Creator, Father, King #130

O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.

THESE DAYS, WE GO to great lengths for virtual privacy—and rightfully so. Identity theft is a big deal.

The world is teeming with scoundrels who would love to know your personal information for nefarious purposes. So we password-protect everything. We carefully monitor our financial accounts, social security numbers, and other sensitive personal information. We put our credit cards in safety sleeves to guard against “electronic pickpocketing.”

But what if there was someone who knew everything about you—your name, what you look like, your address, family life, favorite dessert, biggest pet peeve, worst fear . . . EVERYTHING. If that person was a stranger, that would be creepy.

But what if that someone was perfectly good and used that knowledge to consistently bless you—both now and for all eternity? Imagine that!

Well, that’s exactly what Psalm 139 is all about.

What’s It Mean?

In other psalms, David marvels at God’s creation, his majesty, and his faithfulness to Israel, to name just a few topics. In Psalm 139, he expresses awe at how the Lord of heaven and earth knows every detail about him.

God is holy and highly exalted. His greatness is beyond human description. Yet he is also a God who is intimately involved with his children, even before they were born. As David proclaims in verse 13, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.” God even knows all our thoughts (verse 2) and each word we speak before we say it (verse 4).

The Lord’s sovereign, loving care lasts throughout our lifetime. “Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (verse 16).

In verse 7, David confesses, “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!” To the wicked, this might seem scary or oppressive. To the righteous, this is wonderfully reassuring.

God’s loving knowledge of you is profound. It should overwhelm you—in a good way! Like David, you should walk away from Psalm 139 utterly dumbstruck by God’s steadfast commitment to you. It should cause you to echo David’s words in verse 6: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!”

Now What?

Read through Psalm 139—slowly and prayerfully—thanking God for his intimate knowledge of you.

Did You Know?

Like Psalm 139:13-16, Job 10:8-12 speaks of God’s intimate design of each human being before they are born.