Psalm 139 – Search
What are you searching for? Is it possible that the God you seek is searching for you? What do we learn from Psalm 139 – search?
Psalm 139
Psalm 139 is a beautiful psalm about the relationship between God and the psalmist. Attributed to David, the first verses speak of an “I – Thou” relationship.
“To begin, the psalmist addresses God directly, using the personal name of Israel’s God, Yahweh (1, 4). Second person pronouns occur ten times in the first six verses: “you have searched,” “you know,” “you discern,” etc. In addition, the psalmist refers to self thirteen times: “you have searched me and known me,” “when I sit down and when I rise up,” “my thoughts,” “my path,” etc. With this abundance of first and second person pronouns in the first six verses, Psalm 139 reflects the profound relationship of the “I” and “You” (or, “I” and “Thou”) in ancient Israel.” Commentary on Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” (1-6)
God has searched him and knows him in ways that are beyond comprehension.
God is Everywhere
There is no way to escape God. God is everywhere, in the heavens, in the seas, in darkness.
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (7-12)
It’s as if God and David are playing hide and seek.
“The psalmist is not trying to evade God, but he further amplifies that God’s knowledge is beyond the ability of humans to grasp. The knowledge or discernment of God can never be limited to any particular place, because God’s sovereignty extends to the whole created universe.” (VanGemeren) Psalm 139 Commentary: Praise and Prayer to the God Who Knows
God the author of all creation, created the psalmist. God knew him even before he was born.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
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.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (13-16)
David’s Response
David responds to God’s greatness with amazement and adoration.
“How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.” (17-18)
“He awakes from sleep, and is conscious of glad wonder to find that, like a tender mother by her slumbering child, God has been watching over him, and that all the blessed communion of past days abides as before.” (Maclaren) Psalm 139 Commentary: Praise and Prayer to the God Who Knows
David abruptly shifts from this sense of awe to prayer against the wicked who opposed God. “The abrupt change in the psalm from reverie to resolve is disturbing, but wholly biblical in its realism.” (Kidner) Psalm 139 Commentary: Praise and Prayer to the God Who Knows We see similar shifts in other psalms.
“If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.” (19-22)
David hates the wicked not because of any personal offense but because they hate God.
“A faithful servant hath the same interests, the same friends, the same enemies with his Master, whose cause and honor he is, upon all occasions, in duty bound to support and maintain.” (Horne) Psalm 139 Commentary: Praise and Prayer to the God Who Knows
Humble Prayer
Psalm 139 – search, ends with a humble prayer, that God, who already knows him, might continue to search him and lead him in His ways.
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (23-24)
David knew that he could not know his heart at its depths, so he asked God to know it. “The ultimate word of Greek philosophy, ‘Man, know thyself,’ was really valuable because it brought man face to face with the impossible.” (Morgan) Psalm 139 Commentary: Praise and Prayer to the God Who Knows
In humility, David acknowledges his need for God’s help.
The I Thou Relationship
Martin Buber, a 20th-century Jewish philosopher, introduced the I Thou relationship in his book I and Thou (1923) “The basic and purest form of this relation is that between man and God (the Eternal Thou), which is the model for and makes possible I-Thou relations between human beings. The relation between man and God, however, is always an I-Thou one, whereas that between man and man is very frequently an I-It one, in which the other being is treated as an object of thought or action.” I-Thou | Martin Buber, Dialogue, Relationship | Britannica
It is a fundamental way of relating to others and the world. In an I-Thou relationship, we recognize the divine in the other. “The I-thou relationship refers to the sacredness of the relationship between two people.” (The I-Thou Relationship and Unconditional Positive Regard | Psychology Today)
Buber offered these words concerning the relationship between God and humankind, reflecting the sentiments of Psalm 139.
“Where I wander – You!
Where I ponder – You!
Only You, You again, always You!
You! You! You!
When I am gladdened – You!
When I am saddened – You!
Only You, You again, always You!
You! You! You!
Sky is You, Earth is You!
You above! You below!
In every trend, at every end,
Only You, You again, always You!
You! You! You!” Commentary on Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary
It is a beautiful dance between Creator and creation.
Psalm 139 – Search
To Search, according to Webster, is ”to look into or over carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something.” Some translations use the word probe rather than search, reflecting the search of David’s innermost being.
Psalm 139 – Search, begins and ends with searching. God has already searched the writer of the psalm. God who created the writer, knows him better than he knows himself. The psalm ends with David asking God to continue searching him. Such is the relationship between David and God. It is a great dance between our awesome God and each one of us.
“Nowhere,” says Perowne, “are the great attributes of God—His omniscience, His omnipresence, His omnipotence, set forth so strikingly as they are in this magnificent Psalm. Nowhere is there a more overwhelming sense of the fact that man is beset and compassed about by God, pervaded by His Spirit, unable to take a step without His control.” Psalms 139 – Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary – Bible Commentaries – StudyLight.org
What do you seek? Are you ready to join in the dance?
(For another take on this psalm, see Psalm 139: Looking at God Who Is Looking at You – Patricia M Robertson and Psalm 139:7-8 – The Hound of Heaven – Patricia M Robertson)
This post is part of a series of blog posts on the Psalms. Sign up to follow this blog and receive a free copy of Still Dancing, the second book in my Dancing through Life Series. click here to sign up
(Please note – in order to help ensure you receive email with link to new book, please add my email, patricia@patriciamrobertson.com to your contact list. Some servers are quick to send newsletters to spam or other boxes.)
Leave a Reply