Telling the Next Generation

Psalm 139 & 78
Tim Nay

Part of The Raw and Real Psalms

May 31, 2026

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. —Psalm 139:1-4

God knows everything about us.

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. —Psalm 139:5

Hem = tsuwr = a military term meaning “to besiege” or “to encircle”

Meaning of Psalm 139:5

Hemmed in = PROTECTION; 

Lay your hand on = DIVINE GUIDANCE

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. —Psalm 139:6Where 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. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. —Psalm 139:7-14

God knows everything about us.

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, —Psalm 78:1-6

Parents teach us to know God.

I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old —Psalm 78:2

TAKEAWAY: 
Will the next generation know they are fully known & loved by God because of you?