Psalm 139

February 27
Psalm 139

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, 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 fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
20 For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.

God knows you. He understands you. He perceives with absolute accuracy the innermost thoughts and purposes of your heart. He knows the true motivation behind your every word and deed.

He knows where you are. You cannot hide yourself from Him. Man has been attempting to hide his sin from God from the earliest of our ancestors as we are told of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:8, 9:

"They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, Where are you?"

Of course He knew where Adam and Eve were, just as He knows where we are when we are lost in sin. But He calls to us as He called to them. He gives us the opportunity to declare where we are to ourselves and before Him. He assures us that though we may be “dead in trespasses and sin…” Ephesians 2:1, He will make us alive in Christ.

We are not lost from the sight of God when we lose ourselves in sin; rather we are lost from the blessed assurance of blood-bought eternal salvation. Christ left the portals of Heaven to walk on Earth that He might “seek and save the lost,” Luke 19:10, just as God walked through the Garden to seek His errant children.

He knows where we are. Shouldn’t we come into the light of His love and salvation rather than continue our futile effort to hide from Him in the darkness of sin?