God Knows Everything About Me
Study note
God has searched David and knows him completely. He knows when David sits and when he rises, what he thinks, where he goes, and every word before he speaks it. This knowledge is too wonderful to fully understand.
1 LORD, you have looked deep inside me and you know me completely. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 You know the moment I sit down and the moment I stand up. You can read my thoughts even from far away. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 You see where I go and where I rest. You know everything I do. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before I say a word, you already know exactly what it will be, LORD. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
5 You are all around me — behind me and in front of me — and your hand rests gently on me. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6 Knowing this is too amazing for me to take in. It is so high I cannot reach it. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
I Cannot Escape God's Presence
Study note
Where can David go from God's Spirit? If he goes to heaven, God is there. If he makes his bed in the depths, God is there. If he flies to the far side of the sea, God's hand guides him. Even darkness is not dark to God.
7 Is there anywhere I could go to get away from your Spirit? Is there any place I could run where you would not be? Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I flew up to heaven, you would be there. If I made my bed in the deepest place under the earth, you would be there too. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I could ride on the wings of the morning and travel to the farthest edge of the ocean, If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 even there your hand would be leading me, and your strong hand would be holding me tight. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 What if I said, 'Let the darkness cover me and the light around me turn to night'? If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12 Even darkness is bright as day to you. Night and day look exactly the same to your eyes. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Wonderfully Made
Study note
God created David's innermost being and knit him together in his mother's womb. David is fearfully and wonderfully made. God's eyes saw his unformed body. All the days ordained for him were written in God's book before one of them came to be. God's thoughts toward him are more numerous than grains of sand.
13 You are the one who formed every part of who I am inside. You carefully knit me together in my mother's body. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 You could see every bone in my body when I was being formed in that hidden place. You watched as I was being put together deep out of sight. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 You saw me before I even had a shape. Every day of my life was already written down in your book before the first one ever started. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 God, your thoughts about me are so precious! There are more of them than I could ever count. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 If I tried to number them, they would be more than all the grains of sand on every beach. And when I open my eyes in the morning, I am still there with you. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Search Me, O God
Study note
David expresses strong feelings against the wicked who defy God. Then he turns the spotlight on himself and prays one of the most famous prayers: 'Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.'
19 God, if only you would get rid of wicked people! Stay away from me, you people who love violence! Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20 They say terrible things about you and twist your name to serve their own evil plans. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21 LORD, should I not hate those who hate you? Should I not be disgusted by those who stand against you? Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22 I hate what they do with everything in me. They have become my enemies too. I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23 Look all the way through me, God, and know my heart. Test me and find out every anxious thought hiding inside me. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 See if there is anything in me that hurts you, and lead me along the path that lasts forever. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.