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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadSpurgeon Verse Expositions - Psalms 139:1 - 139:18
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Psa_139:1. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
“Thou hast explored me, as men dig in mines, and make subterranean excavations. Thou hast searched into my secret parts, and known me.”
Psa_139:2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,
“My simplest acts, those which I scarcely premeditated.”
Psa_139:2. Thou understandest my thought afar off.
“Before I think it, when I think it, and when I forget it, thou dost understand my every thought.”
Psa_139:3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down,
Making a ring around me, so that I am entirely under thine observation. My roving and my resting are both known to thee.”
Psa_139:3. And art acquainted with all my ways.
“My habits, and the exceptions from my habits, are all known to thee.”
Psa_139:4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
“When it is in my tongue, and not spoken, like a seed sown, hidden away, not yet sprouted, thou, O Jehovah, knowest it altogether!”
Psa_139:5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
“I am like a prisoner, with guards before me and behind me, and the officer’s hand upon my shoulder all the while. Thou hast arrested me, O Lord; I can never get away from thee.”
Psa_139:6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain up to it.
“I believe it, but I cannot understand it; even my imagination cannot picture it to me.”
Psa_139:7. Wither shall I go from thy spirit?
“If I want to do so, if I desire to avoid thee, where can I go to escape from thine omnipresent Spirit?”
Psa_139:7-8. Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
The true glory of that bright world.
Psa_139:8. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
“The terror of that place of woe, in the land of death-shadow and darkness, thou art living, whoever else is dead. If I make my abode in Hades, in Hell, thou art there.”
Psa_139:9-10. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me,
“If the breath of the morning breeze should bear me far away across the pathless sea, thou art there before me; if I ride upon a flash of light, thou art swifter than the sunbeam: even there shall thy hand lead me.” The lone missionary in the furthest parts of the earth is led by God. When, he knows not his way, God leads him; and when he has no companion to cheer him Gods hand upholds him. What a comfort to any of you who have to journey far away from your kindred! You cannot be alone, for God is there; be of good comfort, and go as bravely as if you walked the crowded streets of this great city.
Psa_139:10-12. And thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
It is impossible to conceive that God should need the light in order to see. He can see as well in the midnight shades as in the blaze of noon. Let no man think that he may sin in secret, because he is not seen of the eye of man; God’s eye is on him in the dark as much as in the light.
Psa_139:13-14. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
He was no agnostic, he never dreamed of being a know-nothing.
Psa_139:15-17. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
How sweet to be thought of by God! How charming and how cheering to be the perpetual object of the Lord’s thoughts! The psalmist does not tell us how precious are God’s thoughts; but he sets a note of admiration to them: “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!” He does not try to calculate the total of their value; but he says, “How great is the sum of them!”
Psa_139:18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
“Thou hast thought of me when I was asleep, and when I wake, I think of thee.” Happy living, happy dying, to feel that, if we never wake again on earth, we shall wake up with God! How precious it is to think that when good and useful men fall asleep, when they awake, they are for ever with the Lord! Our turn will come soon, my brothers and sisters. May it be our portion to die in harness, and to be taken away while yet we have the light of God’s sustenance resting upon our work!