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Psalm
139
Interpretive
Paraphrase and Study Guide by Bill Bledsoe
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- Contrast,
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Progression
Overwhelmed
by God:
A
Psalm of David for the Choir Director
David
is Overwhelmed by God's Omniscience
1)
O LORD,
You
have studied me and You
know me. 2)
You
know when I sit down and
when I stand up. You
understand my thoughts even when I am far from You.
3)
You
see me when I am awake and
when I am sleeping. You
understand all my ways. 4)
O LORD,
You
already know what I am thinking before I say a word. 5)
You
go before me and
You
go behind me and You
have laid Your
hand upon me. 6)
Such knowledge is beyond my capacity to understand! It is too high
for me to grasp!
David
is Overwhelmed by God's Omnipresence
7)
Where can I depart from Your
Spirit? Where can I flee from Your
presence? 8)
If
I ascend into heaven, You
are there. If
I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You
are there. 9)
If
I take wings on the dawn, if
I dwell in the depths of the sea, 10)
even there Your
hand will lead me and Your
right hand will hold me. 11)
If
I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the stars will be
my only light," 12)
even
the darkness shall not hide me from You,
for
the night shines like
the
day.
Darkness and light are alike
to You.
David
is Overwhelmed by God as Creator
13)
For
You
formed my inward parts and You
knit me together in my mother's womb. 14)
I will praise You
for
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your
works are wonderful - I know that very well. 15)
My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in secret and skillfully put together in the depths
of the earth. 16)
Your
eyes saw what I was going to be even before I was formed. And in Your
book were written all the days that were ordained for my life, even
before
the first one happened.
David
is Overwhelmed by God's Thoughtfulness
17)
How precious are Your
thoughts about me, O God! How great is their sum! 18)
If
I could count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I
awake, I am still with You!
David
is Overwhelmed by Holy Hatred for God's Enemies
19)
O, that You
would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20)
They speak against You
wickedly. Your
enemies take Your
name in vain. 21)
O LORD, I hate those who hate You
and I loathe those who rebel against You.
22)
I hate them with pure hatred. I count them as my enemies.
David
is Overwhelmed by Desire to Know God Forever
23)
Search me, O God,
and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. 24)
And see if there are any wicked ways in me. And lead me in the way
everlasting.
Study
Guide
1)
Psalm 139 was written by David, the greatest king in the history of
Old Testament Israel. We do not know the occasion that caused David
to write Psalm 139.
2)
What overwhelms you?
An athlete?
A singer?
A movie?
A baby sleeping peacefully?
An ocean sunset?
A walk through the forest with someone you love?
A mountain hike?
Something else?
An athlete?
A singer?
A movie?
A baby sleeping peacefully?
An ocean sunset?
A walk through the forest with someone you love?
A mountain hike?
Something else?
3)
David states in verses 1-6 of Psalm 139 that he is overwhelmed by
God's omniscience.
1)
O LORD, You have studied me and You know me. 2) You know when I sit
down and when I stand up. You understand my thoughts even when I am
far from You. 3) You see me when I am awake and when I am sleeping.
You understand all my ways. 4) O LORD, You already know what I am
thinking before I say a word. 5) You go before me and You go behind
me and You have laid Your hand upon me. 6) Such knowledge is beyond
my capacity to understand! It is too high for me to grasp!
God's
omniscience is a term that simply means that God knows everything.
God is never surprised at anything because God knows everything. God
never has to try to figure out how things will work out because He
already knows what is future to us. He knows everything we have done
or will do. He even knows how things would have turned out if we had
made different choices than the ones we made in life!
Look
at verses 1-6 and list the things that David says that God knows
about him (He also knows those same things about each of us).
What
does that list tell you about what God thinks about you?
Is
it surprising to you that God knows every detail about your life –
that He even studies you – and still loves you? Why or why not?
4)
David then expresses that he is overwhelmed by God's omnipresence in
verses 7-12 of Psalm 139.
7)
Where can I depart from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your
presence? 8) If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my
bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9) If I take wings on the dawn,
if I dwell in the depths of the sea, 10) even there Your hand will
lead me and Your right hand will hold me. 11) If I say, "Surely
the darkness will hide me and the stars will be my only light,"
12) even the darkness shall not hide me from You, for the night
shines like the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.
God's
omnipresence is a term that simply means the God is everywhere all
the time. At any time in human history and in any place in human
history, if roll was called, God could always answer "here!"
Verses
7-12 tell us that David could not get away from God's presence - no
matter how hard he tried to hide - no matter where life took him.
Do
you have something in your life that you are seeking to hide from
yourself?
Do
you have something in your life that you are seeking to hide from
God's presence?
These
verses tell us that we can't hide from God, no matter how hard we
try.
These
verses tell us that God won't let us hide from Him, no matter how
hard we try.
Jesus
Christ, God's only Son, died on the cross for your sins and rose
again to offer you an eternal relationship with God so that you will
never have to try to hide from God again. If you believe in Jesus,
you can enjoy God as your Heavenly Father instead of trying to hide
from Him as your Judge.
6)
Notice the reference in verse 7 to the Holy Spirit and how this
Scripture equates "Your Spirit" with "Your presence,"
indicating that the presence of the Holy Spirit is also the presence
of God, since they are the same triune God.
7)
In verses 13-16 of Psalm 139 David shares that he is overwhelmed by
God as his Creator.
13)
For You formed my inward parts and You knit me together in my
mother's womb. 14) I will praise You for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful - I know that very well.
15) My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret and
skillfully put together in the depths of the earth. 16) Your eyes
saw what I was going to be even before I was formed. And in Your book
were written all the days that were ordained for my life, even before
the first one happened.
Read
verses 13-16 and see how greatly God cares for us from conception
onward. List the things that our Creator does for each of us even
before we are born.
8)
"Psalm 139:13-16" is engraved on the headstone of our
baby's grave. These verses have brought us great comfort after we
lost one of our children before he or she was born.
If
you have lost a child, or even an adult loved one, please reread
verses 13-16 and allow God to comfort you with His words.
9)
Verses 13-16 from this Psalm (as well as numerous other Scriptures)
make it clear that God says that human life begins at conception. All
the medical evidence now verifies this same conclusion. This truth
has several implications:
Abortion
kills a living human being. Abortion is sin and it is morally wrong.
There
is one Biblical exception where abortion is Biblically justified - in
the very rare case
when, beyond a reasonable doubt, the only option to spare the
physical life of the mother
would be to abort the child. This life-of-the-mother-exception is
treated Biblically
like self-defense.
The
only other abortion scenario where there is any legitimate debate
about allowing abortion
would be the very rare case of a pregnancy resulting from a
legitimate, reported case of rape or incest. The Biblical logic
doesn't change about there being two separate lives present, both
worthy of protection and that the permanent loss of life of the
child from abortion would be a greater evil than the temporary
(albeit long-term), involuntary choice (and loss of freedom) to be
forced to bear, and perhaps even raise (if an adoption is not an
option), an involuntarily conceived child. Biblically, in this
rape-or-incest-situation, abortion would be the worse of two
possible evils, since loss of life is a greater evil than
involuntarily being required to bear, and even raise, a involuntary,
unwanted child. This-rape-or-incest-situation is one that is
gut-wrenching at best, since this pregnancy results from involuntary
conception, as opposed to a normal pregnancy resulting from
voluntary, albeit perhaps unplanned, conception.
From
a political standpoint, both the save-the-physical life-of-the-mother
and the rape-or-incest-situation are so rare and so difficult that
many pro-lifers (including me) would be
willing to politically compromise them both as exceptions for a legal
resolution that would
end the voluntary slaughter of millions of innocent children every
year solely because
the mother has more power to choose her own convenience than the
child (or the
father) does to choose life under our law. The Biblical logic for
compromise legislation
abolishing abortion except for a life-of-the-mother-exception and a
rape-or-incest-exception
is that the opportunity to save many lives is a greater good than the opportunity
to save none of the lives without the exceptions. Again, any compromise involving
life is
a gut-wrenching choice, but legal choices such as abortion or war or
child abuse issues
are seldom without conflict from competing, conflicting values.
If
life begins at conception, then contraception or fertility treatments
should be limited to
pre-conception. Again, it is much more difficult ethically if the
sexual intercourse occurred
because of rape or incest, since the pregnancy of the mother is involuntary.
The
arguments that abortion advocates use to try to justify abortion for
any reason and at any stage of pregnancy are shallow and selfish and
often politically-or-money-motivated. Voluntary abortion advocates
simply pretend that only one person of the two people present should
make a life choice, because the mother has money and political power and the child does not. Everyone now knows that there are two living
people directly affected by the decision. The American Constitution protects the lives of all “persons.” America's founding
documents recognize and prioritize the values of "life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness," with common sense telling us that
life is a higher value than the pursuit of one's individual
happiness.
Even after abortion is once again made illegal, abortions
may still be done illegally and immorally in back alleys, but back
alleys are where illegal and immoral actions happen among people
don't value the lives of others.
A
final word about abortion. If you have had or caused an abortion,
Jesus Christ, God's only Son, died on the cross for your sin and rose
again to offer you forgiveness and healing for what you have done. If
you believe in Jesus, you can come into an eternal relationship with
God. Every one of us who have trusted Christ forever have come to Him
in spite of things we have done in the past and, sometimes still
continue to do. God will be your perfect Heavenly Father, even though
you may have failed as an earthly mother or father. And if you trust
Christ, you will see your child again in heaven, for all eternity.
God will forgive you if you let Him. Please accept His healing offer
now.
10)
Verses 17-18 are David's overwhelming response to God's amazing
thoughtfulness about him.
17)
How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God! How great is their
sum! 18) If I could count them, they would outnumber the grains of
sand. When I awake, I am still with You!
Take
a few moments and re-read these verses several times and let them
soak in.
Do
you know that God thinks about you the same way He thinks about
David?
Why
or why not?
11)
David continues Psalm 139 in verses 19-22 by expressing how he is
overwhelmed by holy hatred for God's enemies.
19)
O, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, you
bloodthirsty men! 20) They speak against you wickedly. Your enemies
take Your name in vain. 21) O LORD, I hate those who hate you and I
loathe those who rebel against You. 22) I hate them with pure
hatred. I count them as my enemies.
Psalm
139 is one of the most beautiful and often quoted of the Psalms. And
yet God inspired David to write verses 19-22 just like He inspired
the rest of the Psalm.
How
do you feel about God having enemies?
How
do you feel about David having "holy hatred" for God's
enemies?
How
do you feel about David praying that God would take the lives of His
enemies?
How
is it different for us as Christians living in a secular world now
than for David as a citizen and then ultimately the leader of theocratic Israel then?
One
of the most basic points about understanding the Scriptures is that
the New Testament Church is based on a different covenant than Old
Testament Israel. Different people. Different times. Different set of
rules. The two covenants are complementary, but different.
The
Old Testament is centered around the people of God (the Jewish
descendents of Jacob) worshiping God (using the Jewish religion as
described in the Old Testament Law) centered in the land of God (the
nation of Israel) which was governed by God (according to the Old
Testament Law) which was designed to be a witness of God to the
people of the world.
The
New Testament Church began after the coming of Jesus the Messiah and
after the Jews were temporarily set aside as a people and nation from
God's plan, and centers around the people of God (Christians who have
trusted Christ from every nation, ethnic group, and language)
worshiping God (as the Church according to the New Testament) all
over the world (not in any one geographic area) living under secular
governments (subject to their laws unless those laws conflict with
the moral principles of Scripture) which is designed to be a witness
of God to the people of the world.
The
New Testament supersedes the Old Testament in the same way that a new law covering the same subject supersedes an old law, because
God has revealed Himself progressively over time.
Listen
to what the New Testament has to say about Christians and our
response to the enemies of God:
Luke
1:67) And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and
prophesied, saying, 68) "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for
He has visited and redeemed His people, 69) and has sent a Savior to
us in the house of His servant David, 70) as He spoke by the mouth
of His holy prophets, which He has sent since the world began, 71)
so that we could be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all
who hate us, 72) to perform the mercies promised to our fathers and
to remember His holy covenant, 73) the promise He swore to our
father Abraham 74) that He would grant unto us, so that we would be
delivered out of the hand of our enemies to serve him without fear,
75) in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our
life."
Matthew
5:43) You have heard that it has been said, 'You should love your
neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44) But I say to you, 'Love your
enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you,
and pray for those who treat you poorly and persecute you, 45) so
that you may show that you are children of your Father who is in
heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good and
sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46) For if you love those
who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even tax collectors do
that? 47) And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do
differently than others? Do not even tax collectors do that? 48)
Therefore you should be perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven
is perfect.
Romans
12:17) Do not pay back any man evil for evil. Act honestly in the
sight of all men. 18) If it is possible and to the extent it is up
to you, live peacefully with all men. 19) Dearly beloved, do not
avenge yourselves, but rather allow God to avenge you, for it is
written, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.' 20
Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him - if he is thirsty, give
him something to drink. For in doing this, you heap coals of fire on
his head. 21) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.
Mark
12:35) And while He taught in the temple, Jesus answered and said,
"How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
36) For David himself said by the Holy Spirit, The LORD said to my
Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool.
37) How could the Messiah be David's son and yet David still call
Him 'Lord?'" And the people heard him gladly.
These New Testament verses clearly indicate that Christians in a secular world are to respond differently to evil than Jews living in theocratic Israel were to respond under the Old Testament.
Do any of these New Testament verses change God's "holy hatred" for His enemies?
While these New Testament verses change the way Christians are supposed to respond to God's enemies, do they change the way we are supposed to feel inside about God's enemies?
12)
Psalm 139 concludes in verses 23-24 as David is overwhelmed by his
desire to know God forever.
23)
Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious
thoughts. 24) And see if there are any wicked ways in me. And lead
me in the way everlasting.
In
verses 23-24 David prays an astonishing prayer. David goes beyond
the initial theological truth of this Psalm (Verse 1:
"O LORD, You have studied me and You know me."), and now
gives God personal permission to point out his shortcomings so that
he might grow in his journey of eternal life.
Are
there shortcomings in your life that you need God to search and know?
What
are they?
Reread
verses 23-24 as a prayer to God to begin the journey towards moving
forward with God purely.
13)
In this Psalm, David was overwhelmed by God.
Are
you overwhelmed by God right now?
If
not, what will it take for God to overwhelm you?
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