THE PSALMS - ISRAEL’S PIETY

“O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me.

“Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up”(Psalm 139.1).

These words welcome the reader into the wonderful world of pure piety found in Psalm 139.

This psalm weaves the strands of a hymn and a prayer into a beautiful tapestry describing the believer’s relationship with God.

This psalm was recited during public worship in the temple.

But , it is so composed that every member in the temple could feel a personal and intimate relation with God.

Scholars say the psalm was intended to prepare the Israelite nation for God’s judgment. I do not see it that way. Every time I read this psalm I am filled with the sense of utter serenity and peace.

I feel I can abandon myself into God’s scrutiny and assessment.

For me God is all-powerful but his power becomes our strength. God is all-seeing but God sees us only in grace and mercy.

God is everlasting, but God regards us with the light of his eternity shining upon us from the radiance of Calvary’s Cross.

We can surrender ourselves to God in this wonderful psalm. “Even before a word is on my tongue you know what I am going to say”(Psalm 139. 4-6).

St Augustine voiced the same theme when he wrote:“O God, you have made us for yourself, and our souls know no rest until they find their rest in you.”

Knowing himself to be under God’s gentle gaze the psalmist indulges in a hypothetical ‘suppose’.

The psalmist asks himself: “Suppose I try to feel from God.” “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I go from thy presence?”

He imagines fleeing upwards to heaven, but God is there.

If he plunges down to Sheol, the dwelling place of the dead, God is there.

If he flees to the outer parts of the world, God is there.

The psalmist’s language is interesting at this point.

“If I take the wings of the morning and reach the uttermost parts of the sea.”God is still there.

The ancients believed that the sun rose on the“wings of the morning”, hence the psalmist’s choice of words.

Finally, the psalmist bids the darkness of night to cover him, only to discover that God still sees him.

For God is light and in God no darkness is found (Psalm 139.7-12).

Karl Barth, that theological giant once wrote in his diary before he retired to bed:“When we try to flee from God we only come closer to God.”

The next morning his family found he had passed away in his sleep.

The psalmist then digresses into an entirely different theme.

“Thou didst form me in my inward parts, and knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139.13).

The idea behind this verse is the certainty that God has created the psalmist for a special reason.

He has been created to fulfil God’s destiny and realise God’s purpose in his life.

The psalmist is simply thrilled at the prospect of fulfilling God’s destiny. “Wonderful are thy works. “How precious to me are thy thoughts. How vast is the sum of them”(Psalm 139 14-18).

This great but overlooked Biblical truth has a vital lesson for contemporary society.

Our God-given life has a purpose for us to fulfil.

“O, that thou wouldst slay the wicked”(Psalm 139.19-22).

These verses have always upset me.

No scholar’s explanation has softened their jarring effect.

They belong to the general theme of God’s judgement over the man’s wickedness.

But they do lead to the psalmist awareness of his own frailty.

He does realise that the eternal God sees him as a frail and erring mortal.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart.

“Test me and know my thoughts.

“And see if there be any wicked way in me”(Psalm 139.22-23).

The understanding being that if there is any wickedness in the contrite psalmist God would purge and cleanse him.

The psalm concludes with the great request which is also the deepest yearning of our soul.

“Lead me in the way everlasting”(Psalm 139.24).