Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24

Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 (NRSV)

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.

¹ O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from far away.

³ You search out my path and my lying down,

and are acquainted with all my ways.

⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,

O Lord, you know it completely.

⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is so high that I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit?

Or where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

⁹ If I take the wings of the morning

and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light around me become night,”

¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is as bright as the day,

for darkness is as light to you.  

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my thoughts.

²⁴ See if there is any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting. 

Psalm 139 is a psalm of innocence. After one reads this Psalm, I find it challenging and interesting to read Job 7:17-21 and 23:8-17 for a reversal of some of the themes of this psalm. The passage is similar to the beautiful Hindu text Atharva Veda Book IV, Hymn 16, from 1200-1000 BC. The Hindu hymn offers a praise to the gods, who beholds the worlds as though close at hand. It warns that one who thinks he or she acts by stealth, the gods see and know. The gods know what we whisper or do in secret. King Varuna is like the secret presence of another in all that we do. King Varuna possesses all we see to the furthest regions. He beholds all that is between the heavens and the earth and what is beyond them. Yet, he also sees how often we blink. He is the watcher of humanity. He lays snares and the hymn prays that they will catch the liar. He sends disease and drives it away. He is like one native to the land and one who is a stranger. He is celestial and human. We find a similar spirit binds these two hymns together.

The Psalm deals with theological concepts of omnipresence and omniscience. In fact, the psalm is one of the theological and literary treasures of the Bible. One of the most familiar and beautiful of the Hebrew Psalms, the psalm stresses two main theological points: God's omniscient omnipresence and God's role as creator, not only of the created universe, but also as the divine parent of every human being. The Psalm addresses the first of these topics in verses 1-12 and the second in verses 13-18. It challenges human thought and experience, often disorienting even as it profoundly discloses truth. Since one of the provocative questions of human existence concerns how a woman or a man may find a place in an often hostile universe, the enthusiasm with which readers over the generations have responded to Psalm 139 is understandable. 

This wonderful hymn of Israel sings not just of a God who cares, but also of a God whose being has such an intimate connection with our own being that God forms part of the fabric of each of us. We sense that the author finds amazement that God has such intimate knowledge of him as an individual. Yet, we also wonder if he has some fear that God knows him so well. The searching and examining that God performs on him, and on us, is not always welcome. We are naked before God, but we may want to conceal some things. We probably do conceal some things from others and even from ourselves. The author reminds us that we can conceal nothing from God. In fact, as God seeks me and finds me, I discover my identity. God has an all-embracing knowledge of us as individuals that rests upon the presence of God with all creation. Even if our experience is darkness, our darkness is light to God. In other words, the omnipresence of God is the basis for the omniscience of God. The author seems amazed and a little frightened by all this. Yet, in the end, he invites God to search, know, and test him. He invites God to question, probe, and engage in a detailed investigation of him. Yet, the purpose is simple. In welcoming such examination, the psalmist can be the person God wants him to be. He moves toward his true self as God intended.

The author finds the omniscient and omnipresent God both amazing and frightening. He only hints in this negative direction. We see more clearly the fearful side of these matters in Job 7:17-21. He wants the Lord to look away from him for a while because the Lord is paying too much attention! His little sin does nothing to the majesty of God. He wants pardon. Yet, he shall be in Sheol, where the Lord will seek him but not find him. We also see the fearful side in Job 23:8-17. He wants to move to a position where he can see God, but he never does. The Lord knows the way he takes and tests him. He comes out like gold. He has kept to the path the Lord established. He has treasured the word of the Lord. He has terror and dread of the presence of the Lord. He wishes he could vanish in the darkness to escape the presence of the Lord. The omniscience and omnipresence of God may well be comforting for us most of the time. However, do we ever want to conceal who we are or what we do from the Lord? If so, we catch a hint of why this part of the nature and character of God may frighten us as well.