Known Completely: Psalm 139

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

Total knowledge. Searched—examined thoroughly. Known—not superficially but completely. The omniscience of God focused on one person.

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

Sitting and rising—the bookends of daily activity. Everything between is known. Thoughts—not just actions—perceived. From afar—distance no barrier to divine knowledge.

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Going out. Lying down. All movement monitored. All ways familiar. God knows David's habits better than David does.

Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

Pre-verbal knowledge. The thought forms, the word almost emerges—God already knows it. Completely. No partial knowledge.

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

Hemmed in. Surrounded. Behind and before—no escape. And the hand—not threatening but touching. Personal presence, not just surveillance.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Wonder, not fear. David marvels. This knowledge is beyond human comprehension. Too wonderful. Too lofty.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

The rhetorical question begins. Flight from omnipresence is impossible.

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

Vertical extremes. Heaven above—you're there. Sheol below—you're there. The universe has no God-free zone.

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.

Horizontal extremes. Dawn in the east. Far side of the sea in the west. Even there—guidance and holding. The fleeing child finds the Father waiting at every destination.

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.

Darkness tested. Surely darkness hides? No. To God, darkness shines like day. His sight needs no light. Night conceals nothing.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

The basis of knowledge: creation. You made me. Inmost being—the hidden parts. Knit together—woven, constructed, deliberately fashioned.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

The famous declaration. Fearfully made—with awesome care. Wonderfully made—with astonishing skill. The human body, the human soul—wonderful work.

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.

Secret place—the womb. Depths of the earth—poetic parallel. The hiddenness of prenatal development was never hidden from God.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Unformed body seen. Days ordained. Written in advance. Before birth, the life was already recorded. The book of days already filled.

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!

From God's thoughts about David to David's thoughts about God's thoughts. Precious. Vast. Uncountable.

Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.

Grains of sand—innumerable. And the waking recognition: still with you. Sleep didn't interrupt the relationship. Consciousness returns to presence.

If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

The shift jars modern readers. From intimate devotion to imprecatory passion. David wants justice. The wicked who blaspheme God—he wants them gone.

They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.

The reason: they insult God. Evil intent. Misused name. David's zeal is for God's honor.

Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

David aligns himself with God. God's enemies are his enemies. The hatred is principled, not personal.

I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

Total opposition to those who oppose God.

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

The return to intimacy. But now invitation. Search me—welcomed examination. Know my heart. Test me. The one who has been searched now invites searching.

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

The request for purification. Offensive way—hurtful, grievous path. Find it. Remove it. Lead me instead in the way everlasting—the ancient path, the eternal road.

From omniscience to womb-knitting to enemy-hating to self-invitation. The psalm covers the range of knowing and being known.