God's Perfect Knowledge and Care

Psalms 139:1-24
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me,"
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
20 For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.

21 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.

This song of David captures the perfect knowledge and care of God for His people who have been crafted in His image by the word of His power and love.  The first half in verses 1-12 speaks of god knowing our every thought and deed in this life under His sun; the second half from verses 13-24 reveals our wonderful beginnings from conception in the womb, and even before that, when we were preordained to be created, born, and to live in that watchcare.  He begins by reminding us that God knows each of us as individuals, looking into the hearts He made and which we are accountable for to Him.  He knows absolutely everything about us.  The devil, by the way, cannot read our thoughts; that is God’s purview and ability alone.  Yes, He does not have to be up close to see our every word and action; God alone comprehends the way we go in living and even where and when and why we rest.  He knows all our ways, so why act sometimes as if we are hidden from His sight in doing wrong?  Oh, how lofty and unobtainable is the knowledge of God concerning each of us!  He is no Santa who knows everything we think and do, good and bad, and instead of earning grace and salvation, we do good in response to His love in Christ and not to earn that which is unobtainable of ourselves.  Yes, we cannot escape His Spirit watching over us all, for God’s presence extends from heaven through this world and into death and he’ll itself.  He truly is omnipresent and omniscient!  No matter where we go, He is there to lead us by the hand and hold us in His protection of willful providence.  Even darkness cannot overwhelm us, for He created darkness with the light to shine through and out of it.  These are considerations of His perfect knowledge and care.  The second half begins with the familiar description of His knowledge of our conception in our mother’s womb; it details our bodily fashioning from each created baby and the wonder and marvel of that work of every fetus before we are born to walk this earth in His ongoing care.  If we understand Him and His word, we praise Him for how and why God fashioned us and watches over us in His predetermined will and plans!  Even before we were begun to form, He had written us down in His Book (Psalm 56:8, Revelation 20:12), yes, before we were conceived or born, God had us in mind.  That is why we are so precious to Him as His intimate expressions of creation in His image, and why He thinks so much about us all; it is also why our sin grieves and angers Him so!  His thoughts of us are more than the number of grains of sand in the world, an incalculable sum.  That is why those who reject their Creator and His thoughts for us are wicked and deserving of His just wrath.  But our enemies are not to be hated by us as the psalmist says, but by the merciful grace in Christ we are to pray for them and not give up telling them about our mighty and marvelous God, the Creator and Sustainer of those called out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9, Acts 26:18, 2 Corinthians 4:6).  Our attitude and prayer should therefore be as the closing two verses, that Gods would show us what He has searched out in our hearts, that we may be tested and refined by what we find in that revelation to us.  Our worries and sinful ways need to come to light (John 3:20-21, Ephesians 5:13-14), that we may follow His lead in the everlasting life given us, as worthy of His name (2 Thessalonians 1:5) and calling.  Yes, Lord, lead us in the way everlasting as we consider all Your manifold works of wisdom, love, grace, and mercy in our creation and redemption.  This is Your perfect knowledge and care for Your creation!