Weekly Devotional 21st of March 2025
by Bruce Billington
We will continue our series on hearing God through the Psalms by examining Psalm 139, a Psalm of David’s.
Psalm 139:1 – O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinise my path and my lying down And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before And laid Your hand upon me.
This Psalm is one of the most notable among the sacred psalms. It reveals God’s omniscience and omnipresence. All the verses in Psalms are remarkable. Not only are they sung in praise of God, but they also demonstrate that Jehovah is the all-knowing God who understands us and knows us intimately. To our great delight, as we see throughout the Psalm, we are wonderfully and carefully made by our Creator, who loves us deeply and shapes us according to His glorious plan for our lives (Verse 13–18). He is aware of everything about us and never loses the profound knowledge He has of us all. David was captivated by the truth that the LORD knows everything about us. God searches or examines us constantly and knows us intimately. Jesus pointed out that God is aware of the most trivial details about us: He even keeps count of the number of hairs on our heads (Matthew 10:30)!
Note how personal David makes this. He could have said, “God knows all things,” but instead, he said, “You have searched me and know me.” It can’t get more personal. It is as though each person is the only person on earth—we have God’s utmost attention and interest in us, and this makes us safe, purposeful, and equipped for all His blessings in Christ.
How is it possible that God knows every thought we have before we think it and every word on our tongue before we say it? This may seem somewhat frightening, given some of the things we think and say, but we need to understand that it is rooted in God’s great mercy and love. If we respond to His Spirit, it works for our best interests because God has a distinct purpose for knowing about every detail in our lives. It is not so He can control us because He has given us free will. Nor is it so He can catch us in some wrongdoing, though He is aware every time we sin.
No, the LORD knows us intimately because He loves us intensely. He encloses us from behind and before (Verse 5). Think of this as if He encircles us like a fortress to protect us. His knowledge and presence surround us; His Spirit is everywhere and cannot be avoided. His countenance looks in all directions, but in all of this, we should take heart because, as Solomon says, His banner over us is love (Song of Solomon 2:4).
As much as this is just too wonderful to grasp (Verse 6), it should both exonerate and humble us. We should always remain alert to the fact that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Verse 14) but are also accountable to God for all that we do, say, and think. His desire is to make us more like Christ every day (2 Corinthians 3:18), and sometimes, that requires His refining fire to come and cleanse us.
At the end of the day, it is God who deserves praise for His incomprehensible greatness. He is the author and finisher of our faith, and without Him, we can do nothing.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington