 10 For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision, 11 who must be silenced. For the sake of dishonorable gain, they undermine entire households and teach things they should not.… Titus 1: 9-11

…22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ 24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.… Matthew 7: 22-24

…10 I was not including the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?… 1 Corinthians 5: 10-12

And lead me in the way everlasting - Don't let me sit under the words of vain men, those who would seek my approval at the cost of the truth. Search me God, and find my wickedness, bring me to the place of conviction, and lead me in the way that You accept.