From Psalm 139:1-24 / The Believer’s All-knowing, Ever-Present, Able-to-Save – God.

There are various ways to divide this Psalm, many of which bear merit. Let me suggest this one of 7 parts. But when all is said and done, the the main reality stands front and center:

Of this Psalm, Derek Kidner writes: “Any small thoughts that we may have of God are magnificently transcended by this psalm; yet for all its height and depth it remains intensely personal from first to last.1” 1 Kidner, Derek. 1975. Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 16. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

a. We and all our circumstances are fully known by our God in His OMNISCIENCE.

b. We and all our circumstances are under His hand: OMNIPOTENCE.

c. In all of our circumstances, our God is with us: OMNIPRESENCE.

d. This Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent God – Loves us.

Note then:

vss. 1-4 / Our God Knows us us. And David cites this in 3 frames. Vs. 1 is in the past tense. vss. 2-3 are in the present tense. Vs. 4 extends even into the future. He knows all my past, all my present and even what is to come.

Vs. 5 / Our God Directs us. He hems us in, sets limits to our lives. He lays His hand upon us, steers us for good.

Vs. 6 – And when one stops to let this sink in, it is truly overwhelming. How truly great IS this God? Beyond comprehension.

Vss. 7-12 / Our God Pervades everywhere. There is no place the Christian can go, where his or her God is not. No depth of pain or sorrow. No height of joy or elation. When we rise to the heights of success and happiness, He is there.

In the worst of disasters, even on death’s doorstep, He is there.

When we are caught up in things foreign and unfamiliar, daunting, He is there.

In the darkest hours, He is there.

He misses nothing concerning His blood bought ones. He is there.

He is here.

Vss. 13-16 / Our God Created us. We are not cosmic accidents. The products of mere time and chance. And as Andrew Fuller writes: “In this sense it is manifestly to be understood in the passage now under consideration. The human frame is so admirably constructed, so delicately combined, and so much in danger of being dissolved by innumerable causes, that the more we think of it, the more we tremble, and wonder at our own continued existence.1”1 Fuller, Andrew Gunton. 1988. The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller: Memoirs, Sermons, Etc. Edited by Joseph Belcher. Vol. 1. Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications.

Vss. 17-18 / Our God Cares for us, and Superintends our lives. He thinks about us. Incessantly. Contemplates our being and our plights. We are never out of His mind. Never distant from His thoughts and affections. And so it is we wake each new morning, kept through the nights, when we are most vulnerable and helpless. When we are fast asleep and unaware of anything, He who never sleeps nor slumbers is wide awake and observing all with His loving eye.

Vss. 19-22 / Our God Delivers His righteous ones, and Judges the wicked. While we may not perceive it with our own eyes, His righteous hand is always upon us. Who knows the thousands of demonic attacks and Satanic machinations aimed at us which His hand thwarts with unceasing protection? He sees and knows all of their acts too. Make no mistake, a day of reckoning is certain yet to come, when all will stand before His all-seeing eye to give an account of the very thoughts and intents of their hearts. Justice will be meted out to the wicked, as surely as grace will be fully manifested to those in Christ.

Vss. 23-24 / Our God can be Trusted with our whole being. We need never fear His full knowledge of us, because having cleansed us with the blood of His own Son, His examinations can only serve to root out and divest us of the remnants of indwelling sin. So we can trust Him completely with our brokenness. And trust Him in faithfulness to lead us on to the inheritance in Christ He has promised us.

What a God we serve!