DUNCAN/He knows me, and still loves me

If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Psalm 139. This psalm is a cure for small thoughts of God. Though it is so personal and though it speaks in terms of God’s knowledge of and presence with us, the ultimate focus of Psalm 139 is on God Himself, on who God is. It’s who God is that comforts the psalmist. He is stunned by the thought that the God of the universe who created everything and knows everything and is everywhere and is completely, spotlessly pure and holy, knows him, is near to him, made him, and loves him. That God who created him knows everything about him, the good and the bad, and He still loves him. 

God’s Knowledge

First, His knowledge. In verses 1 to 6 the psalmist draws our attention to the God who sees and knows. He’s amazed not just at the reality that God knows absolutely everything, but that God sees and knows him personally. “You have searched me and known me. Even before a word is on my tongue You know it altogether.” This realization has thrilled the people of God from the beginning of time. Do you remember Abraham on Mount Moriah? He’s lifted the knife to plunge it into the body of his only son, Isaac, and a voice calls out from heaven and says, “Do not touch that boy.” And the next thing that Abraham sees is a ram caught in a thicket and the Lord instructs him to substitute his son with that ram and sacrifice the ram in his son’s place. And do you remember Abraham’s response? His heart sings to God. And what does he call God? Yahweh-Yireh. What does that title of God mean? “God sees.” He’s singing; this father’s heart that was moments before breaking at the thought of the loss of his only begotten son is now saying, “Lord, You see. You saw this father’s heart. You saw the need for the substitute. You knew what it was that my heart was crying out for, and You provided.” The knowledge that God knows your deepest desire ought to evoke praise. Do you know that is true for every single one of us? He sees and knows your deepest and unfulfilled desires of your heart. 

God’s Presence 

Then in verses 7 to 12 the psalmist meditates on the fact that there’s no where he can go to escape God’s presence. The Lord is always there. “Where shall I go from Your spirit or where shall I flee from your presence?” It’s a problem that many of us have, isn’t it? We flee from the presence of God seeking to find somewhere else things that can only be found in Him. The psalmist is remembering that there’s absolutely nowhere that he can go where God is not there.

And he says something in verse 8 that is beyond his knowing. Did you catch it? “If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.” Now that’s an amazing statement because in Hebrew theology, Sheol was a place where there is no praising of God. It is the end of days; it is nothingness. And the psalmist says, “Even in Sheol You are there.” And I just want you to think about that a little bit because the glory of the Gospel is that that verse is truer than David ever could have understood when he said it. Do you understand that you worship and serve a God whom you can ask, “What is death like?” and Jesus can tell you what death is like because He knows Sheol? He has been under the power of death for three days. He knows what it’s like. He’s been there before you. You worship a God who is immortal and invisible, but He knows what death is like personally. No wonder our catechism celebrates the fact that our union with Christ is not severed by death and that our bodies rest in the graves as in their beds and we are asleep in Jesus because He has already tasted death for us. There’s no place that we can go where He’s not already there waiting for us.

God’s Creation

Then he marvels at God’s intricate creation of Him. In verses 13 to 18, the God who “makes and shapes me,” moves him to praise. “You formed by 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 well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.” It’s not just God’s creation in general; it’s His creation of him. “Lord, You made me, You put me together, You built me. You know what I’m like inside and out. No student of anatomy understands me the way that You understand me. Lord, You invented the anatomy. You put me together in the first place.” And so, God’s knowledge of him moves him to praise in verses 1 to 6, God’s presence moves him to praise in verses 7 to 12, and God’s creation of him moves him to praise in verses 13 to 18.

God’s Holiness 

But then in verses 19 to 24 it is the aspect of God’s holiness that has his attention because God not only sees and knows, not only pursues and is present with him, not only made and shaped him, but the God who did these things is just and pure. “Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Men of blood depart from me!” And suddenly you know exactly the context in which David is writing this psalm. Here’s David, once again in trouble. And here he is in Psalm 139 surrounded by wicked men who want to do him in. And he speaks very strong words, doesn’t he, in verses 21 and following? “Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? Do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with a complete hatred. I count them my enemies.” The holiness of God has permeated David’s heart in such a way that his sole desire is for the name of the Lord to be exalted — That the name of God would be praised. So much so that the enemies of God are enemies of David. 

But notice the final verses of the psalm, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” After calling out the enemies of God, the psalmist closes with an examination of his own heart. The Lord knows his thoughts, and even amid his own sin, the Lord is the source of the psalmist’s comfort. It is God’s own holiness demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Christ that has led the Christian in the way of everlasting. May God comfort us with Himself and His own character in our troubles through His knowledge, His nearness, His creation, and His holiness.

Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III is Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson.