Personal Reflection on Psalm 139:1-6

Verse 1. O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.

Verse 2. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

Verse 3. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.

Verse 4. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.

Verse 5. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.

Verse 6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!

Verse 1 - O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.

There’s no hiding from our omniscient God, maker of heaven and earth, who commands heaven’s armies. He sees within me even those things that I don’t know are in there. The fact that He still loves me, has always loved me, created me intentionally despite pre-knowledge of all the ways that I would mess up, sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally, also knowing the ways that I would value being faithful to Him, that I would follow and obey Him as a priority, that I would seek Him and love Him – He knows all of that. He knows everything about me.

Verse 3B – You know everything I do. 

Not what everyone else sees me doing. Everything that I do, He knows. It reminds me that what I do matters. It reminds me that I want to please Him in everything I do.

There are lots of Scriptures that talk about eternal rewards, and this rather sobering one:

2 Corinthians 5: 9&10 – So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

Verse 4 - You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.

No wonder David wrote this in Psalm 19:14 – May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

For me, this is especially meaningful. I smile when I write this, but it’s sort of a – yeah, this is a tough one for me – kind of smile.

Talking – my Achilles heel, my weak (or should I say STRONG) spot, a continuous strength and also trouble for me.

Instinctive tendency to speak pointedly and directly? Absolutely. Useful? Seldom.

A phrase I coined some years ago – “With awareness comes accountability.”

At one point I realized (there’s the awareness mentioned above) that there are few people who tolerate, much less thrive on direct communication, from me or from anyone. I still wanted and needed to interact with them. Thus began a long-term-likely-til-I-die decision to be more careful, to encourage them with the cookie-problem-cookie thing, to remind myself to smile, to stop and think before I speak (nearly impossible at times but not totally), and so on. I hold myself accountable for this.

And I pray Ephesians 4:29 over myself as I travel to be around people. It sounds like this: “Lord, let no unwholesome talk come out of my mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may encourage those who listen.”

My car is my sanctuary. I pray this verse because I am aware that the manner in which I speak really matters. Without God’s help, my natural manner can be off-putting, and that is completely counter-productive to my purpose, and the last thing that I want.

Remember verse 4? “You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.”

Yes, He knows what I’m going to say before I even know what I’m going to say!

That makes the following verse nothing but comfort:

Verse 5A - You go before me and follow me.

Sometimes I remember to ask Him to go before me and prepare the way, but often I forget. He still goes before me.

Sometimes I look back at what I’ve said and second-guess parts of it and have sometimes gotten stuck on, “Did I offend?” but He follows behind and sees if there’s a problem. I have learned to ask the Lord to redeem my words, to give them His meaning and not cause offense, to accomplish His purpose. I trust Him with it, learn from it if I need to, and move ahead.

But wait, there’s more!

Verse 5B - You place your hand of blessing on my head.

Commentaries suggest that this was an expression of God’s love and care for David, the hand of grace. This is beautiful to me.

Do you see my connection? God knows that my manner and words can come across as not what I intend, and so His hand gently covers my head in love and appreciation. And so, I say with David, in awe and humility, in my need, in my overwhelming gratitude –

Verse 6 – Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!

And my heart kneels before my Lord.

Lyrics come to mind from an old Andre Crouch song:

               How can I say thanks for the things you have done for me,

               Things so undeserved Yet you give to prove your love for me.

               The voices of a million angels Could not express my gratitude.

               All that I am and ever hope to be I owe it all to Thee.

               To God be the glory, To God be the glory, To God be the glory

               For the things He has done.

               With His blood, He has saved me, With His power, He has raised me.

               To God be the glory For the things he has done.

               Just let me live my life, Let it be pleasing, Lord to Thee,

               And should I gain any praise, Let it go to Calvary.

I’m so thankful that the One who knows me best loves me most.

I’m thankful that He knows what I’m going to say before I know what I’m going to say,

that He goes before me, and He follows behind.

I’m amazed and so grateful that He places His hand of blessing on my head.

As David said, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand.