Bible Commentary

Psalms 139

Psalms 139 — Overview

Little Bible — for children and parents · Growth Figures · © Growth Figures. All rights reserved.

David marvels at the wonder of God's total knowledge of him — God knows when he sits and rises, every word before he speaks it, and His presence fills every place. There is nowhere David can go that God is not there. God formed David in his mother's womb with care and skill. David is fearfully and wonderfully made. He ends by asking God to search and know his heart.

God knows everything about you — every thought, every word, every part of how He made you — and He loves what He made. You are not an accident. You were carefully and wonderfully made by God, and He knows you completely.

Psalm 139 is perhaps the most intimate psalm in the Psalter — a meditation on God's omniscience and omnipresence not as threats but as comforts. For children this psalm is formative in two ways: (1) identity — 'You are known, seen, and made with care' (v13-16 are crucial for children's self-understanding in a world that often makes them feel insignificant); (2) security — 'There is nowhere I can go where God is not' (v7-12 answer fear of abandonment). Note that the 'fearfully' in v14 means 'with reverence and awe' — God made humans as His most remarkable work. Verse 23-24 is a model prayer of self-examination: David invites God to search and know him, not as a threat but as an act of trust. For children: focus on vv1-6 (God knows me), vv13-14 (God made me), and vv23-24 (I can trust God with my whole heart).

God knows your name, your thoughts, your favourite things — He knows everything about you and He LOVES you! You are not an accident. God made you carefully and wonderfully, and there is nowhere you can go where God is not right there with you.

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Psalms 139 — OverviewPsalms 139 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleSome of the Jewish doctors are of opinion that this is the most excellent of all the psalms of David; and a very pious devout meditation it is upon the doctrine of God's omniscience, which we should therefore…Psalms 139 — OverviewPsalms 139 · Treasury of Scripture KnowledgePsalms 139:1, David praises God for his all-seeing providence; Psalms 139:17, and for his infinite mercies; Psalms 139:19, He defies the wicked; Psalms 139:23, He prays for sincerity. This Psalm is supposed to have been…Psalms 139 — OverviewPsalms 139 · John Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleTo the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm was written by David, when he lay under the reproach and calumnies of men, who laid false things to his charge; things he was not conscious of either in the time of…Psalms 139:1-6Psalms 139:1-6 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleDavid here lays down this great doctrine, That the God with whom we have to do has a perfect knowledge of us, and that all the motions and actions both of our inward and of our outward man are naked and open…Psalms 139:1Psalms 139:1 · The Pulpit CommentaryO Lord, thou hast searched me; rather, hast searched me out; i.e. examined into all my thoughts and feelings (comp. Psalms 17:3). And known me; i.e. arrived at a full knowledge of my spiritual condition.Psalms 139:1Psalms 139:1 · The Pulpit CommentaryThe Divine inspection. "Searched;" the figure is "winnowed" or "sifted." "Before men we stand as opaque bee-hives. They can see the thoughts go in and out of us, but what work they do inside of a man they cannot tell.…