- Chad Werkhoven
Psalm 139 - Omnipresent Comfort
Be reminded by some of the most beautiful words in the Bible that God will always be with you.
Read / Listen
Read Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 48
Q. If his humanity is not present
wherever his divinity is,
then aren’t the two natures of Christ
separated from each other?
A. Certainly not.
Since divinity
is not limited
and is present everywhere,
it is evident that
Christ’s divinity is surely
beyond the bounds of
the humanity he has taken on,
but at the same time
his divinity is in and remains
personally united to his humanity.
Summary
The 139th Psalm is one of the most beautiful of them all. What a thought that the almighty creator of the universe knows each of us so well - even better than what we know ourselves!
This Psalm reminds us of the value each individual has. Far from being a random collection of molecules or a clump of tissue, every person has been "fearfully and wonderfully made," knit together in their mother's womb by the very God who spoke galaxys into being!
But clearly something is wrong. Even the very creatures so carefully assembled by the Creator have become wicked, bloodthirsty rebels. What a prayer David lifts up in v19 - that God would "slay the wicked!" Certainly we don't act upon that ourselves, but don't miss the tension introduced here. On one hand, Jesus tells us to love our enemies, but yet the Holy Spirit, speaking through David in Psalm 139, encourages us to "hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you (v21)."
Spend time today meditating on how those commands are actually not contradictory, but the primary reason we've come to Psalm 139 today is to be reminded of God's omnipresence- that is, that God is in all places at all times. God is up in the heavens, in the depths, and on the far side of the sea, all at once.
Dig Deeper
Does David's poetry here comfort you or frighten you? David seemed to feel both extremes as he wrote, knowing that God was always with him certainly brought him peace, but the fact that God knows what people will say before they say it caused David to want to flee from God's presence (v7)!
Jesus' ascension brings into focus His dual nature: that He's both fully Man and fully God. Yet each of these aspects - divinity and humanity - exist in such a way as to not contaminate the other.
Even though you can't see or touch Him until He returns, since His body is in heaven right now ruling all things at the Father's right hand, you can take comfort knowing that His divinity is omnipresent, so Jesus is with you every moment of every day with his hand guiding you, his right hand holding you fast (v10).
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: God Almighty, who fills all of creation with His presence;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: 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.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Matthew 20
