Psalm 140:1-8 “For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Deliver me, LORD, from evil men. Preserve me from violent men: those who devise mischief in their hearts. They continually gather themselves together for war. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips. Selah. LORD, keep me from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent men who have determined to trip my feet. The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me. Selah. I said to the LORD, ‘You are my God.’ Listen to the cry of my petitions, LORD. LORD, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle. LORD, don’t grant the desires of the wicked. Don’t let their evil plans succeed, or they will become proud. Selah.”

Wicked and violent people don’t just desire to physically hurt God’s people. They lie and slander, and they set traps. Are these metaphorical or physical traps that David is referring to? For us, I think it’s a reminder that people will try to get us to blaspheme and sin against our Lord. “Why hasn’t He come back yet?” “Why are you suffering if God really cares?” “What good does it do to follow God?” Perhaps we should take to heart the example of Jesus in the Lord’s prayer:

Matthew 6:13 “Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Doesn’t David’s prayer seem like a longer version of that?!?!?

For additional worship: My Father Watches Over Me

Psalm 139:19-24 “If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men! For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain. LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies. Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.”

David understands (and is probably experiencing) the evil thoughts and actions of the wicked, so He asks God to judge them. They are bloodthirsty, they hate God, and they take His name in vain. David wants to be nothing like them, so he asks God to search him to prove that he isn’t! He hates the wicked because of their actions and asks God to guide him so that He’ll be nothing like them.

Sometimes we justify our evil thoughts and actions. That’s not the way we’re supposed to be! We are to embrace holiness and despise evil to the point that we have clear consciences before God.

John 3:20-21 “For everyone who does evil hates the light and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”

For additional worship: O Thou to Whose All Searching Sight

Psalm139:13-18 “For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well. My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum! If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.”

God knew all about us from the time we were embryos in the womb. In fact, He designed us! He is with us when life begins (before we are born), He is with us when we wake up from sleep, and He is with us all the days of our lives (which He has ordained). His thoughts should be precious to us, since He is the only one who knows all about us and all about everything. He is the only one deserving of praise!

Romans 11:33-36 “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past tracing out! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?’ ‘Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?’ For of him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.”

For additional worship: Untold

Psalm 139:7-12 “Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,’ even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.”

Yesterday, we saw that God is omniscient (He possesses complete knowledge). Today we see that God is omnipresent (He is everywhere at the same time). This doesn’t mean that he’s present the same way in a tree as He is in a believer! But it does mean that His spirit/presence is everywhere and we can’t get away from Him. Not in the heart of the sea, or in the heights of the heavens. In fact, even if we find ourselves in the darkness, He overcomes the darkness with light! Are you experiencing darkness in your life right now? Trust, praise, and pray to find the light.

John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.”

For additional worship: Even the Darkness is Light to Him (Michael Card)

Psalm 139:1-6 “For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. LORD, you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me. This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.”

Who knows us better than God? Scary, right? All the things we don’t want other people to know? All the thoughts that we think are our own? God knows them all, and He still cares for us! He watches over us and takes care of us. It’s humbling, amazing, and assuring. How can we even begin to understand it?

For additional worship: Psalm 139 (You are There) Mercy Me

Psalm 138:1-8 “By David. I will give you thanks with my whole heart. Before the gods, I will sing praises to you. I will bow down towards your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth; for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all. In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth. Yes, they will sing of the ways of the LORD, for the LORD’s glory is great! For though the LORD is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but he knows the proud from afar. Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me. The LORD will fulfil that which concerns me. Your loving kindness, LORD, endures forever. Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.”

Why should we give God thanks, even proclaiming His worth before the heavenly host? Because He is loving and kind. Because He answers prayer. Because He encourages us though the Spirit. Because He looks after the destitute, and rescues those who need help. Because He is faithful to do everything He said He would do! It’s because of all this that we come before Him to ask Him for help.

Hebrews 4:16 “Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need.”

Note too, that God’s Word has an important part to play in all this. God exalts His Word, and even the heathen nations praise when they hear it! God’s Word is our objective standard for truth. It reveals God and His ways to us, which is why it’s so important.

For additional worship: Angels From the Realms of Glory

Psalm 137:1-9 “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps. For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you, if I don’t prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, LORD, against the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said, ‘Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!’ Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who repays you, as you have done to us. Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.”

It sounds horrible to our modern ears, but some of that is due to our misunderstanding. “Little ones” refers to relationship rather than age. While it can refer to the very young, it can also refer to grown children. Here the Israelites are being forced to recount their homeland to their captors, and the younger generation of their captors is turning out to be just as cruel as their parents. They don’t want to do it, but they don’t want to forget either. They ask for God to avenge them against all their enemies. The ones enacting vengeance are “blessed” or “happy,” depending on how you translate the word. If “blessed” is the appropriate translation, then they are blessed because they are doing God’s work by punishing the nation that put His people into captivity. If they are “happy” then that’s more a description that reveals their character than a declaration of how we should be. This is an “imprecatory” psalm, because God’s people are crying out to God for His judgment on their enemies. It’s a reminder that it’s okay to want evil to be punished, but we also need to be careful not to turn into the very thing we despise.

For additional worship: O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Psalm 136: 23-26 “who remembered us in our low estate, for his loving kindness endures forever; and has delivered us from our adversaries, for his loving kindness endures forever; who gives food to every creature, for his loving kindness endures forever. Oh give thanks to the God of heaven, for his loving kindness endures forever.”

Just as with Israel, God remembers us in our lowly sinful estate, delivers us from the adversaries of sin, Satan, and death, and provides for us in this life. Oh give thanks to the God of heaven, for his loving kindness endures forever!

I Corinthians 15:53-56 “But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

For additional worship: Love Came Down at Christmas

Psalm 136:10-22 “to him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn, for his loving kindness endures forever; and brought out Israel from amongst them, for his loving kindness endures forever; with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who divided the Red Sea apart, for his loving kindness endures forever; and made Israel to pass through the middle of it, for his loving kindness endures forever; but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who struck great kings, for his loving kindness endures forever; and killed mighty kings, for his loving kindness endures forever; Sihon king of the Amorites, for his loving kindness endures forever; Og king of Bashan, for his loving kindness endures forever; and gave their land as an inheritance, for his loving kindness endures forever; even a heritage to Israel his servant, for his loving kindness endures forever”

The whole point of this section is to recount how God, through His loving kindness, brought His people out of slavery and led them to the land He promised to give them. And not only that, He watched over them, protected them, and ensured that they would enter into their inheritance. Just like He does with us!

John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

For additional worship: Great and Precious Promises (Susan Ashton)

Psalm 136:1-9 “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his loving kindness endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who alone does great wonders, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who made the great lights, for his loving kindness endures forever; the sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness endures forever; the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loving kindness endures forever…”

The point of this Psalm is to praise God for His loving kindness (which endures forever!) and the Psalmist gives us various examples of His mercy and grace. The first example is God’s loving kindness expressed through the making of creation. Note that He made creation by His “understanding.” Who knows more than God? Which is why we should trust and adore Him!

Romans 11:33 “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past tracing out!”

For additional worship: Indescribable