“O LORD, you have searched me and known me!” Psalm 139:1 ESV
Reflection: how did David know so many intimate details about God?
I have many times pondered how the big figures of biblical history, like Abraham, Moses, David, and many others, knew so much about God. It is not like they had a lot of information they could look up, to read about who God is. They had some knowledge passed down by their ancestors and fathers. David, of course, would have had some of the Torah, specifically the first five books of the Bible, recorded (mostly by?) Moses. Yet, when we read David’s writings through the collection of psalms, we see such deep insights about who God is. Insights that people for many millennia have learned from, that even you and I today can read. Let’s look at the first few verses here of this beautiful psalm.
“O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” Psalm 139:1-6 ESV. Amazing, right? How did David come to such understanding? It is easy to brush that thought away, to say, “well, that was king David, who was special in the eyes of God”. That is all true, but I think it is perhaps too easy for us to just say that. They still were just people, like you and I.
Perhaps we see a clue in the last verse we read here, where David says “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” Psalm 139:6 ESV. David here is saying a couple of things, that, although he has some understanding of God, such as that God knows everything about him, including whether he is standing or sitting, the thought of how magnificent and almighty God is, is overwhelming to David as he is pondering all of this, calling it “too wonderful, too high”. But, notice here that, although he recognizes his limitations, it doesn’t stop him from trying to understand as he says “I cannot attain it”. That means he is trying, he is seeking to get to know God.
Let’s take a minute to read a bit more about what David learned about God, about his Lord, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:7-14 ESV Again, we see this stated as “knowledge”. David is not speculating about this. He knows. Which can only mean that God revealed himself to David; not in physical presence, but spiritually. David must have walked very closely with God, as the Lord continued to reveal even deeper insights, deeper truths about even creation. He writes “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” Psalm 139:15-18 ESV
I believe the Lord wants to tell each of His children today, that He is not far away. In fact, He is very near, as we can learn through this psalm. But even more importantly, we can experience for ourselves His nearness, His presence, as David did. Through Jeremiah, the Lord states, “You will seek me and find me, if you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 ESV. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. Matthew 5:8 ESV. David concluded this psalm, as he also knew purity of heart was necessary to see God “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” Psalm 139:23-24 ESV