Psalm 139 has been called "the crown of all the psalms." It is one of the most oft quoted psalms and one that best encapsules certain attributes of God. So it is worth our time at this assembly to read and give attention to this beloved and popular psalm of David.

The psalm is divided into four poetic paragraphs of six verses, each section a variation on the same theme: namely, the ability of God to see and know everything about me and thus the my need for God to examine me for the purpose of helping me see and overcome my sin.

Section number 1:

Verses 1-6

In the airports now they search all passengers for any kind of weapon. There are x-ray equipment, metal detectors, special personnel to ask you a series of questions, and a host of armed guards to go through your carry-on and frisk you if you look the least bit suspicious. They are looking for what is bad.

God also functions in this kind of capacity, constantly searching us out and looking for the sin that might be in us. Of course, he looks for the good and observes the good and commends the good. But he also searches for the bad for the purpose of cleansing us from evil.

And he knows each one of us totally and completely. The verbs paint a picture of the perfect knowledge of God: He "searches," "knows," "perceives," "discerns," and is "familiar with all my ways." The theological word for this attribute of God is "omniscient." God knows all and everything about us.

First, he knows our thoughts from afar (verse 2). From the most distant time or place, God can see everything and he knows everything ahead of time, even our thoughts.

Second, God perceives "all my ways," including the activities of the day and the rest of the night (verses 2,3).

Third, God knows the words of our tongue even before they are spoken (verse 4). He hears what we shout from the rooftop and he hears what we whisper in secret.

Whether we are thinking about time or space, God is both ahead of us and behind us. He sees where we have been and where we are going.

I have often thought that teachers in public schools would benefit greatly if there were a video camera in every classroom because this would be a stimulus for good behavior. God is like a video camera in the classroom that films every word, action and thought in life!

This incredible knowledge possessed by God is truly an amazing thing, too awesome to fully comprehend or appreciate. We cannot understand it. We can only try to accept it.

From this theme, David moves into a consideration of why God is able to know everything. This is...

Section 2

Verses 7-12

Why is God able to know everything about me - and you - at the same time? How is he able to see what happens in Ukraine at the same time he is able to see what happens in Cherryvale? How can he hear and see our church meeting and another one at the same time? It is because God is everywhere present at the same time.

The highest conceivable place - heaven. The lowest conceivable place - the grave. The farthest place visible to the east - the dawn. The farthest place visible west - the far side of the sea. Even in the darkness God is present and he sees the darkness itself as truly as if it were the light. "...he sees me even in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light!... darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you." (Peterson)

Even if I wanted to flee from God like Jonah, I can never get away from him because is everywhere. The theological term for this attribute is omnipresent: God is everywhere at the same time.

illustration: Movie of woman who tried to escape an abusive husband...

Sometimes it is said a Christian should go nowhere if he cannot take God with him. The truth is that God is always with us and we take him wherever we go.

This attribute of God can terrify or it can comfort. For David the fact that God is everywhere is a source of comfort - he thinks of God as someone whose "hand will guide me," whose "right hand will hold me." The hardest thing in trouble is to have to bear it alone. God is everywhere present not only to judge the wicked but to reward and comfort the righteous.

God’s knowledge of everything (omniscience) and his presence everywhere (omnipresence) are based on the fact that he is our Creator. This is...

Section 3

Verses 13-18

The reason God is able to know everything about us and be everywhere at the same time is because He is the Creator. He is capable of being everywhere because he is not like us, a spacial creature or one limited by time, either the past or the future. God created space and time! ("In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.")

And God made us. He created our inmost being, the soul. He formed us from the marvel of the human embryo. One of my most fascinating studies in college was Embryology, the study of the formation and development of the human embryo. The complexity and the development of the microscopic human embryo is simple breathtaking. It is God who invented the human embryo and the ability of this embryo to develop into a full grown human being.

Truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made. A recent Reader’s Digest article addressed the possibility of man finding a way to allow the body to live forever. God made the body! And he has already figured out a way to make it live forever!

God made the soul, God made the embryo, and so God’s knowledge of us and life in general is total. No one knows what God knows. Why he even knows the future. Sometimes people go to fortune tellers to learn the future. Fortune tellers are very popular in Ukraine - and here too... The truth is that no one knows your future as completely as God. "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" The mind of God staggers our imagination. Truly it is beyond our comprehension. The thoughts of God are beyond our ability to conceive. "This is too much. I can’t take it all in." (Peterson...)

We can only bow in utter awe when we attempt to consider this mind that has the knowledge to create all things, especially human life and which can see the future as easily as we see the present.

But David’s point is that because God sees us and because he made us, he is able to search us and know us. God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence prompt a certain response and petition from David. This is...

Section 4

Verses 19-24

It is David’s way of saying that such a God should be respected, honored and obeyed. That because God is holy, we should be holy. And that punishment is what people deserve who live in opposition to the will and character of this God.

David cannot tolerate the idea of men living to defy and deny this God what is rightfully due him. When David thinks of this God, his anger is stirred against those ignore and rebel against him. He has a deep desire to be on God’s side and to oppose those who oppose him, and to not be like them. He is indignant at conduct or language which is irreverent or antagonisitc to God. Like God, David desires the salvation of sinners who will repent, but he equally desires their destruction if they will not.

Which brings him to the climax of his psalm, this prayer: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

It a great prayer for us to pray on this Lord’s Day. "God, no one knows me like you do. No one sees everything about me as clearly as you do - not even me. I can hide my sin from others. I often don’t even see my own sins myself. But you see it all. You know me completely. And I ask you to examine my heart, look over my thoughts and my life to see if there is any offensive way in me, any bad habit in me, some lust or craving that will end in my destruction, and cleanse me, O Lord, because you are my Creator and ultimately my judge and it is fruitless for me to try and hide my sins from you."