Psalm 139

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

• Psalm 139:1-24

Type of Psalm

Psalms of praise: Exactly as stated.  God is being praised.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“Some of the Jewish doctors are of opinion that this is the most excellent of all the psalms of David; and a very pious devout meditation it is upon the doctrine of God’s omniscience, which we should therefore have our hearts fixed upon and filled with in singing this psalm. I. This doctrine is here asserted, and fully laid down, ver. 1-6. II. It is confirmed by two arguments:—1. God is every where present; therefore he knows all, ver. 7-12. 2. He made us, therefore he knows us, ver. 13-16. III. Some inferences are drawn from this doctrine. 1. It may fill us with pleasing admiration of God, ver. 17, 18. 2. With a holy dread and detestation of sin and sinners, ver. 19-22. 3. With a holy satisfaction in our own integrity, concerning which we may appeal to God, ver. 23-24. This great and self-evident truth, That God knows our hearts, and the hearts of all the children of men, if we did but mix faith with it and seriously consider it and apply it, would have a great influence upon our holiness and upon our comfort.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 139:13-14 “In spite of popular opinion, we are not the products of evolution. David affirms that God had not only created him, but he had actually knit [him] together (139:13). You, too, are a work of art that God put together by hand. You have been wondrously made (139:14). So no matter the circumstances surrounding your conception, your existence is intentional. You are not a mistake, for God makes no mistakes. You are created in the image of God (see Gen 1:27) with purpose and meaning. This truth is to be the foundation for a person’s self-worth and self-esteem.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary

My Thoughts

This psalm is attributed to David.

God has searched us and He knows us.  He knows us from the outside and the inside.  He knows where we are going.  He knows every word we say before we say it, indeed, before we think it.  He has us hemmed in on all sides.

God’s hand is upon us, even if we sneak out early or get up late.  We cannot hide from God in neither shadows nor darkness.

God has fearfully and wonderfully made us, knitting us in the womb.  A noted anatomist has spoken about the placenta, under a microscope, looks like a carefully knitted sweater.

But then, if God would only…

If God would destroy the wicked, life would be wonderful.

I think David is not personifying the wicked people here as much as their actions.  There is always that moment in any “perfect” day when something goes haywire due to someone else’s careless action or words.

There will be a day when things are made perfect, but not in this lifetime.

Psalm 140

Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers;
    protect me from the violent,
who devise evil plans in their hearts
    and stir up war every day.
They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;
    the poison of vipers is on their lips.
Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
    protect me from the violent,
    who devise ways to trip my feet.
The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;
    they have spread out the cords of their net
    and have set traps for me along my path.
I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”
    Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy.
Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer,
    you shield my head in the day of battle.
Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord;
    do not let their plans succeed.
Those who surround me proudly rear their heads;
    may the mischief of their lips engulf them.
May burning coals fall on them;
    may they be thrown into the fire,
    into miry pits, never to rise.
May slanderers not be established in the land;
    may disaster hunt down the violent.
I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor
    and upholds the cause of the needy.
Surely the righteous will praise your name,
    and the upright will live in your presence.

• Psalm 140:1-13

Type of Psalm

Psalms of Affliction: Psalms where the psalmist is crying out in pain or distress, asking God where He is in the psalmist’s time of need.  But no matter how dire the circumstances or how long the lament, there seems to always be a word of praise.  Otherwise, why do we go to God in such times, other than to recognize Him as the only one who can help us?

Imprecatory psalms: Asking for vengeance against enemies.  From the two examples above, these requests for vengeance are usually not specific in how God does it.  I have written about this type of psalm or prayer in that they are legitimate requests to God.  We know that God will eventually stamp out all evil in the world.  Praying that God would do as He promises that He will eventually do is legitimate, but when a face is applied to that evil, our first reaction should be one of forgiveness and mercy.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“This and the four following psalms are much of a piece, and the scope of them the same with many that we met with in the beginning and middle of the book of Psalms, though with but few of late. They were penned by David (as it should seem) when he was persecuted by Saul; one of them is said to be his ‘prayer when he was in the cave,’ and it is probable that all the rest were penned about the same time. In this psalm, I. David complains of the malice of his enemies, and prays to God to preserve him from them, ver. 1-5. II. He encourages himself in God as his God, ver. 6, 7. III. He prays for, and prophesies, the destruction of his persecutors, ver. 8-11. IV. He assures all God’s afflicted people that their troubles would in due time end well (ver. 12, 13), with which assurance we must comfort ourselves, and one another, in singing this psalm.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 140:6 “’I said to the LORD: ‘You are my God.’ David rejoiced in the fact that he had already said that Jehovah was his God. He was content to have committed himself, and he had no wish to draw back. The Lord was David’s own by deliberate choice, to which he again sets his seal with delight. The wicked reject God, but the righteous receive Him as their own, their treasure, their plea-sure, their light and delight. ‘Hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD.’ The prayers of saints have a voice in them; they are expressive pleadings even when they sound like inarticulate moanings. The Lord can discern a voice in our waiting, and He can and will listen to it. Because He is God He can hear us; because He is our God He will hear us. As long as the Lord hears us we are content. The answer may be according to His own will, but we do entreat to be heard. A soul in distress is grateful to any-one who will be kind and patient enough to hearken to its tale, but specially is it thankful for an audience with Jehovah.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon and the Psalms

My Thoughts

This psalm is attributed to David.

This psalm is almost a follow-up to the ending of the previous psalm.

David lamented that God has not dealt with the wicked, but here, David is pleading with God to rescue him from the wicked, to keep him safe from their snares.

The wicked have sharp tongues.  The wicked use violence.

But then, maybe their lips can engulf themselves.  May they have burning coals heaped upon them.  May slanderers not have a home here and those who use violence should be hunted by distress.

The imprecatory words are general.  They are directed toward the wicked, deceitful, and violent.  We would all love a world where those actions are irradicated.

The psalm ends with praising God and recognizing that God protects the poor and needy.

Psalm 141

I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me;
    hear me when I call to you.
May my prayer be set before you like incense;
    may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
    keep watch over the door of my lips.
Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil
    so that I take part in wicked deeds
along with those who are evildoers;
    do not let me eat their delicacies.
Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness;
    let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head.
My head will not refuse it,
    for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.
Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs,
    and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.
They will say, “As one plows and breaks up the earth,
    so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”
But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord;
    in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.
Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers,
    from the snares they have laid for me.
Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
    while I pass by in safety.

• Psalm 141:1-10

Type of Psalm

Psalms of Affliction: Psalms where the psalmist is crying out in pain or distress, asking God where He is in the psalmist’s time of need.  But no matter how dire the circumstances or how long the lament, there seems to always be a word of praise.  Otherwise, why do we go to God in such times, other than to recognize Him as the only one who can help us?

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“David was in distress when he penned this psalm, pursued, it is most likely, by Saul, that violent man. Isa. any distressed? Let him pray; David did so, and had the comfort of it. I. He prays for God’s favourable acceptance, ver. 1, 2. II. For his powerful assistance, ver. 3, 4. III. That others might be instrumental of good to his soul, as he hoped to be to the souls of others, ver. 5, 6. IV. That he and his friends being now brought to the last extremity God would graciously appear for their relief and rescue, ver. 7-10. The mercy and grace of God are as necessary to us as they were to him, and therefore we should be humbly earnest for them in singing this psalm.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 141:2 “’Let my prayer be set before You as incense.’ We are not to look upon prayer as easy work requiring no thought. It needs to be set forth; what is more, it must be set forth before the Lord. ‘The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.’ Certainly work, or the lifting up of the hands in labor, is prayer if it is done in dependence upon God and for His glory. There is a hand prayer as well as a heart prayer, and our desire is that this may be sweet unto the Lord as the sacrifice of eventide. Holy hope, the lifting up of hands that hang down, is also a kind of worship; may it ever be accept-able with God. The psalmist makes a bold request: he would have his humble cries and prayers be as much regarded of the Lord as the appointed morning and evening sacrifices of the holy place. Yet the prayer is by no means too bold, for after all the spiritual is in the Lord’s esteem higher than the ceremonial, and the calves of the lips are a truer sacrifice than the calves of the stall.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon and the Psalms

My Thoughts

This psalm is attributed to David.

David prays that God will hear him.

David needs protection, but the protection is against himself.

David wants God to protect his mouth so that evil words do not escape his lips.  David wants his heart and mind to be pure so that no evil can be thought of, much less done.

David encourages rebuke for doing wrong.  Correction by the righteous is encouraged, but he cannot stand the actions of evildoers.

The wicked leaders should be thrown off cliffs.  Not listed in the imprecatory verses, but rather a strong call for God to act.

But then, David focuses his gaze upon the Lord.  With our eyes on Jesus, we can let the evildoers fall into their own snares, for God will protect us.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Psalm 139

“1. Do you ever feel like escaping God’s scrutiny? God’s expectations? God’s restrictions on you? What do you do?
“2. If God is so omnipresent, why do so many people not believe in God? Can non-believers escape God more easily than believers?
“3. Is there a ‘dark’ situation in your life? How can it be brought into God’s light?
“4. Has God ‘ordained’ all your days (see Jer 1:5)? What does this mean? What doesn’t it mean?
“5. Do you ask God to check your motives? What happens? Does God correct you with an internal voice or do you need the feedback of others? Can the group serve as a loving voice of accountability? Why or why not?
“6. Does any human relationship in some way resemble your relationship with God? How?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Psalm 140

“1. Who or what is your greatest enemy? What ensnares you, keeps you from following the path God has set out for you? From reaching your own goals and dreams? What would you like God to do?
“2. In what circumstances is violence appropriate? What do you make of Jesus’ refusal to defend himself (see Mt 26:51-52)? Why was Peter out of line?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Psalm 141

“1. What temptations are hard for you to overcome? Can God actually ‘guard’ you, ‘keep watch’ over you? Or do you tend to go it alone? Who else can help you keep your heart from being drawn to evil?
“2. Do you get defensive easily? How can you receive good feedback on your spiritual growth?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There is one set of questions for each of these psalms.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.