The Wonderful Knowing God
Psalm 139:1-24
July 13-14, 2024
Psalm 139 is perhaps one of the most famous, clearly the most quoted and memorized, read, studied. It is at the same time one of the most personal and deeply theological. Here's what I mean by that. Any student of the Bible who's ever studied theology, at one time is going to study the nature of God, who is God. Every student who studies the nature of God at one point or another is going to look at Psalm 139, because here it speaks gloriously of some of the highest attributes of who God is.
That God is omniscient. That God is omnipresent. That God is omnipotent. Now, those sound like expensive words, but they are deeply rich with an understanding of the nature of God. Notice before verse 1 the super script is called, this says, "For the choir director, a Psalm of David." We know David wrote it, and he wanted it to be sung. Give it to the choir director. Let it be a song of praise and a prayer to be prayed, singing of the mighty attributes of God, but the mighty attributes of God, that's what we're going to see are personal.
They're meant to be personal. They're not just abstract, academic, theological understandings that a student would read out of a book in order to prepare for an exam. Oh, I want to make sure I'm ready for the test. No, no, these are glorious truths that David understood has to be applied. No, these mean everything to me. I want to live by these great truths. All the attributes of God are meant to be applied. In fact, I was thinking about when Moses was on Mount Sinai and encountering God there in the burning bush.
You know the story that God told Moses that He would be the one to lead Israel out of their oppression and slavery in Egypt. Moses said, "Well, when I go to the Israelites and I say to them, the God of your ancestors sent me to you. What if the people say what is your name? What shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "You say to them that I am that I am sent you to them. I am that I am." That's the name of God. Yeshua or rather Yahweh is the name of God described here. All that I am, I am to you can be more literally understood as the meaning.
All that I am, I am to you. See, when you understand that all the aspects of God are meant to be applied to your life, that the nature of God understood there is how then God fixes that which is broken in your life. Mends that which is broken in your life, because God made you. God knows you intimately well. God is the one who can fix what is broken. I was thinking of a story I read about a certain village many years ago that had a beautiful stately church, and in it was a magnificent organ.
They would open their doors on Sunday mornings, and beautiful music would fill the valley, and great crowds would come and hear the majestic sounds from this glorious organ. One day the music stopped, the organ was broken, something was wrong with it. No one knew how to repair it. They searched far and wide to find a specialist, none could be found. Week after week it sat in silence. One day then just as suddenly as the music gets stopped, it began again. The magnificent organ again filled the valley, and the people from the town ran to the church to find out what had happened.
There was an old man sitting joyfully playing the organ, making harmonious music once again. Finally, when he had finished playing someone said, "How were you able to fix it?" He said, "I'm the one who made it." I love the story, because that's true of you and to me. What is it in your life that's broken? Fixing what is broken is not a DIY project. Having this thing, or going to that place, or being with that person is not going to fix what is broken in your life. Some people they try to mask what's broken, or they try to medicate what's broken, or they try to just ignore it and avoid it, but it only gets worse.
Now, it's only in the understanding of who God is in your life, then that which is deeply broken in the soul can be made right, because God is the one who made you. Fearfully and wonderfully are you made. God knows all about you, and God is with you. That is the glorious truth that he reveals to us in Psalm 139. Let's read it. We're going to just read it in sections. Starting with the first section, 1-6 where David writes, "Oh Lord," giving us again the name of God here.
I. God Knows You Intimately Well
"Oh Jehovah, you have searched me. You have known me. You know when I sit down. You know when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down. You are intimately acquainted with all my ways. And even before there is a word on my tongue. Behold Lord, you know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before and have laid your hand upon me." Such knowledge, it's too wonderful to me. It's too high I cannot attain to it. It's such glorious, wonderful truth. It's so high, David says. It's wonderful.
I love these verses, and the love the way that David sees the omniscience, the all knowing God in a very personal way. God knows you intimately well. God knows all things. That's the glorious theological truth, but David sees it as personal. God knows all things, known, unknown and knowable. It's not just something that David learned from a book. No, David had that relationship of trusting and believing God's knowledge of him to be wonderful. Oh Lord, you have searched me. You have known me. You know when I sit down, when I rise up.
You understand my thoughts from afar, you're intimately acquainted with all my ways. In other words, God who knows all things, knows me intimately well. The God who made the galaxies, and by the greatness of His power and His might, not one of them is missing and He says, "And He knows them each by name." Isaiah 40 declares that God who made the galaxies, made all things and knows all things takes notice of me when I sit down, and when I rise up.
A. How wonderful to be known by God
Now, there's a lot of people in this world I think that would not like the idea that God knows them intimately well, even the thoughts of their mind. For the unrepentant sinners strikes knowledge, strikes fear. For David, such knowledge is, it's wonderful, it's high, it's glorious. See in other words, how wonderful it is to be known by God, so that's knowledge. Verse 6, it's too wonderful. It's too high I cannot attain to it. See, for anyone who walks in trust and obedience with God, this is comforting. Comforting news for whatever is going on in your personal private life.
Whatever matters are concerning you, this is very comforting to know that God knows and is intimately acquainted with all of my ways. Notice verse 1, "You have searched me. You have known me." Now the word searched can refer there in Hebrew to a minor digging and searching the earth for a precious metal, or it can be like when an army sends spies to search on a land or a city. It means to investigate and to know thoroughly. David said, "God has searched me thoroughly, and knows everything about me." The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Not only that, God knows the good, the bad, and the ugly and still loves me. That's why it's wonderful. Not only does He still love me, He pursues relationship with me. This is a glorious understanding of who God is. He knows the good, and the bad, and the ugly. Now, we want people to know the good part. We tell people about the good part. If people really knew the bad part and the ugly part, if people really knew the bad part and the ugly part, they wouldn't want anything to do with us. For David, no, it's wonderful.
This is wonderful knowledge. It creates intimacy with God. That God knows all things, even the bad and the ugly, and loves me and is for me and has laid his hand upon me. See, God doesn't turn away when He knows that which is ugly, and that which is bad.
He knows how to transform it. He will lay His hand upon it. It's a very beautiful relationship when you trust God's heart, when you believe in God's love. A beautiful relationship, even in a husband and wife, a beautiful relationship is when both know each other intimately well, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and they still love each other beautifully. That is glorious love. For David, this is the intimacy with the Almighty. "He knows my inner thoughts. He knows me intimately well," and it's beautiful.
It's a beautiful relationship where you trust God's heart so much that you say, "Search me. I invite you, search me. Know me. See if there'd any way in me that is hurtful, and lead me in the way that's everlasting." Something glorious about such a trust, such a belief in God's love. He knows all, and so you say, "Then know me God. Here I am. There's no secrets between us. I invite you to know me." If a person pretends that God doesn't know, and then hardens their heart in the hope that God will not know, then a great wall arises.
There are in many people, such a great wall dividing them, keeping them from God. Jesus said, in the New Testament, actually, it's in Matthew, said that those whose hearts are far from God, even those who have the appearance of religion, but whose hearts are far from God, will one day hear the four most damnable words that a person can ever hear. Matthew 7:23, God will say to them, "I never knew you." The four worst words that a person could ever hear God say, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity."
B. God knows the intentions of our heart
The worst possible judgment is to have God disassociate Himself from you, but the greatest possible blessing is when a person says, "God has searched me, and God knows me." Then he says, "And God knows the very intentions of your heart," verses 2-4. "You understand my thought from afar, and even before there's a word on my tongue. Behold, Lord, you know it all." To understand my thought from afar means that God knows the very intent of the thought, and before there's a word on my tongue, God knows it all.
In other words, God, not only does He know the words you say before you say it, He knows the words you wanted to say but didn't. Those words that you bite your tongue because you're thinking one thing, but you know, "I better not say when I'm thinking right now." You know what I'm saying? "You scrutinize my path," he says, in verse 3. That word "scrutinize" is another word for search, but it's a different form. It can mean in the Hebrew to winnow, like when a farmer winnows wheat, is like he takes the wheat out to a hill in Atlanta, windy day, will throw the wheat up into the wind and the chaff blows, separates the good from the bad.
The chaff is blown into a pile and burned in the fire. "He scrutinizes my path. He winnows my ways." David says, "Search thoughts. That God knows the intentions of my heart, and the words that come from my mouth." It's wonderful. If God knows your very thoughts, that He can transform your thoughts. God who knows the intentions of your heart, can change your heart. It's wonderful knowledge. "Too high, I cannot attain to it." We should all come to a place where we say what David said in Psalm 19:14. Love this verse.
C. God will be your protective hedge
"May the words of my mouth, and even the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, Oh Lord, my rock and my Redeemer." That word acceptable in Hebrew means pleasing. "Oh God, may the words that come from my mouth, and even the meditations of my heart, let them be pleasing to you, oh God." Then it says, because it speaks here of God's hand on your life. That God will be your protective hinge. Notice in verse 5, "You have enclosed me behind and before, and have laid Your hand upon me." He knows you intimately well.
He knows when you sit down, He knows when you rise up, intimately acquainted with all of my ways. Not only does He know, He gets involved. He lays His hand upon your life. He is involved in the matters that concerns you. He's involved in the affairs of your life. God's knowledge, His love, His hand is that of love. "To protect you, is to surround you," he says, and to enclose you behind and before is to put His hand of protection around you. This is the glorious truth. In other words, whatever schemes the enemy has against you, he's got to go through God to get to you.
That's what he means. There is spiritual protection. "He has enclosed me. He's put His hand around me." Spiritual protection. We read this earlier, when we were studying Psalm 121:7-8. The Lord will protect you from all evil. He will keep or guard your soul. The Lord will guard your going out, your coming in, from this time forth, and forevermore. If God is your spiritual protection, the enemy is going to have to go through Him to get to you. It's very similar to what Jesus taught in the New Testament, where He described that the one who receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, will then have Jesus take residence in that person's life.
Jesus then becomes the strong man. There's a beautiful understanding of the strong men in your life. That is that presence of God is mighty, and in your life. That's the protective hand of God around you. He's the strong man. It tells us then, that if someone is going to get through Him to you, that they would have to defeat Him. Well, what power will defeat Him? If they tried to destroy Him by fire, He'll refuse to be burned. If they tried to destroy Him by water, He'll walk on the water. If they tried to destroy Him by a tempest or storm, the waves and the wind will bow down and kiss his hand. If they tried to destroy Him by law, they will find no fault in Him.
II. God is Always with You
"He has enclosed me behind and before, and laid His hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful." The hand of God. It says in Deuteronomy 33:27, that the eternal God is a dwelling place. By there, with the hands of God surrounding you, there is a beautiful work that God does. "The Eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting God." This is wonderful, but then notice in the next section. In verses 1-3 speak of the omniscience of God, and then the next section, 7-12, speak of the omnipresence of God.
"Where can I go from Your spirit?" Nowhere? "Where could I flee from your presence?" Nowhere. If I ascend to heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in Sheol--" In Hebrew, that's the place of the dead. "Behold, You're there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there, Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night, well, even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as bright as the day, for darkness and light are alike to you."
A. God’s hand will always lead you
The omnipresence of God seems very personally. God is always with you. Fully present everywhere, but personally, residing with you so much that His right hand-- He says, "The right hand is the power." Most people are right-handed. That's the expression of power. God's powerful hand is upon you, involved to lead you wherever you may be. He's involved in the matters of your life. God's hand will always lead you. Notice verses 9-10. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there, your right hand will lay hold of me. It's a triumphant declaration.
No matter where you are, no matter what you're going through, no matter what trouble you are encountering, God is there to place His hand on your life, to lay hold of you, lead you by His right hand, and it's meant to be understood personally. Whatever difficulty or trouble, no matter where you are. You find yourself in a doctor's office, hearing news you never wanted to hear. You find yourself in a courtroom. You find yourself standing by an open grave. You are not alone. God is there with you, and there His hand will be upon your life. It's one of the greatest truths known to man. Amen. Can we give God praise, it's glorious.
Some people would find it alarming that there's no place to run, there's no place to hide. For David, it's wonderful. If anyone understood how it took faith and put it into the real life circumstances, it would be David. David wrote in Psalm 23, "Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because thou art with me. Your rod and your staff they comfort me."
Then notice in verses 11-12, "If I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and light around me will be night, even darkness is not dark to You." In other words, if you find yourself in the darkness, a dark place, even the dark night of the soul, I'm there," he says. I'm there. I will be with you. I'll walk with you through this, but I will be light in your darkness. The Scripture says, we read it in Psalm 119, "The word of God is a lamp to your feet, a light into your path." He is that light that will show you hope and help.
B. You are fearfully and wonderfully made
Then notice in the next section starting in verse 13, he speaks of the omnipotence of God, but he sees it in a very personal way, that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Notice verse 13, "For you formed my inward parts," you did it. "You weaved me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." God did that. "My soul," he says, "and wonderful are your works." I love this phrase. "Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well." In the deepest place of your soul. You know it.
David says, "Oh, I know it very well." He says, "My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. For your eyes have seen my unformed substance. And in your book, they were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God? How vast is the sum of them? If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. And when I awake, I am still with thee." It's a glorious truth. David sees the omnipotence, oh, powerful nature of God personally.
Now, of course, the creation itself is a magnificent declaration of the omnipotence of God. In fact, it says in Romans 1:19-20, "That that which is known about God is evident within them. For God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power, His divine nature have been clearly seen." You can see it with your own eyes. "Being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse." No one will have an excuse. "I didn't know." God says I declared it to you. While all that is true, David sees the omnipotence of God declared in just the fact that God knit me beautifully in my mother's womb.
I have talked to several doctor friends of mine who said that when they were in medical school, and they began to discover the incredible depth of beauty and intricacy. He said, "All of it just declares the glory of God." If that doesn't declare the glory of God, I don't know what does. God formed my inward parts even said, it can mean even the immaterial part. God made my soul and then he breathed life into it. God's breath is in me. God breathed life into you. God made me personally, knit me together personally in my mother's womb.
That's why he says in verse 14, "I will give thanks to you. I praise you for what you have done. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it. When you made me, you did a wonderful thing, wonderful. Fearfully and wonderfully am I made." I love that phrase, wonderfully did you make me. I think everybody has something that they don't like about themselves. I'm talking about their physical being.
I wish I was taller or I wish I was, whatever, I don't like my nose, I don't like my teeth, I don't like my-- something they don't like. Everybody has something they don't like. David says, "No, wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. For I was fearfully and wonderfully made." The word fearfully here is a very important word. It means reverently and with honor. God made you reverently and with honor. The precious value of life. The precious value of life. God says, "I made you reverently and with honor." Fearfully, wonderfully made.
Even if a person has a limitation or a handicap, God uses all things for his glory. I mentioned about when Jesus and the disciples were in Jerusalem one day, and they passed by a man blind from birth. The disciples said to Jesus, "Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents that this man should be born blind." Jesus said, "It was neither that this man sinned or his parents, but it was so that the work of God might be displayed in him." That the glory of God might be displayed. God can display his glory even in that.
We think about when Moses was on Mount Sinai to lead Israel out of oppression and slavery in Egypt, Moses at first said, "Please, Lord, pick someone one else. Please, Lord, I'm not eloquent of speech. I'm slow of speech and slow of tongue." Some kind of speech difficulty. God, pick somebody else, please, Lord." God responded, "Who made man's mouth?" This is a great understanding for anyone who doesn't like something about themselves. "Who made man's mouth? Is it not the Lord? I will be your mouth, I will be your sufficiency, go and I'll tell you what to say."
C. God numbered your days before you were born
Then notice in the next verses, "God numbered your days before you were born." Verse 16, "Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in your book were written all the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them, all the days which you ordained." In other words, this is one of the most profound and personal understandings of the nature and character of God. Before you were born, God wrote down your name, and next to your name, he wrote a number. Now, what is that number? We don't know, but God wrote a number next to your name.
Now, I find deep peace with this great truth. When our daughter was killed, 10 years ago, this August, as a matter of fact, this Psalm and these verses meant the world to me. God wrote a number next to her name, 10,724, that's the number. He didn't write 10,725, he wrote 10724, and because I respect God, I respect that number.
To me, this is peace. I respect God. I respect that number because then he says, "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" How precious. See God knows my very thoughts, but David then says, but your thoughts God, I want to know your thoughts for your thoughts are precious to me. Your thought toward me is precious to me. How vast is the sum of them.
Then David ends the Psalm as he began it. Notice in verse 23. "Search me, O God, know my heart, try me, know my anxious thoughts, see if there be any way in me that is hurtful, and lead me in the way that is everlasting." There's something very beautiful about such trust, such intimacy that you say to God there are no secrets between us God, you know all things. I trust your love. I trust your heart. I trust you in my life. I trust you with the bad. I trust you with the ugly. I trust you with the vulnerable. I trust you. I believe in your love. There are no secrets between us.
Search me, I invite you. Know me, try me, know my anxious thoughts. See if there being any way in me that's hurtful, and lead me into the way that is everlasting. It's glorious. The wonderful truths of God mean everything to the one who believes in that glory, in that love. How precious to me are your thoughts? God, there are no secrets between us. I invite you to search me. I hold nothing back from you because I believe in your heart for me. Search me, try me, know me, lead me.
Father, we are so thankful. Oh, how glorious it is to understand the deeper aspects of who you are God. The nature and character of who you are is seen in this beautiful Psalm but it's also seen personally. How precious are your thoughts to me. How vast is the sum of them. It's wonderful. It's too high I cannot attain to it. I believe you. God, I trust you. Church, how many would say, how many would declare to the Lord today, I trust your heart. I trust your love, and there are no secrets between us.
I invite you to search me, to know me. I want you to know me. Try me, know my anxious thoughts. See if there'd be any way in me that's hurtful and lead me in the way that is everlasting. Something beautiful about that relationship of such trust. Church, would you declare that to the Lord? Will you make this your intimate prayer, your intimate declaration? Would you say to the Lord, "I hold nothing back. I invite you, search me. I invite you. I want you to search me, know me. Try me, know my anxious thoughts. See if there'd be any way hurtful in me and lead me in the way that's everlasting. I trust you, I believe."
Church, is that your heart? Would you make that declaration? Would you just declare it by lifting up your hands unto the Lord? That declaration of complete and open trust. There are no secrets between us, God I hold nothing back. I invite you to know me. I invite you to search me. Would you raise your hand to the Lord if you would make that declaration? God, we thank you for moving among us by your Holy Spirit. We honor you as we declare it. How precious are your thoughts, how wonderful. We give you glory and honor in Jesus' name, and everyone said amen. Can we give Him praise?