# 381 A journey through the Psalms. Psalm 139. Wonderful, deep and incomprehensible.

The very first words in the Bible state that:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness… So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:1, 26-27)

The idea that God created all the wonders we see around us (including ourselves as humans) is distinctly out of fashion for many today. In fact, it is often totally rejected by those who have no faith in an Omnipotent (all-powerful) God.

Not so the psalmist who wrote Psalm 139. He had no problem believing that God is our loving Creator and we are his creatures. Being aware therefore of his own creatureliness, he was also very aware of his total dependence upon God, not only for our very existence, but for the continuing existence of the creation (e.g., the earth) that was created for us to enjoy.

But he goes further, and so this “most intimate of the psalms” (# 4) describes the fact that God is the Creator of each one of us and that His knowledge of us (even in the womb, (vv. 13,15-16) and His plan for us (v. 16) is such that the psalmist proclaims:

Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking; it simply amazes me to think about it! … [it] is just too wonderful, deep and incomprehensible! Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength… (Psalm 139:14,6. TPT)

Read slowly and give thanks to God your Creator as you consider the words below:

 ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ 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.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

Longman comments:

“God did not simply create humanity and then withdraw, as though natural processes alone accounted for the birth of future generations. No, God is intimately involved in the birth of all his human creatures. And the result is amazing, as the psalmist considers that he is fearfully and wonderfully made [v. 14]. God’s knowledge of the psalmist even extends to the time before he was conceived [v. 16a] … He not only knows the psalmist’s distant past, but also his future [v. 16b]” (# 30)  

No wonder the psalmist is overwhelmed by such knowledge, as I’m sure we all should be as God opens our eyes to such wonderful truths from His Word.

This certainly was my own experience as I contemplated this Psalm some years ago in the light of writing down the story of my childhood. The reason it had such an impact upon me was because I was born as the result of an adulterous relationship and had no knowledge of God until I was 19 when I became a follower of Jesus. It took me a long time after that to recognize that God, although not approving of my parent’s behaviour, still knew all about the circumstances of my birth and upbringing. In fact, My [being] was not hidden from [Him] when I was made in the secret place [of my mother’s womb] … [His] eyes saw my unformed body; [and to top it all off] all the days ordained for me were written in [His] book before one of them came to be. And to my amazement, those days ordained for me even included those first 19 years which, for too long, I wrongly considered irrelevant to my new life in Christ. And so, with the psalmist I can say, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! My innermost being will praise you Lord! (Psalm 146:1 TPT)