Psalm 139 Tewantin

Anglican Church Noosa Summer Chill in the Classic Psalms Psalm 139 Rev’d Chris Johnson Some Psalms are simple and direct and easy to understand. Psalm 139 is not one of them. This is perhaps the most profound of all the Psalms with some rich theological themes flowing through it. • There is teaching here about predes>na>on. • There is some great teaching here about God. From it we learn that God is omnipotent - all powerful, omnipresent -all present, omniscient - all knowing. These are words that the theologians use to describe the aDributes of God. And it is passages like Psalm 139 that give us this understanding of God. So the Psalm contains some wonderful doctrine about God, however it is not primarily a doctrinal statement. It is a hymn of worship. It is a hymn wriDen by King David. David reflects on these wonderful aDributes of God and it draws him to praise and worship. So as we explore the Psalm, I hope we might be able to throw out any small thoughts we have about God, and embrace the Sovereign Lord David points us to in this Psalm and be drawn afresh to worship. The Psalm is made up of four stanzas each 6 verses long. The overarching theme is God’s sovereignty and each stanza brings out another aspect of it. 1. 2. 3. 4. vv.1-6 vv.7-12 vv.13-18 vv.19-24 Known by God No escaping God Fearfully and wonderfully made by God The everlas>ng way with God KNOWN BY GOD How does God know us? • He knows my movements v2 when I sit down, when I rise. v3 when I'm going out and when I lie down. • He knows my thoughts v2 You perceive my thoughts from afar. • He knows what I'm going to say. v4 before a word is on my tongue you know it completely. • And he is familiar with all my ways v3. So this is what the theologians call God’s omniscience - He is all knowing. But here it is not set out in the usual way doctrine is presented; it is expressed in the most personal terms. David stands in awe of God, that he should know everything about him. God's knowing of us is very ac>ve: perceiving us v2, discerning us v3, very familiar with us, (also in v3), knowing our minds v2 and our tongues v4, surrounding us and placing his hand on us v5. Can you imagine another human being knowing us this well? You might think about what it would be like to have your life portrayed on the big screen in a cinema in this sort of detail. With all you family and friends there. That’s scary! 1 I can't help but think of the Royal Family and how they must feel like they're living in a goldfish bowl with people observing their every move, pulling apart every word they speak and specula>ng on their every thought. They are probably the most known family in the world. The closest some of us will probably come to know experien>ally the reality of these verses is marriage. Marriage is about being known in>mately by another person: your gids and strengths but also your foibles and sin. Marriage can be scary being known that well by another human being. There is an old saying, “Just as well love is blind, otherwise it would see too much.” So there is a need for love, which is not just sen>mental, but love which involves the exercise of grace, if you are going to have a good marriage. The amazing thing with God is that he knows us even more thoroughly than a marriage partner. He knows us through and through and that is scary. We can feel hemmed in like the Psalmist in v5. Yet the wonderful assurance of the gospel is that through Jesus we receive grace upon grace. The coming of Jesus into the world assures us that God's total knowledge of us is not there to taunt us but to reassure us that he is wiser, stronger, and more loving than we can possibly imagine. He is for us and His grace leads us into a fulfilling life serving in his Kingdom. So yes, we are KNOWN by God. We should be encouraged. 2. NO ESCAPING GOD vv 7-12 There is a certain ambivalence in these verses on the part of David. Is he trying to run away from God. V7 “Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” Or is he just looking for reassurance that God will be present wherever he goes? He says in v’s9&10, “Even if I se:le on the far side of the sea.” “Even there your hand will guide me your right hand will hold me fast.” This stanza would seem to arise out of v5 in the first stanza, “You hem me in behind and before…” He’s hemmed in so is this giving him reassurance, or is it a reason to feel overwhelmed and scared? There is a certain ambivalence about this sec>on. I'm reminded of the famous poem, “The Hound of Heaven” by Francis Thompson. He starts his poem, I fled Him down the nights and down the days I fled Him down the arches of the years I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind, and in the midst of tears I hid from him… At the end of the poem he suggests this, Is my gloom, aEer all, shade of his hand outstretched caressingly? The shade of His hand seems to bring gloom. I know in my teenage years I thought it would threaten my freedom, that it would squash me and make me do things I didn't want to do. The thought of lenng God find me, catch me, be the Lord over my life, I thought would be oppressive. In the words of Francis Thompson the ‘shade of his hand’ was ‘gloom’. Yet when I gave in and let him catch me, I found his hand was indeed ‘outstretched caressingly’. 2 So to come back to the Psalmist’s ques>on, “Where can I flee from your presence?” The answer is nowhere! Should we be heartened or threatened by this truth? Well it depends on the condi>on of our hearts. So long as I am thinking about my own self-pleasure and pushing God away, God's presence will be a threat. As soon as I turn from my sin, repent and come back to him, then his presence is a comfort. We need to be converted. Do you have a converted heart? Have you let the hound of heaven catch you? Have you given in and experienced the sweetness of his caress? Read these verses with a converted heart and they will bring much comfort. 3. FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE vv 13-18 In this sec>on we see very clearly the doctrine of predes>na>on. However once again it is presented in terms of worship and adora>on rather than just being a theological statement. V16 says, “All the days ordained for me were wri:en in your book before one of them came to be.” David is aware that all his days from the moment of concep>on to the day of his death, belong to God and are ordained by God. This leads him to worship, “How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand – when I awake, I am sMll with you.” The focus of this sec>on is the miracle of life in the womb. David is overawed by it, and he didn't even have ultrasound or a colour computer to see what we can see today. David reflects on the fact that he was once in the womb. He wasn’t conscious of it but God was. V15 “my frame was not hidden from you.” V16 “your eyes saw my unformed body;” David recognises he is the crea>on of a personal loving God, and he uses powerful poe>c language to describe it. • In v13 it is God who ‘knit him together in his mother's womb’. • In v15 he talks about ‘being woven together in the depths of the earth’. The RSV translates this verse, ‘when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.’ This is a metaphor for the womb which conveys something of the mystery of the forma>on of life, something of the mystery of concep>on, the beginning of life, and the growth of a new liDle human being, independent yet dependant on his or her mother. The message of this sec>on is so posi>ve. It's saying that every human life is special. You are special. • • No maDer how ordinary you think you are. No maDer how much you compare yourself with other people and put yourself down. You are special. 3 Make these verses your story. God has knit you together in your mother's womb. Say with the Psalmist, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Yes, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. 4.THE EVERLASTING WAY WITH GOD vv19-24 So we come to verse 19 and the Psalm seems to take a disconcer>ng change of direc>on. “If only you, God, would slay the wicked!” It is like we have been on the mountaintop contempla>ng lody views of God and his sovereign work in our lives; but all of a sudden we're thrust down into the valley where the grubby affairs of human beings rule the day rather than the omnipotent Lord. Well what I think’s going on is, the clarity of David's vision of God makes the presence of evil intolerable to him. So his hatred of the wicked is not personal spite. It is not because of what the wicked have done to him to make his life miserable, and he's just bi>ng back. There is no sense of that here. It is simply zeal for God, and the holiness and majesty of God that drives David words here. As v21 puts it, “I abhor those who are in rebellion against you.” Look at the last two verses which really give some context to this sec>on. If you are concerned that David might be genng a liDle bit self-righteous in his words about the wicked, then the last two verses should alleviate those concerns. V23 “Search me, 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 everlasMng.” David wants to be sure his mo>ves are pure, so he wants God's judging eye to penetrate him and see if there's any offensive way in him. So he is opening himself up to the same judgement he wants to fall on the wicked. He wants to be led in the way everlas>ng and he knows this is a way the wicked know nothing about. So his desire to be rid of all corrup>on and sin in his life. He wants to walk only in the way everlas>ng. Conclusion So what a magnificent Psalm with so many rich theological themes. How should we sum it up. As I read it I feel like I'm swimming out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean without a ship or land anywhere in sight. I’m out of my depth! It is scary, yet by the >me I get to the end of the Psalm I feel absolutely secure in the hands of God. For all its height and depth this Psalm is intensely personal. Yes, it speaks of a God who is too enormous for us to possibly comprehend. V6 “Such knowledge (knowledge of God) is too wonderful for me, too loEy for me to a:ain.” Yet this doesn't maDer to David. We may not be able to comprehend God, but the important thing is that God comprehends us. So we come back to where we began. In the first three verses we read, “You know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise… you are familiar with all my ways.” Let the magnificent all powerful, all present, all knowing God of Psalm 139 know you and speak to you personally today, and worship! Amen 4