Aware, Available, Able

“Aware, Available, Able”

Psalm 139

Introduction

Music plays an important role in most everyone’s life. Music not only expresses our innermost soul but is able to move it as well. Most movies would have little impact without the music. Music expresses the depths of agony to the heights of ecstasy and everything in between. Such is true of the Psalms. King David was a passionate man.

His passion permeates his music. David’s music expresses the passion of his darkest days to his most delightful dreams.

This song of David anchors our soul to some solid truths about God in the midst of personal darkness. David wrestled with his relationship with God, as do we at times.

Is God a personal God or some far off distant Deity uninvolved in the details of His creation? Does God even know what I feel? Is God aware of my struggle?

Is God even there since I don’t feel Him or see Him? If He is there can he do anything about the evil in the world and in me?

In the midst of personal struggle with the circumstances of life, David stops to meditate on the personal nature of God. David contemplates and affirms some powerful truths about God and their personal application to himself. David responds to those truths throughout the Psalm.

David’s personal and open conversation with God in Psalm 139 demonstrates his understanding and his passion to follow Him even through the hard times.

This stunning song speaks to a number of human struggles and feelings.

Obscure, misunderstood, unknown

Alone, darkness, without direction, lost, afraid

Without purpose, low sense of worth or value

Struggle with evil in our world and in our own life

Some songs are horizontal – directed to one another. Some songs are vertical – directed to God. This Psalm is purely vertical as David expresses God’s own attributes back to Him.

David affirms three basic truths about God their personal application to him.

David responds to those truths.

David finishes with three appeals to God

I. David affirmed three basic truths about God

A. God is AWARE of every aspect of my life – God is Omniscient

1. Affirmation

David addressed God with His name of eternity – the Great I AM. David clearly understood the omniscience of God. David ventured far deeper than a general understanding that God knows everything about everything at all times for all time both things actual and things possible. David contemplated the significance of God’s omniscience to his own life. It is one thing to acknowledge the fact that God knows everything. It is another thing to realize that God knows everything about ME!

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

“searched” indicates a through examination leaving no stone unturned. It was a term used to describe someone diligently mining for gold and precious stones. God has made the effort to really know me.

“known” expresses the result of the searching. It is a general term with broad applications related to a discernment or awareness of something or someone from a casual acquaintance to the “knowing” of sexual intimacy.

We do not serve an impersonal God who wound up the universe and let it fly. We are not obscure, misunderstood, unknown. God is fully aware of every aspect of our life. Nothing escapes His notice. The following three verses expand on the scope of God’s awareness of every aspect of our life.

a) Physical activity

“You know when I sit down and when I rise up”

He knows when I am active and when I am inactive from the time I get up to the time I sit down.

b) Mental Activity

“You understand my thought from afar”

God not only knows my physical activity but the reasoning process that regulates my sitting and rising. God discerns, or perceives my every thought process.

“From afar” may have reference to either time (future) or space or both. Our mind is like a beehive to other people. They can see what goes in and what comes out but not what goes on inside. God understands our thinking. He is aware of my reasoning process.

He never misinterprets our motives. He never fails to know what we really think or why we do what we do. He understands our deepest longings. He is aware of our struggles at every level. He also knows and understands the agony of our hurtful memories. We can’t fool him. We can’t hide our true intentions from Him. Even though our thought life seems hidden from others, God knows the truth about us.

c) Life journey

“You scrutinize my path and my lying down”

“scrutinize” or “encompass” means to surround in battle or have spies in every corner.

“Path” has to do with my journey or path. God is intimately aware of both my public life and my home life “Lying down”.