Every once in a while I’ll hear a particular Bible verse or sets of verses repeated from different sources over one or two days. It is always meaningful to me; that is, the verse is a response to something I’ve been thinking about, or troubling me. I believe this is God’s providence and I’m very thankful for His loving mercy. Lately it has been Psalm 139.
Specifically, the verses which keep grabbing my attention are these:
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:6-10
It isn’t just these four verses though. The entire Psalm is a praise of God’s infinite attributes. For example:
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
Typically, Psalm 139 is cited in studies concerning God’s infinite and boundless attributes and how we eternally benefit from them. The Psalm also has an imprecatory element to it in regards to the wicked. Following is Charles Spurgeon’s exposition of Psalm 139:
One of the most notable of the sacred hymns. It sings the omniscience and omnipresence of God, inferring from these the overthrow of the powers of wickedness, since he who sees and hears the abominable deeds and words of the rebellious will surely deal with them according to his justice. The brightness of this Psalm is like unto a sapphire stone, or Ezekiel’s “terrible crystal;” it flames out with such flashes of light as to turn night into day. Like a Pharos, this holy song casts a clear light even to the uttermost parts of the sea, and warns us against that practical atheism which ignores the presence of God, and so makes shipwreck of the soul…keep reading
For more resources see George Swinnock’s book, The Blessed and Boundless God and A W Pink’s The Attributes of God. Terry L Johnson’s The Identity and Attributes of God is also a very good academic-devotional study of God’s attributes.
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalm 139:23-24
Amen!
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