Designed for Life—Now and Forever (Psalm 139:15-24)

What if your life isn’t random, and your limits aren’t mistakes to fix but places where grace takes root? We open Psalm 139 and trace a moving arc from being fearfully and wonderfully made to inviting God to search the deepest motives of the heart. Along the way, we address a popular claim that humanity is cosmic “pollution,” contrasting it with Scripture’s picture of careful design, counted days, and a Creator whose thoughts toward us outnumber the sand. This isn’t abstract theology—it reshapes identity, reframes suffering, and grounds purpose in something stronger than public opinion or personal performance.

We also grapple with David’s hard words about the wicked and talk honestly about righteous anger. The Old Testament record of immediate judgment and the New Testament’s delay under grace create tension that many of us feel. Rather than yield to bitterness or apathy, we learn to hold conviction with grief, echoing Jesus who was angry and grieved at hardened hearts. Justice matters, mercy matters, and timing belongs to God.

The journey ends in a courageous prayer: “Search me, O God.” David doesn’t hide; he invites investigation, asking God to expose what is hurtful or self-destructive and to lead him in the ancient way. For followers of Jesus, that way is not a trend but a Person—the way, the truth, and the life. If you’ve ever wondered whether you matter, or how to align your heart with God’s, this conversation offers clarity, courage, and comfort for the path ahead.

If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope today, and leave a review to help others find the show.

The Christian's Compass is a companion study guide that corresponds to each of these lessons along The Wisdom Journey. Download a copy for free, or cover the cost of printing and shipping and we'll mail you a booklet.

Learn More: https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/the-christians-compass

Chapters

• 0:00 Crafted On Purpose
• 2:34 Cosmology Without God Challenged
• 3:28 Psalm 139: Wonderfully Made
• 5:42 Planned Days And God’s Thoughts
• 7:18 Righteous Anger And Delayed Judgment
• 9:29 Holy Hatred Mixed With Grief
• 11:17 Search Me, O God
• 13:07 The Ancient Way And Christ
• 13:57 Closing Blessing And Resources

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:37

Welcome to the Wisdom Journey with Stephen Davy. What if your life isn't random? What if every part of you, your strengths, your limitations, and even your pain was crafted by a loving creator? Today, Steven shows you that your life is not a mistake. You're designed with care and for a purpose. This means that there's nothing about you that God doesn't already know. And he longs for you to know him. So open to Psalm 139 and let's get started.

SPEAKER_01: 2:14

One popular physicist, a cosmologist, has argued the universe began from nothing. He wrote, You don't need a deity to produce the universe. He admits, however, I can't prove that God doesn't exist, but I'd much rather live in a universe without one. Well, let me tell you, this tragic viewpoint that denies the creator actually ends up diminishing the value and purpose of life. The same scientist, by the way, described humans as just a bit of pollution. Without us, he argues, the universe would continue on as it is. So the human race is completely irrelevant. Well, let me tell you, the Bible has something very different to say about the human race. In fact, here in Psalm 139, King David writes that God created us with special care and special meaning in life. He writes here in verse 15, My frame was not hidden from you, God, when I was being made in secret. This Hebrew term translated frame literally refers to our bones. And I have read that we have about 206 bones in our body. Well, David is writing here that God engineered them. God designed them to fit together, and he did it in the depths of the earth. That's a metaphor for the hidden dark recesses of a mother's womb. David also points out that each life has been planned from the very beginning, verse 16. So imagine, every day has also been designed by the same Creator who designed everything about you. Well David now says here in verse 17, 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. Have you ever thought about the fact that God is thinking about you? More thoughts about you than the sands of the whole earth? So did he slip up or or get distracted when he created you? No, he was thinking carefully through everything. He he knows everything about you from the moment you were conceived. From your unique fingerprint to the shape of your nose, to the color of your hair, to your your best abilities and even your most painful disabilities, he designed everything about you. Why? To develop in you trust and dependence on him. And frankly, to long not only for him, but to long to live with him in your final, glorified, perfected, immortal body. Now, in the meantime, he's designed you to uniquely testify to your world that his grace is sufficient for you to make it through another day. And so now beginning here in verse 19, David begins to share a little bit of his righteous anger toward the unbelieving world that defies his creator God. Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God. O men of blood, depart from me. They speak against you with malicious intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? Do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred. I count them my enemies. Wow. This is what one author called holy hatred. Now David's prayer here is essentially this, Lord, why don't you just slay them now? Why are you waiting until the final judgment to deal with them in justice and righteousness? Do it now. Stop their defiant propaganda against your creation. Now you need to understand, beloved, King David is taking God's view of judgment in this Old Testament dispensation. God often judged sin in the Old Testament immediately. He would command Israel to judge sin immediately. Today, in this New Testament dispensation of grace, we're actually told that God is now storing up his wrath until the final judgment. So sin isn't always judged immediately, but judgment will arrive ultimately. And that's why people who defy God and write articles against God's handiwork, they can continue to get away with defying God just a little while longer, completely unaware that God is storing up his righteous wrath and anger for that coming day. Well, now here in verse 21, David writes, Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and do I not loathe those who rise up against you? Now the word translated loath explains the word hate. It's a Hebrew word that can be translated grieve. In other words, our hatred, something of grief mixed with compassion for the sinner. In fact, one pastor from many generations ago, Charles Spurgeon, commented on this text and he wrote, This isn't ill will so much as it is sorrow over their unbelief. In fact, in the New Testament, Jesus is going to demonstrate the same attitude in Mark chapter 3 and verse 5. He looks out upon that unbelieving audience, how? With anger, grieved at their hardness of heart. So this is righteous anger mixed with sorrow over the sinner's defiance against God. Now David isn't just interested in exposing the sinners around him and hating their sin, grieving over their defiance. He's also interested in his own heart. So he ends this psalm now with one of the most personal prayers in all the Bible. He writes here in verse 23, search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts. You know, this final request makes perfect sense, doesn't it? David has made it clear in the psalm that God is omniscient, he's all knowing, he's omnipresent, he's always present, he knows everything. Go as high as you can, remember verse eight, he's there. Go into the depths of the earth, Sheol, he's there. Go east on the wings of the dawn, verse nine, he's already there. Go west beyond the sea, and he's there. Travel into darkness, verses eleven and twelve, God is there, and he can see just as clearly in the dark as he can see in the light. All that to say there's no use trying to hide anything from God. Now David isn't saying here, Well, okay, Lord, since you know everything, I'll just give in to your inspection. No. Did you notice here how he invites God's inspection in his heart? Search me, O God, and know my heart. Well, now why would David invite that kind of personal inspection? Well, because he believes, just as Jeremiah the prophet said in chapter 17, verse 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick or desperately wicked. Only God can accurately knock down our defenses and expose our motives and search our hearts. In fact, the verb David uses here for search means to probe. It means to dig deeply, it means to investigate. It's as if David is saying, Lord, I want you to place me under divine investigation. Have you ever noticed the news footage of somebody who's under investigation? Well, that is not the picture here. David is essentially uh opening every drawer. He's handing God every box. He's taking the lid off of it and saying, Lord, don't overlook this. Look here too. He writes here in verse 24. See if there be any grievous way in me. That word grievous means hurtful or dangerous or self-destructive. David now ends this psalm, lead me in the way everlasting. Old Testament scholars will point out here that you could translate that closing phrase, lead me in the old way, or lead me in the ancient way. In other words, lead me in the way you revealed in the ancient days. So David is asking God basically to lead him according to his word. It's another way of admitting, look, I am prone as a person to follow some new way, some popular way, some new path. No, no, no. God's word still shows us the way. The ancient way is still the true way. You know, the fulfillment of this is found in the person of Jesus Christ, the son of David, who announced, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, John 14, 6. That is, no one travels to heaven except on that path that goes through Jesus Christ. The truth is, God doesn't want us to miss the way. You're not irrelevant. You're not a piece of pollution on the planet. You're not a mistake. God has created you. He's created heaven for you. He's designed a life for you right now, an eternal life to come through his Son, Jesus Christ. Well, until our next study, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

SPEAKER_00: 13:13

Thanks for listening to The Wisdom Journey with Stephen Davey. To learn more about us and access all of our Bible teaching resources, visit wisdomonline.org. Our phone number is 866-482-4253. And you can email us at info at wisdomonline.org. Stephen developed this daily program to help you know what the Bible says, understand what it means, and apply it to your life. So please join us next time to continue the wisdom journey.