Psalm 139

Taught by Janet
Notes by Linda

Last week we concluded our study on the book of Nehemiah. This week we started a new series that will continue through the month of May. Each week we will have teaching on a specific psalm. Today Janet taught on a psalm that was special to her – Psalm 139.

Janet first spoke on the overall theme of this psalm. It is that God is omniscient. This means that God is all knowing. God is also omnipresent. This means that God is present everywhere; His presence has no limits. Finally, God is omnipotent. This means that God is all powerful. Janet emphasized that this psalm embraces all these characteristics of God.

Janet explained that Psalm 139 can be divided into four distinct poetic paragraphs. Each of the poetic paragraphs contains six verses. Each of the paragraphs begins and ends with a couplet which elaborates the central theme of that paragraph. This is an example of Hebrew parallelism. The first and last lines of each section are rhyming or parallel thoughts.

Psalm 139:1-6

You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

The main theme of this section is that God knows each of us intimately. He knows our thoughts. He knows them even before we do. God’s hand is upon us. An important point Janet made was that we need to diligently guard our thoughts. Out of the hear the mouth speaks. What is going on in our thoughts will eventually come out of our mouths.

Psalm 139:7-12

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

The main theme in this section is that there is not a place we can go that is outside the presence of God. Janet explained that even when we think we are going our own way and not glorifying Him in our lives, He is still there. God loves us that much. This does not mean that we can live anyway we want. Janet quoted from Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows”.

Psalm 139: 13-18

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
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 still with you.

God knew us even before we were a thought in our parents minds. In verse 14 God says we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’. Janet pointed out that although we are all very different God has created us all. The question Janet asked us all…do we really believe what God’s word says, that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’??

Psalm 139: 19-24

If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
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 everlasting.

Janet pointed out that the enemy uses people against us, even other believers. We are not called to hate these people. Someone mentioned that God shows His kindness to both the believer and the unbeliever. Kindness is God’s character. “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Luke 6:35). Janet asked us to imagine what it would be like if God didn’t have patience with us. It was brought up that in the Old Testament the people were not commanded to love with God’s love or to forgive. As New Testament believers the Lord commands us to do both. We do have the power to love and forgive because we now have the Holy Spirit within us. He gives us the power.

Janet taught us that in verse 23, King David, the author, gets his eyes back on himself. He asks the Lord to show him his own thoughts. It is a lot easier for us to see the faults of others then to see them ourselves. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? (Matt. 7:3-4). When we ask the Lord to reveal to us our own sins, He will.

Janet admonished us against being judgmental about our own sisters in Christ. Satan will use us against each other. (In a prior study we learned about how Satan can use offenses to create division and disunity. ) That being said, there is a place for constructive criticism. In order to grow, we do need to know when we are going in a wrong direction (as well as plenty of encouragement when we are going in the right direction). When we give constructive criticism it needs to be done in love and in humility. It has often been quoted ‘people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’.