BY She Reads Truth
Text: Psalm 139:1-24
In this 2-week reading plan, we are assuming a posture of thanksgiving before the Lord by meditating on ten Psalms of Gratitude. Rather than provide a written response to each Psalm, we have offered a simple yet meaningful activity designed to help us recall God’s mercies to us and through time. So grab a journal, and let’s create our own songs of thanksgiving to God.
Psalm 139
The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.
Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
You understand my thoughts from far away.
You observe my travels and my rest;
You are aware of all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue,
You know all about it, Lord.
You have encircled me;
You have placed Your hand on me.
This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.
Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
If I go up to heaven, You are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
If I live at the eastern horizon
or settle at the western limits,
even there Your hand will lead me;
Your right hand will hold on to me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light around me will be night”—
even the darkness is not dark to You.
The night shines like the day;
darkness and light are alike to You.
For it was You who created my inward parts;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You
because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and I know this very well.
My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in Your book and planned
before a single one of them began.
God, how difficult Your thoughts are
for me to comprehend;
how vast their sum is!
If I counted them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand;
when I wake up, I am still with You.
God, if only You would kill the wicked—
you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me—
who invoke You deceitfully.
Your enemies swear by You falsely.
Lord, don’t I hate those who hate You,
and detest those who rebel against You?
I hate them with extreme hatred;
I consider them my enemies.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns.
See if there is any offensive way in me;
lead me in the everlasting way.
Dig Deeper:
What a privilege to know the God who knows us! Use the questions below to meditate on Psalm 139, giving thanks for the Almighty God who knows His children through and through.
1. How does God know us? (verses 1-6)
2. How does God go with us? (verses 7-12)
3. How does God create us? (verses 13-16)
4. Does God’s knowledge of us require any action on our part? (verses 17-24)
5. What does this teach me about the character of God?
6. Notice how verse 23 parallels verse 1. Why does David ask God to do what he knows God has already done?
157 thoughts on "You Hem Me In"
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WOW! Thank You LORD for this reminder today – I am overwhelmed by Your unfailing and unconditional love for me ❤️
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I took a look into that word “fearfully” here in the Hebrew and it means “morally to revere”. It hit me in a new way that we need to deeply respect and admire how He made us! We were created by the God of the universe. That is definitely something to be revered.
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Thank you for your love Lord!
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I love this so much. I am God’s child and he knows everything about me. He himself knit me together and molded me into his beautiful creation. I am his. I am fearfully and wonderfully made
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I don’t know the answer to number 6. What are your thoughts?
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Hey Rachel! In my opinion, the first verse describes who God is and what He has done. In the last verse David acknowledges this and invites Him into His life. He takes who God is and makes Him his own Savior. Hope that helps you with your response!
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As I look at those verses I like to think that since David was already “a man after God’s own heart” he was putting emphasis on the fact that he wanted God to really know him and search his heart. David was telling us many wonderful things about God in these verses and the last 2 verses add emphasis to the message of the Psalm. Hope this makes sense to you. :)
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Hey Rachel, I had the same question. That’s why I came to the comments. I was seeing it as a response to who God is. We see from the text that the only thing we can really do to know ourselves through our Creator’s eyes is to be an open book to him. This doesn’t hangs how he knows us but it changes how we know him and how we know ourselves. Everything in our journey with Christ is to respond to his doing and his goodness. Even being saved is a response to what he has already done. Now, we respond to him daily and yield to him. Because now for the rest of our lives on earth we learn about this new way of living! Ultimately we are to enjoy God enjoying us.
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Even though God knew David thoroughly, David wanted him to expose any wicked way in him so he could confess and forsake it. David wanted to please God and sometimes we need God’s help to see things that need dealing with in our own heart.
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I wish I saw my body as precious and fearfully made as my kids. It is so easy to see the beauty and amazing gift of creating new things God has when he forms our babies, but it is harder for me to see the beauty that God made when he made me. I love that the psalm says for God to know us even though we know he already does. Now that we are grown and matured we want God to know our hearts and our desires, not just our bones or when we get up and lay down. We need to be searched, cross examined, and found worthy.
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I’m struggling a lot in understanding the last question. I wrote it out on paper and wrote out verse 1 and verse 23 side by side but I still can’t comprehend the reasoning behind why David would ask God to do what he knows God has already done. Can anyone explain it to me?
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I think it is more an act of acknowledgment and submission. We know that God already knows us completely. Choosing to think on that and reign our thoughts and ways into line with His heart is the only way to truly reap His abundant blessings. We have been given the choice to fight what He does and is or embrace it and accept and receive His perfect plans for us.
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It’s so wonderful knowing God knows everything about me, and he understands all my thoughts yet before I speak them is hand was upon my before I entered the earth, what a wonderful thing to know that every step I take sitting and rising God is there, Amen
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Yes, I just read this and it has touched me too.. It’s a good reminder not to get caught up in life’s issues because He knows everything! We just need to go to Him in prayer and supplication without anxiousness :)
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