Psalm 139:1-12 - O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are 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,” even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.
Message: He is there, I don't understand, but He wants to lead me.
Time: The psalms were written by many different people across a period of a
thousand years in Israel's history. They are thought to have been
compiled and put together in their present form by some unknown editor
shortly after the captivity ended about 537 B.C.
What the Lord is Saying:
As I think about the Psalmist, as I think about him stopping for a moment and capturing these words, they actually seem very familiar. The Psalmist is expressing thoughts and ideas that have enveloped me at various times. The Psalmist has a union with the Lord and in his words, denotes a familiarity and closeness to the Lord. The Lord is not a distant creator, but the Lord is near. The Lord is present with him. As he lives, the Lord is there, by him. It doesn't matter where he goes in life or what he experiences, God is there. There is a simple way about these verses.
Our time is busy and filled with so much. My body screams for rest, like it did last night, with my stomach hurting and back hurting, as the day had too many stresses associated with it. I was cloudy with worry and anxiety, that did me no good. I had work thoughts, child thoughts, commitment to preparing for a party thoughts, family together thoughts; there was so much going through my head. And yet, was the closeness of God in those situations of life there?
What stands about regarding these verses is the simple idea that yes God is all-knowing and all-seeing, but He is that way, because He is near. He cares. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. God is present with me. As one person on this earth, he is making me feel like I am the only person on this earth. No one values me more. No one knows me better. He is there with me.
It is words like this that, undoubtedly, I do not comprehend. Knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain to it. This recognition that the Lord is this close to me, where I am, what I am saying and thinking, that is the kind of idea that is hard for me even to realize. That anything would be near to me like that. It is hard to comprehend.
But, God is not simply present and near me and listening and knowing of my thoughts. Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. He is beside me to direct me. He knows me so that he can show me what to do. Lord, this is what escapes me so often. This is what I have difficulty capturing. That by being close to me you will lead me. Lord, the events of my day are too much for me to handle. I do not simply want to learn to be more efficient and more self-sufficient. My ideal is to not learn to stand up for myself, all the more. To be honest, that is not my ideal because then I will think I can do it all without you. Yes, I am a hard worker and yes, I care about my work and people and quality, but Lord, I need Your help. I need Your leading. I need Your right hand to lay hold of me.
You are not nearby to just keep up. But, you are there to guide me. I need this guiding Lord. Forgive me for thinking I can do it on my own.
Promise: God is greater than we are; he is not like us; he has not just more knowledge but a different type of knowledge. Learn to know Him and depend on Him.
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