You are Known: Psalm 139

Note to self,

Psalm 139 just hits different.

I grew up hearing the famous verse 14,

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 139:14 NIV

That encouraging verse still serves as an excellent reminder to me now of my status under God. But God didn't just make me and then leave me to navigate this world alone. He knows us intimately. He made us each uniquely and the works of his hands are wonderful! That means his beautiful creatures, are made exactly how he intended us to be made. God did not make a mistake in making me.

Who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"

Romans 9:20 NIV

I think "oops" is a very human word. God didn't create me and then say, "oops, she wasn't supposed to be an overthinker." Maybe my tendency to overthink is precisely what gives me the drive to learn more about God's nature and dig into the word "just to be sure" that God is still the same (spoiler alert, he is. See Hebrews 13:8 and Isaiah 40:8).

The first 3 movements of this Psalm are all centered around God's intimate knowledge of the psalmist. The last movement of the Psalm turns to petition, which makes sense because if God knows us intimately, he also knows the sinful thoughts we think every day.

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

Psalm 139:2 NIV

This kind of intimate knowledge could be one of 2 things:

1. For the one who does not know God: a reality that sparks fear and shame

2. For the one who does know God: a source of joy and hope

   
   

When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they were ashamed because they knew they were exposed (see Gen. 3:7). When we sin, we cannot hide those sins from him.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

   Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

    and the light become night around me,”

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

    the night will shine like the day,

    for darkness is as light to you.

Psalm 139:7-8, 11-12 NIV

For those of us who have Jesus, this is good news! He knows us so deeply and intimately that we are never alone. Secrecy creates distance, but we cannot keep secrets from our heavenly Father. What's more, through Jesus, all of our sins are covered, so we don't have to be ashamed. We can come to Him confidently, knowing that He already knows what we've done and what we need.

At the end of the Psalm, we get a change of tone. That last section hits me personally as I think about being known.

Search me, 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.

Psalm 139:23-24 NIV

To be known fully means vulnerability. It means surrendering the hidden sins that even I don't recognize. It means asking God to reveal the areas where I'm anxiously grasping for comfort instead of trusting in Him. It means letting go of control and asking Him to lead my life.

God is molding me into a new creation each day. He knows me fully. I want to know Him better today.