Psalm 139 (NIV)

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ You have searched me, Lord,

  and you know me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;

  you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³ You discern my going out and my lying down;

  you are familiar with all my ways.

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue

  you, Lord, know it completely.

⁵ You hem me in behind and before,

  and you lay your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

  too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?

  Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

  if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

  if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,

  your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

  and the light become night around me,”

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;

  the night will shine like the day,

  for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;

  you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

  your works are wonderful,

  I know that full well.

¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;

  all the days ordained for me were written in your book

  before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!

  How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸ Were I to count them,

  they would outnumber the grains of sand—

  when I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!

  Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;

  your adversaries misuse your name.

²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,

  and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

²² I have nothing but hatred for them;

  I count them my enemies.

²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;

  test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,

  and lead me in the way everlasting.

“Who am I?

They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine.”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

• God knows you.

(Jeremiah 1:5, Isaiah 37:28, Romans 11:33)

• God is near to you.

(Jonah 2:2, Isaiah 43:1-2)

• God is attentive to you.

(Luke 12:6-7, Luke 15:1-7)

• How do we live in the divine reality of a God like this?

(Isaiah 55:8-9, 1 Corinthians 1:15-20, 1 Peter 2:9-10)

Psalm 139 “reflects an understanding of the human as enclosed 

in divine reality.” (James L. Mays, Psalms)

Next Steps: Focus your 15 minutes alone with God by journaling on Psalm 139

Ideas for journaling.

• Day 1: Write out Psalm 139 in your journal slowly, pausing to let the words sink into your heart.
• Day 2: Journal and pray. How did the Psalmist, David, experience God personally?
• Day 3: Journal and pray. What calls your attention in Psalm 139?
• Day 4: Journal and pray. How have you experienced God’s nearness or how have you longed for it?
• Day 5: Reflect/Journal on Psalm 139 as being “enclosed in the divine reality of Christ”. How does this change your personal commitments or your shared life with others? Then, read Psalm 139 slowly, as a prayer for your life, the church, and the world.