# 380 A journey through the Psalms. Psalm 139 “The most intimate of the Psalms”.

Psalm 139 is called the “most intimate of the psalms” (# 4), “intensely personal from first to last… one of the summits of Old Testament poetry” (# 29), “[simply] about how God knows me, how he surrounds me, how he has made me, and how he tests me” (# 5) and also “one of the best-known and beloved psalms in the collection” (# 30), and there is so much we can learn from it.

As Longman suggests: “It is often read as a calm reflection on God’s omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence and how these awesome divine qualities elicit wonder and comfort from the composer.” (# 30) Although this is true, and certainly these attributes of God do “elicit wonder and comfort”, he and others suggest that maybe this interpretation is a bit too simple, particularly considering “the final stanza (vv. 19-24)” which we will consider later.

Longman continues: “Moreover, the first three stanzas (vv. 1-6, 7-12, 13-18) themselves express ambivalence about God’s pervasive knowledge, presence and power.” (# 30) We see this possible “ambivalence” in the next 6 verses when the psalmist says:  

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

Again, it would be easy to see that this sense of God surrounding us wherever we go could well be a comfort, particularly if it means ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. But, is there more to the psalmist’s thinking than this or not? Was he thinking like the prophet Jonah who actually wanted to get away from God because the assignment He had given him was not to his taste, only to discover it was a futile exercise (Jonah 1-4)?

I guess, whatever the attitude of the author was, the big question is, how do we feel about this revelation of God in relation to our own lives? How do you feel about the examples of God’s omnipresence used here in this psalm? Let’s look at them closely.

• He is in the heights of the heavens, and He is in the depths of the earth, and everywhere in between! – verse 8.
• He is in the east (the wings of the dawn, where the sun rises), and He is in the west (the far side of the sea, referring to the Mediterranean Sea) and everywhere in between! – verse 9
• And even in the darkness of night (when people can hide from one another), darkness is as light to God – verse 12.

If this is a comfort to you, then I presume that, in Jesus, you have discovered your true identity and security and hope for now and the future. Praise God if that is true.

But, if you find a certain amount of discomfort in the truths that God is present everywhere and that there is nowhere you can go where He is not present, then just maybe it is time for a fresh revelation of just who this good God is and what He has done for you in Christ.

Broyles suggests: “God’s scrutiny provokes wonder (v. 6) but also fear. Thoughts of flight need not betray a profound sense of guilt or the fact that the speaker has committed or been accused of a crime. The recognition that we are so scrutinized by another intrinsically makes us want to retreat. We may feel our privacy had been violated or we may fear we will inevitably disappoint the one who takes such an interest in us.” He then reminds us that “verse 10 contains a surprise. After we flee from God, we would expect a reprimand from God. Instead, he acts graciously: he guide[s]… and hold[s] fast… implying providential guidance and protection. These actions evidence divine pursuit and loyalty.” (# 4)

Whatever your reaction to this wonderful truth of God’s omnipresence, He says to you today:

 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you… The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged…. Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.   (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8 and Hebrews 13:5)

And “never” means never ever!