As I write this, the news is filled with articles on the Coronavirus outbreak that is claiming the lives of thousands around the world. It is in the forefront or background of all our thoughts during the day, but can bring new meaning into our reading of the Bible in ways that can be freshly illuminating of familiar passages. Thus it was that when I read Psalm 139 this morning, I found new comfort and peace to see how God shows up in our lives during the current health crisis. I will lean heavily in this discussion from Donald Williams’ “The Preacher's Commentary - Vol. 14: Psalms 73-150.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-preachers- commentary-vol-14-psalms-73-150/id614738350
Material taken from the book is indented, my comments are at the margins. I have bolded Williams’ comments that I found particularly pertinent to the thesis of this essay.
To me, Psalm 139, authored by David, has always been one of the great portraits of how God wants an intimate relationship with us. This desire for such a closeness is particularly reassuring when we face a crisis as potentially devastating as the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Here is how Williams introduces us to the Psalm (excerpts):
“Psalm 139 is compelling in its descriptions of how close God wants to be to us. He is not satisfied to be simply the reigning King, exalted in heaven, enthroned before a sea of angels. He desires to have a personal relationship with us on the deepest level. He searches and knows us (v. 1); His eye is always upon us (vv. 2–3). He hears all that we say (v. 4), and His hand is upon us (v. 5). All of this staggers the psalmist (v. 6). Moreover, God’s presence is always there, in heaven or hell, in darkness or in light (vv. 7–12). But why is it that God knows us so intimately? The answer is that He has created us (vv. 13–16). He knows us the way a painter knows his picture, or a sculptor knows his statue. As a result of all of this, God’s thoughts are precious to the psalmist (v. 17–18), and he hates those whom God hates (vv. 19–22). He concludes with an invitation for God to search him, try him, know him, and lead him “in the way everlasting” (vv. 23– 24).
The commentary begins with a discussion of the first six verses ((NKJV):
SEEN BY GOD
“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.”
“In verse 1 David establishes his thesis: “O Lord, You have searched [“examined”] me and known me.” God is like a doctor giving us a physical. He is like a psychiatrist exploring our inner depths. He is like an intimate friend who probes us until we reveal all. As a result, He knows us. This is not just analytical knowledge; this is relational knowledge, that which is gained from intimacy. Verse 2 elaborates on this thesis. God knows when we sit down and when we rise up. Even though He is the exalted Lord, He understands our thoughts “from afar off.” Note that He doesn’t merely know what we think; He understands what we think. He knows the hidden motives and agendas that stand behind our thought processes. Moreover, David continues, “You comprehend [literally, “winnow,” “sift”] my path and my lying down.” God’s eye follows our course through the day and is upon us when we retire. The psalmist concludes: “And [You] are acquainted with all my ways” (v. 3). He knows what we think about people. He knows our motives as we talk with them and make promises to them. He knows the path we take through the day, each pause, each detour.”
“God not only knows our speech; He also protects us from all harm. As David confesses: “You have hedged [“bound,” “enclosed”] me behind and before, / And laid Your hand upon me” (v. 5). Like a human father, God goes before us and behind us, as His hand guides us. He is not only distant in glory; He is present in care and concern. Now staggered by the overwhelming sense of God as God, David concludes that all of this is “too wonderful [‘marvelous,’ ‘miraculous’] for me; / It is high, I cannot attain it” (v. 6). Indeed, he cannot and would not apart from divine revelation.
PURSUED BY GOD
“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.”
“... Once we are known by God we cannot flee His presence. He is everywhere, and He will personally pursue us, wherever we go. We will run into Him at every turn. We cannot escape Him in the darkness, even the darkness of our own souls. He is a jealous lover, and His love will not be denied.”
FASHIONED BY GOD
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.
“How can it be that God knows our very thoughts as well as our words? Is it because there is a divine bugging device in our brains? To be sure, part of the answer is in divine omniscience. Another part of the answer, however, is that God has made us, and He knows how we work. David confesses: “You have formed [‘created’] my inward parts [‘reins,’ the seat of conscience].” Moreover, “You have covered me in my mother’s womb” (v. 13). The verb rendered “covered” is better taken as “woven together,” like a cloth on a loom. The wonder of his own creation brings David to conclude: “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully [‘marvelously’] made.” Who has not had a sense of awe in considering how the human brain works or how the immune system attacks infection. The scientific study of the human body can only underscore David’s conclusion a thousandfold. He adds: “Marvelous are Your works, / And that my soul knows very well” (v. 14). He gives his own witness to the reality; it is as if he says, “Amen,” to God’s great works. Notice that David does not assume a position of objectivity as he views himself. He is in constant devotion and praise to God for His creation as he moves from description to worship.
“In verse 15 David continues: “My frame [‘bone’] was not hidden from You, / When I was made in secret [that is, in the womb, unobserved].” God saw and knew what his structure was to be. He continues that he was “Skillfully wrought [‘embroidered’, like a colorful piece of cloth] in the lowest parts of the earth [in parallel to ”in secret” above, another metaphor for the womb].” What is hidden to us, however, is not hidden to God. He is the Creator. Thus “Your eyes saw my substance [‘embryo’], being yet unformed.”
Not only does God know us in the womb; He also knows us beyond the womb. He knows our whole life. David continues that God writes all of our days which He has “fashioned” (“formed,” “devised”) for us in His book. This is no journal or court record made moment by moment. These days are fashioned “when as yet there were none of them” (v. 16). God is sovereign. He not only sees the end from the beginning; He molds it. Our own freedom and the workings of the devil are always secondary to the reign of God over our lives. God is not caught by surprise, and His will will be done.
Williams continues with a discussion of verses 17 and 18:
I LOVE YOUR THOUGHTS
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.
“David lyrically expresses his wonder at all that God has revealed. He confesses that His thoughts are “precious”; “How great is the sum of them!” (v. 17). The context for this remark is the preceding verses. As David has surveyed God’s knowledge of him, His presence with him, and His creation of Him, he has seen much of the greatness of God’s thoughts. Indeed, there is a divine order to life. God does not merely create us and then let us go. He rules over His creation, and He rules over us. His thoughts toward us moment by moment are overwhelming. David says that they outnumber the sand itself. While billions of prayers may ascend to God each day, untold billions of messages come from Him to us, as He answers our prayers and intimately guides us through each moment. David concludes, “When I awake, I am still with You” (v. 18). He may have lost consciousness of God in sleep, but God never lost consciousness of him. No wonder David loves His thoughts, which come to him like the rays of the sun.
We continue with Williams commentary with the well-known final two verses:
INVITATION TO INTIMACY
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.
“Having judged God’s enemies[ verses 19 – 22], David is quite willing to place himself under the same judgment—to have the Lord turn the spotlight on his inner being. Thus he prays: “Search [“examine”] me, O God, and know my heart.” In inviting God to become intimate with him, he is only responding to the reality that God has already searched him and known him (see v. 1). When we submit to God’s work in our lives, wegrant Him permission to do that which He has already purposed. Our dignity is not in overturning His sovereignty, but in freely submitting to it. As God knows David, David will know himself. But his goal is not merely self-knowledge; his goal is righteousness. Thus he continues: “Try me, and know my anxieties [‘misgivings’]” (v. 23). He wants God to search out his cares, those things that would challenge his faith and lead him into sin [and doubt]. He continues, “And see if there is any wicked way [‘painful, grieving way’] in me.” Have his cares led to sin? Is there something he doesn’t know about that needs to be changed in him? David does not only want to know his deviations, however. If they are there, he wants to be corrected and restored: “And lead me in the way everlasting” (v. 24). Having come from God, he wants to go to God. The way everlasting is the way home to the Father’s heart.
This is the intimacy that God wants to have with us. He formed us in the womb. He knows our frame. He sees our embryo. He fashions our days. He knows our thoughts. He hears our words. He knows when we sit down and when we stand up. He protects us. His hand is upon us. He who inhabits all things is near to us. We cannot escape His presence. In the light He sees us. In the dark He sees us. We are the continual object of His thoughts. He searches us. He changes us. Here is true intimacy, and if we can allow God to become intimate with us, we can establish a growing intimacy with each other. Secure in His presence and His love, we can risk opening up. We can even risk rejection, because we are held in His hand (v. 10).”
What an awesome portrayal of the Emmanuel God (the “with us God”) this is! The Psalm and its commentary provide a powerful and convincing answer to the question: “Where is God During Our Suffering?”: He is exactly where He has always been, intimately close and constantly caring. I need to tell God “I will put my trust in You” each day, remembering that “when we submit to God’s work in our lives, we grant Him permission to do that which He has already purposed.” We either believe God actually is as David knew Him to be, or not. If He is, then why would we feel “anxieties,” introducing stress, which not only weakens our immune system, it also belies the sincerity of that trust.
When in verse 16 David writes (NIV): “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be,” he was saying that God’s plan for each of us is to spend eternity’s days with Him. I want that to be my plan too—to not be so obsessed with present dangers that I lose sight of future joys. Our God is right here with us through the Coronavirus crisis, but more importantly, we will be with Him in eternity, where “‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, and there will be no more sadness. There will be no more crying or pain [or disease]. Things are no longer the way they used to be.” Revelation 21:4 (NIRV). As Williams reminds us:“The way everlasting is the way home to the Father’s heart.” Yes! Even so, come Lord Jesus.
