PSALM 139 #2
Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Everything in the entire Bible speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ! The scriptures cannot be properly understood unless our minds are opened to this view. John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
1. God is Conscious of my Every Consciousness – Psalm 139:1-6
Psalm 139:1 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
There was not a break in the communion between the Son and the Father at the accomplishment of the Incarnation. When he was at Lazarus’ tomb the Son stated this fact. John 11:42 And I knew that thou hearest me always:… And this oneness of thought was never broken until the Father’s forsaking the Son at the cross as he became sin for the elect of God.
John 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
For it is this unbroken, inner communion that distinguishes the relationship. Our Lord said it is that which actually causes one to be his friends, and not just servants! John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
The Lord being the Creator of our ears and hearing, certainly can himself hear our thoughts, and most certainly knows the secret intent of our hearts. Psalm 44:21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Psalm 94:6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. 7 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. 8 Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? 9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? 10 He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? 11 The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
This was an issue with Moses when God appeared to him and called him to go get his people out of the Egyptian bondage. Exodus 4:10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
2. God is Present in my Every Experience – Psalm 139:7-12
Psalm 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Even if the Israelite could fly with the speed of light, (which is 186,000 miles per second), and could reach the farthest point of the Mediterranean Sea, God would be awaiting his arrival there, without ever having left the point of departure! Jeremiah 23:23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
The Lord Jesus made it clear to us that his every action was from an instantaneous inward manifestation of the Father’s ‘workings’! John 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
Like those fiery, living creatures, whose movements were as the speed of lightening, so the inward “impulses,” from the Father to the Son caused such communication between them that it was the Father showing the Son what he should do. Ezekiel 1:14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
For in the Incarnation, you have God within the flesh acting out his works as The Man among men. 2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,… So in regeneration you have the Holy Spirit within new spiritually born men acting out through them his character among mankind. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
For now they are the light of the world! Matthew 5:14 For as the Lord Jesus was one with the Father – John 10:30 I and my Father are one. – even so, the regenerate man is one with the Spirit! – 1 Corinthians 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
This was the Lord’s petition in his prayer just prior to his crucifixion. John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
3. God is the Cause of My Very Being – Psalm 139:13-18
Psalm 139:13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
We have dealt with this in our previous article, giving the scriptural passages to reveal that mankind is fashioned by the hands of God. (February 24, 2019) Yes, He has formed the male and the female to bring this to pass. But these second causes could not possibly be effectual in the bringing forth of offspring without the Lord, who as the first cause, makes it effectual. Psalm 100:3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
How would it be possible for the fertilized egg of itself to become both hard toenails, soft eyeballs, strong bones and silky hair; much less all the inner organs? For the lungs must deal with air, but not blood. And the heart must deal with blood and not air. And how could it merely evolve to the state of changing the red blood, as it flows into the eyes into a solution that is clear, so we would not see red?
And notice the last phrase in verse fourteen. … and that my soul knoweth right well. And in reading our psalm from the awareness of the Eternal Son, and not just the Psalmist David, we see that the Eternal Son was, as it were, monitoring the development of his human body within the virgin’s womb. For he has already clearly stated that whether he ascends to heaven, or beds down in hell, he would find God there. So why not, as in verse thirteen, within “my mother’s womb?”
4. God’s Attitudes Form My Convictions – Psalm 139:19-24
Psalm 139:19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. 20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. 21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
As the young child takes on the attitudes and understandings of life from the examples of his parents, so does the spiritual child take on those of his Heavenly Father. Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Here are some expressed convictions of those who have walked with the Lord God and taken on his attitudes as their own: Psalm 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. 4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. 5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. 6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. 8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.
Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. 14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. 15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. 17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
And anger is not wrong as it is directed towards sinful rebellion against the Lord. For the true believer, not motivated by his own fleshly prejudices, but by the urge to see God glorified among men, is told to “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” (Ephesians 4:26) And this is also an example set by our Lord. Mark 3:4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
This psalm begins with, “O LORD thou has searched me, and known me.” And it ends with, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts:” For this is a most important matter with the Incarnation. There was not to be found in the humanity of God the slightest fault. For that would have rendered him useless in the satisfaction of God and the redemption of the elect. Isaiah 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. gb
