Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

PSALM 139: SEARCH ME, O GOD God’s Masterpiece

This is certainly one of the greatest psalms in the Bible as it reaches into unparalleled depths of the human soul and even into life in the womb. ‘The consciousness of the intimate personal relation between God and man, which is characteristic of the whole Psalter, reaches its climax here.’ 1 It is man seeing himself through the perspective of God who is not limited by time and space and with whom there are no barriers to the realm of human thoughts. He stands apart from all the laws of the physics of the uni- verse. It lets us see the measureless love of God and the plentitude of his thoughts toward mankind who are the delight of his heart. Before the eternal and infinite, the poet is stranded in amazement; dazzled by the God who creates in such tenderness and guides with such wisdom. In the end the psalmist makes a decision to detest the wicked and stand wholeheartedly in favor of God’s righteousness. Christ is foreshadowed as the one who knew all the thoughts, motives and actions of his disciples, friends and enemies during his ministry here on earth. He also possessed full knowledge of himself as portrayed in this Psalm. It is outlined in four sections of six verses each:

I TOO WONDERFUL FOR ME - 1-6 II THE WINGS OF THE MORNING - 7-12

God is All-Knowing God is All-Present God is All-Powerful

III IN THE WOMB - 13-18 IV DESTROY THE WICKED

God is All-Just

INTRODUCTION:

“For the choir director: A psalm of David.”

If authored in David’s day the choir director would have been Kenaniah; “Kenaniah, the head Levite, was chosen as the choir director because of his skill.” (1 Chron. 15:22) The tender and mysterious themes of this song lend themselves to a solo, vocal choir. Spurgeon says: ‘It bears the image and su- perscription of King David, and could come from no other mint than that of the son of Jesse.’ Some would date this psalm at a later time because of the Aramaic words; ‘ …bears marks of the influence which the Aramaic language of the Babylonian kingdom exerted over the exiles.’ 2

I

TOO WONDERFUL FOR ME - 1-6

God is All-Knowing

“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am.” (1-3) The first sentence is in the past tense; the psalmist has undergone an intense spiritual examina- tion and realizes that God understands everything about his actions, his thoughts and motives. All the movements of life are represented here; sitting, standing, walking (path), and resting. Jesus ‘saw’ and ‘knew’ his disciple Nathanel before he had even met him: “’How do you know about me?’ Nathanael asked. And Jesus replied, ‘I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.’” (Jn. 1:48) He is familiar with our mind and our unique thought process; it is a constant, never ending state of knowing. ‘ …but while our thoughts are still embryonic, unfashioned, and are still only potential; he knows our thoughts at the stage of conception and before they are born.’ 3 Many times in the gospels it tells us that Jesus knew what people around him were thinking. The Pharisees were hoping to catch him heal- ing on the Sabbath day; “But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, ‘Come and stand here where everyone can see.’” (Lk. 6:8) He knows our path and direction before we set out; the future, the present and the past are not divided in his sight as he is above and apart from time itself. “You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!” (4-6)

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