GOD KNOWS US COMPLETELY

Psalm 139:1-24 / Keywords 139:14

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

 

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 You have searched me, Lord,

    and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;

    you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;

    you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue

    you, Lord, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before,

    and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

    too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?

    Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

    if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

    your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

    and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;

    the night will shine like the day,

    for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

15 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.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;

    all the days ordained for me were written in your book

    before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!

    How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,

    they would outnumber the grains of sand—

    when I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!

    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

20 They speak of you with evil intent;

    your adversaries misuse your name.

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

    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them;

    I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,

    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Footnotes

a. Psalm 139:17 Or How amazing are your thoughts concerning me

1. When we meditate on God’s complete knowledge of us as this Psalmist did, we are filled with wonder (6). No human being fully knows our actions, habits, and thoughts, but God knows them inside and out (2-5). He understands exactly why we do everything we do. God’s knowledge surrounds us continually, and there is no place we can flee from it (7-9).

 

2. This may sound frightening, but in truth it is a source of great reassurance. When we are in trouble or deep personal distress, we can feel we are totally isolated in a dark place (11). But even then, we are not alone. God knows every detail of our situation and we are upheld and guided by him (10). He has been doing so since he created us wonderfully in our mother’s womb (13-16). The Psalmist ends by asking God for protection from powerful enemies, and by asking God to show him his own sins so he may walk in the holy way of salvation. Today, let’s meditate on God’s complete and personal knowledge of us and let it fill us with amazement, reassurance, and conviction.

 

Prayer Father, thank you for creating me with perfect knowledge. Thank you that your knowledge always surrounds and protects me.

One Word God’s perfect knowledge guides me