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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 7, NUMBER 49, DECEMBER 9, 2007 PSALM 139 Moments of quiet meditation can serve to give us greater under-standing and insight into the awesome character of Jehovah. The medit-ations of a mature spiritual mind delve even more deeply, basking in the revealed truths and realizing that “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it” (v.6). Psalm 139 appears to con-tain the ruminations of a deeply reflective mind and if I were to seek to describe the results of his contemplations in one word, it would be comfort. The Psalm begins with both a realization and a celebration of the glorious omniscience of God. What a comforting thought to this mature man of God to appreciate the fact that he is surrounded by God in every way and every day. Only Jehovah knows every act of our lives and every thought of our hearts; whether those thoughts find expression in our words or not. Even as thoughts and ideas begin to formulate in our minds, even before they have found full expression, they are known to God. The psalmist calls to mind, in his meditation, the action of winnowing of wheat and he sees in it God’s scrutiny of his ways. Every life has good and bad in it; every life has wheat and chaff and God knows it all. He is surrounded by God, both to help and restrain, and yet he has freedom to act as he desires with the knowledge that God knows. His omniscience is beyond his ability to grasp and leads the psalmist to consider the omnipresence of God. “Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence” (v. 7)? I do not believe that the Psalmist is asking these questions out of a desire to flee and escape the presence of God. He is stating what is the natural flow of his meditations – as God knows all things, He is necessarily everywhere. What a comforting thought to the mature child of God! He is never alone. Who among us has not felt alone or spent a seemingly endless night in turmoil over some event in our life waiting for the relief that the first ray of sunlight seems to offer? It is certain that David felt that way at several points in his life, perhaps the most memorable being referred to in the first verse of the 22nd Psalm, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.” These words would be uttered by the Lord from the cross as they found their ultimate fulfillment. For David, the meditation of quieter, calmer moments helped him to understand that he was never alone. God is everywhere. He fills the heavens above and the realms below. Escape from His presence is not possible. Perhaps for the enemy of God such a thought is dreadful and terrible, but that is not the case for the child of God. He can know that wherever he might be, even there is God’s guiding hand to direct his steps and the right hand of His power to uphold him. Even before the psalmist knew anything of this world, or any-thing of God, God knew him. As he developed within the womb of his mother, God was there. The words the psalmist uses to describe God’s involvement with him in his earliest stages help us to understand how he could but burst forth with the words, “I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well” (v. 14). Consider the word “weave” in v. 13. Properly, it means to knit together and in a wonderful sense describes the weaving together of the bones, sinews, and all such things that make up a human being. In v. 16, one word is translated as “my unformed substance.” It means that which is rolled or wrapped together, and what an intriguing way to describe an embryo! Everything is folded up, so to speak, and as the child develops within its mother, God oversees the unfolding of all its parts. Indeed, God knows the beginning, the development, and the ending of all things. Does this preclude freewill, or remove all matter of choice? No, it simply emphasizes once again the magnitude of the omniscience and omnipotence of God. At what point could the psalmist exhaust the thoughts of God and thereby have no more reason to meditate upon them? They are inexhaustible and as numberless as the sand of the sea. As he closes his eyes at night his final thoughts are of God’s ways. When he awakens in the morning he recognizes that he is in the presence of God and occupies himself with meditation of Him. As the psalmist considers yet again the omniscience and omni-presence of God, it is apparent that the idea of the wicked comes to his mind. Surely as God knows all things and is everywhere, His eye is upon the wicked as well. God knows their evil words and ungodly acts. He knows of their rebellion. In his contemplation of the wonders of God, the actions of the wicked are repulsive to the psalmist. He knows that judgment will come upon the wicked. In other psalms David had often expressed his need for God to sustain him in the face of persecution and abuse at the hands of those who did not love God. What a comfort to be assured in the quiet moments of meditation that both the godly and the ungodly will be properly rewarded. And so, as this great psalm comes to a close, the psalmist does not seek to hide from the presence of God, he embraces it, calling upon God to search him and try him. He wants any wavering way pointed out to him, any course that might lead him away from God, corrected. I believe it to be probable that he understands that living his life according to God’s statutes now is to live in the everlasting way – the way to eternal life. His prayer is that God would lead him in that path. The thoughts of the psalm should be our thoughts. The desires of the psalm – our desires. We should join in the wonderment and awe the psalmist feels as he considers the great power of God and praise Him for His omniscience and omnipresence, attributes that are so comforting for a faithful child of God. Greg Litmer
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