Psalm 139
If you and I want to honor our mothers on Mother’s Day, we will need to listen to them carefully. They have much to say to us if we would just pay close attention. Many of us will not have that privilege of speaking to our mothers personally today. Perhaps they have passed on, or perhaps they have a disability that renders them unable to communicate. Nevertheless, the Scriptures give us a great deal of parental wisdom which our mothers want us to understand. For instance, the Book of Proverbs speaks in a parental manner: more than twenty times, you will find the direct address, “My son …”
So in preparation for this message, I tried to contemplate what it would be like if each one of our mothers could stand in this pulpit this morning to encourage us. We have mothers here who are hoping that their children will listen carefully. They will try not to jab you with their elbows during the message; nevertheless, they are hoping that you will pay close attention. So this message is not so much to mothers as from mothers on this Mother’s Day, 2021.
Our main text today is in verses 11-18, but we need to consider this passage in its context:
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,” even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hides not from thee, but the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 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: Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knows right well. 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 imperfect, 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! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: When I awake, I am still with Thee. (Psalm 139:11-18)
Conflict in Context
In verses 19-22, David described the bloody, wicked men who hate God. In our own increasingly violent and casually murderous society, what do we need to know? We need to know that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil (John 3:19). But the fact is that even our secret sins are in the light of God’s presence (Psalm 90:8). Psalm 139 helps us to clearly understand the light of God’s presence. And it helps us to cry out to God with the words, “search me, try me and lead me.”
From his opening line in Psalm 139, the psalmist praised God’s omniscience – that God knows all. Beginning with verse 1, David magnified the Lord who had searched him and known him. God knows and understands everything about us, including our thoughts (v. 2). In verse 3, David introduced God’s omnipresence – that He is everywhere present at once. Like the winnowing wind that surrounds the wheat and separates it from the chaff, the Lord surrounds us; He is well-acquainted with all of our ways. And His understanding of all people surpasses even a mother’s understanding of her own children. In a tribute to my mother[i] in 2009, I described the way that my mother could see my problems and confront me. But our Maker knows far more about us than any one of our mothers. The Lord knows our words and our ways (vs. 4-5). He surrounds us in the present as He has in the past and will surround us in the future. The Apostle Paul probably had this in mind when he declared, “For in Him, we live and move and have our being …” (Acts 17:28). God’s surpassing knowledge is wonderful, and far above our power to comprehend (v. 6). And this raises a series of important questions for all of us: Where could you go to get away from God’s presence? Could you flee from Him in heaven, or in the grave, or in the uttermost part of the earth? No. And these questions lead us into our text in verses 11-18.
An Encouragement to Mothers
For the mothers who are listening to or reading this message, there is encouragement. The next generation is paying attention. This week, my wife and I traveled with our Heritage Christian School seniors on the first part of their senior trip. In anticipation of this message, I asked them to describe what they see in Psalm 139. They understand that there are hateful people who are trying to destroy lives. But they also understand that God is searching our hearts, and that it is comforting to think about this. Yes, it is terrifying when we try to hide from God, but reassuring and comforting when we are seeking Him. In any case, we are not here by accident, and the Lord is very well acquainted with the difficulties we face. He protects us and cares for us.
On this Mother’s Day, what can we learn from verses 11-18?
I. The Lord is always present and He sees everything about you. You can’t hide in the darkness. 11-12
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,” even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hides not from thee, but the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Yes, men love darkness rather than light; they are hoping that the night will hide them from God’s light. But it is a vain hope. Even the darkness is light to Him. With the invention of night vision scopes, we now understand that there are spectrums of light that we cannot see with our eyes. But God sees all. Proverbs 20:12 makes this connection for us: “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, The Lord has made even both of them.” If you can see or hear, please recognize that the Creator gave you the ability to do so. And His ability to see and hear is far beyond what we could even comprehend. Such knowledge causes us to cry out, “Lord, search me, try me and lead me!”
II. The Lord made you and He covers you; He did so even in your mother’s womb. 13-16
Earlier in the psalm, David magnified the Lord’s omniscience and omnipresence. In these verses, David glorified God’s omnipotence – His all-powerfulness. And the psalmist pointed to God’s power at work in your body; this is the body that He is loaning to you at this very moment. And the Master’s wonders were on display even in your mother’s womb.
- He deserves praise from you because of His awe-inspiring work; He made your body in a wonderful manner. 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: marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knows right well.
On this Mother’s Day, it’s important to recognize that God made your body. He wove His masterpiece in your mother’s womb. When understood rightly, this is an awe-inspiring process that helps you to contemplate the wonders of God.
Dr. Richard Swenson gives us a little glimpse of just how complex our bodies really are: “The body contains between 10 and 100 trillion cells (and each cell contains approximately a trillion atoms). These cells, like just about everything else in the body, are continually being torn down, remodeled and replaced. Think of it like this: If your body were a house, and the house were the size of Texas, imagine knocking down the walls in a million rooms every second and hastily rebuilding them again with new materials. Every couple of days we replace all the cells that line the intestine – faster if we eat Mexican food. Every couple of weeks we replace all the cells of the skin – where do you think all that house dust comes from? Every seven years we replace the entire skeleton.”[ii] Swenson goes on to say, “The mystery of cell functions is both stunning and inspiring.”[iii] The psalmist expressed this amazing mystery with the words “fearfully and wonderfully made.”
- On some level, you know this to be true. Like the psalmist, you have to admit that your soul knows this very well. 14
This is why Paul declared that every man is “without excuse” (Romans 1:20). In some manner, we all recognize God’s eternal power and divinity because we are His created beings.
- He knows everything about every part of your body, soul and being. Your conception and birth is a reminder about God’s beautiful creation. 15
Every single one of your trillions of cells contain DNA. DNA is part of what David referred to as “the substance” of your body in verse 15:
“My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.”
If you unwound all the DNA from a single cell and tied it together, it would stretch out to more than 5 feet. But it would only be 50 trillionths of an inch wide.[iv] “For each organism, the components of these slender threads encode all the information necessary for building and maintaining life, from simple bacteria to remarkably complex human beings.”[v] By using the expression “curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth,” the psalmist connected conception to the creation. At creation, “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). And each new baby in the womb reminds us of the creation of man at the beginning of the world.
- In fact, God designed everything about you in advance and carried through on His wonder-filled blueprint for you. 16
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
The more we understand about science, the better we recognize that the human body was built by a blueprint; it is not the product of random chance. According to Scripture, everything about you was written in “God’s book” before you were even born.
God even prepared a body for the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:5). Using His body, Jesus did the will of God and “we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:7-10). He gave Himself for His created human beings in order that they might be a new creation in Christ. Through the sacrifice of Himself in His death, burial and resurrection, we can be saved for all eternity. It is so important to cry out, “Lord, search me, try me and lead me!”
III. The Lord’s thoughts toward you as an individual are very precious. Each new day gives you ample opportunity to contemplate His innumerable, gracious thoughts toward you. 17-18
“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: When I awake, I am still with thee.”
Applications: How should we apply Psalm 139?
It’s important to remember that the blessed meaning of this psalm will be challenged by bloody men. Remember that your life is a gift from God to be used for His purposes.
Knowing that even our secret sins are in the light of His presence (Psalm 90:8) how should we apply this psalm? It’s important to remember that the darkness does not hide us from Him (v. 11-12).
David himself gave us three quick applications of this psalm in verses 23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Here are three quick applications: Search me, Try me and Lead me.
Search me
This psalm began with the understanding that the Lord has already searched us. In His omniscience, He already knows everything about us. In verse 23, the psalmist is accepting this and agreeing to it. In fact, he is eager for the Lord to search His ways. Think of yourself like a mine, full of precious ore. Many of our young people have not even begun to tap their vast potential to understand what the Lord has placed within them. They can waste their precious potential as many have. But they could turn to the Lord and say, “Lord search me.” Doing so would be like asking the Lord to be the mining engineer to bring their treasured talents out into the open. Asking Him to search you helps you escape from your own self-deception (Jeremiah 17:9-10).
Try me
David asked the Lord to test his life to see if there were any wicked ways in him. Mining ore in its raw form is not very useful. But through the crushing and smelting process, the ore becomes truly valuable. Ask the Lord to try you so that you don’t waste your precious potential. Yes, this may involve fiery trials, but the result will be highly prized talents and treasures that are extremely useful for the Lord.
Lead me
During the California Gold Rush, prospectors would sometimes dig out as much as $10,000 per day out of their mines. But guess how much those same prospectors would lose gambling at the faro tables that same night? They lost it all thinking “there was plenty more where that came from.” But the gold veins ran out, and they returned home without a penny. So it’s not only important to ask the Lord to search you and to try you, but also to lead you in His everlasting way. Don’t waste your life. Life is too short to be shallow.
On this Mother’s Day, 2021, I know that I speak for every mother who would encourage you to live up to your full potential. Why not draw on the amazing power of God’s omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence to say with the psalmist: “Lord, search me, try me and lead me?”
Pastor Gordon Dickson, Calvary Baptist Church, Findlay, Ohio www.cbcfindlay.org
[i] A Tribute to My Mother, Lena Ruth Dickson, accessed at https://wwtEw.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=55111037312
[ii] Richard A. Swenson, More Than Meets the Eye, Fascinating Glimpses of God’s Power and Design. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2000, pp. 20-21.
[iii] Ibid. p. 21
[iv] Primer on Molecular Genetics, Human Genome Project, the United States Department of Energy, June 1992 accessed at https://web.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/publicat/primer2001/primer.pdf
[v] Ibid.
