Psalm 139; A Psalm for the Hiding

Jason Sterling May 31, 2026 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL 

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Transcript

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If you have a copy of the Bible, God's Word, please turn with me this morning, Psalm 139. If you don't have a Bible, you'll see one in the Purec in front of you. You can welcome to grab that. It's in your bulletin. It'll also be on the screen behind me. We are taking a break over the summer through in our series in Romans. We're just going to let it breathe for a little bit. We'll

Psalm 139 Reading And Setup

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pick it back up in the fall. And over the last several years, we've been making our way in the summers through the Psalms. I think I looked and we've done about 60. So we have 90 more. And we'll continue to make our way through this wonderful book called The Psalms, and we're doing that again this summer. Last week we looked at Psalm 73. We saw Asaph struggling and wrestling with what he saw in the world around him. This week David is wrestling, but his wrestling is a little closer to home. David is wrestling with what God sees inside of him. So with that in mind, follow along with me as I read. This is the Word of God. O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit 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. You hem me in behind and before. You lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to the heaven, you are there. If I make my bed and 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 the 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. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of this of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when I was yet there with when as yet there was none of them. 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. I awake and I am still with you. Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God. O men of blood, depart from me. They speak against you with malice intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? How about this for honesty? I hate them with complete hatred, and I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. This is the word of the Lord. Let me pray and ask the Spirit to be with us this morning. Let's pray together. Father, in many ways, uh I feel uh that this psalm is uh too wonderful to even preach. I can barely take in what is being said here. And so we need your help this morning. I need your help. I pray that you would help me to articulate

A Prayer For Shame And Hiding

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just the wonder and the beauty and the glory of what's being said. And I pray that you would, for those that are listening, give them ears to hear. Some of us have been reading this psalm our whole lives. I pray we would hear it in a new and fresh way this morning, and it wouldn't be just words, but it would be truth spoken into our hearts. For those who have walked into this room carrying shame that they've never said out loud, would you meet them here this morning? For those who have spent their entire lives performing and managing and hiding, would you give them permission to stop and to run to you? For those who've never felt like enough, would you speak louder than that voice today through this passage? And for those who think they have it all together, I pray that you would search them too and show them and show me that we have been hiding even from ourselves. And so we come this morning in wonder, not as people who have figured it all out, but we come with our need. Minister to every one of us. Do what only you can do in Jesus' name. Amen. Is there anyone in your life that knows you completely? Not not just the version of you that shows up here on Sunday mornings, not the version of you that exists on social media. No, I'm talking about the real you.

The Terror And Longing Of Being Known

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The things that you think about when you're lying awake at 2 a.m. The things and thoughts that you have that you would never say out loud, the recurring failure that you keep promising that you're going to fix and haven't, that does anyone know those things. You see, most of us we hear that and we long for that, don't we? We long for that kind of knowing. But at the same time, it also is deeply terrifying, isn't it? Yeah, because you see, deep down we believe and we know that if anyone saw what was actually in here, that they would actually turn and run the other way. That they would want nothing to do with us. That is the tension of Psalm 139. David opens up this psalm feeling completely exposed before God, seen all the way to the bottom, with nowhere to hide. And the question that is pressing throughout this entire psalm is simply this what do you do with a God that you cannot escape? A God that knows you all the way to the bottom. And perhaps more importantly, what does that God do with you? You see, that's the real question, isn't it? Well, this psalm answers that question. David moves through four things we see in this psalm, four movements. First, he's searched by a God who knows everything and misses nothing. He's pursued by a God he cannot outrun and who is everywhere. Thirdly, he's crafted by a God who made him with a purpose, and then finally, surrendered to the God who knew him all along. So, four things this morning: searched, pursued, crafted, and surrendered. And most of us are somewhere on that path right now. And my hope and prayer is that we'll let this psalm move us just the way it moved David in this Psalm, Psalm 139. So let's dig in, let's look at our first heading, searched. We are searched by a God who knows everything. Look at verse one. Lord, you have searched me. Notice the past tense, searched and known me. And the word search is interesting. It means literally a thorough, exhaustive investigation. It's used

Searched By God With No Blind Spots

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elsewhere in the Old Testament for mining deep into the earth, for cross-examining a witness until nothing is hidden. And so my point in saying that is this is not a casual glance. This is a complete audit. This is nothing being left unexamined. God sees it all. What exactly does He see? Verses two through five. Please take this in. He knows the mundane things in your life. He knows when you sit down, he knows when you get up, he knows your thoughts from afar. Think about this. He perceives what you're thinking before the thought is fully formed in your mind. He knows your words before they are even formed on your tongue. Before the words leave your mouth, God already knows what you're going to say. And you see why in verse six we get David's honest, unfiltered reaction to all of this. His mind is blown. This is too much. This is too wonderful for me. I cannot attain it. And so it's beyond comprehension, and David cannot fully grasp the knowledge of God and how deeply He is known. Here's a picture. You have your own pictures. Here's mine. Maybe on trips or whatever it is that you've been on, and a beautiful site that you've taken in a couple of years ago. My family went to London. We were on sabbatical. We went to the shard. And it was a bright, clear day. We went to the top, all glass, and you can see up to 40 miles from the top of the shard. And it was truly breathtaking. And you don't feel like you're in danger, but something in your body does not know what to do with what you're seeing. You've had these experiences, whatever it is for you. It's you don't feel in danger, but something is unsettling in you. It's overwhelming. And the only thing you can do, and I remember doing this, walking up to the glass, and it didn't take long until you're doing this number. You're backing up. Because you can't take it in. That's verse six. David's not saying this feels good. It's too high, it's too complete. He is overwhelmed. We long for this kind of knowledge of us on the one hand, but on the other hand, it's overwhelming and terrifying. Think about this for a moment. If on our very clear new screen in the sanctuary, we were to start putting names on that screen, starting with me. And under it was everything that we've done. All the private thoughts we've had, every motive behind the good things that we've done, every moment that's happened in the darkness that we're deeply ashamed of. All of it were to go on that screen right now. Your name, my name. There is not a person in this room that would not head for that door as fast as they possibly could. Not one. You would be out the door before I finish the sentence, and we know it. That's what David is describing here in these first six verses. That God doesn't just see the Instagram dump and the highlight reel at the end of the month. He sees it all. Every page, every thought, every version that you've carefully constructed and kept from the people who love you the most. God sees all of it. And that leads to the question, doesn't it? The question that's hanging out there. If God sees all of that, what does he do with it? And that's what the rest of the psalm is answering. That leads to our second heading, pursued. Look at verses 7 through 12. He shifts from knowledge to presence. Where can I go? Where can I flee? He's not asking because he expects an answer. He already knows. He's just working through it. And he starts naming these directions, and what he finds is that God is

Pursued Presence That Holds You

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already there. And so he tests it. He says, Up to the heavens, God, you're there. Down to Sheol, the lowest conceivable point of existence, there, already there. The east where the sun rises, the west to the uttermost parts of the sea, already there, already there. Last resort, darkness. If I can't go up, if I can't go down, if I can't go far and wide, maybe I can just disappear. Maybe I can just go dark and become invisible. Look at 11 and 12. Well, that door gets closed too. Even in the darkness. The darkness is not dark to you. The night is as bright as day. God has no blind spots. And then how about this, right in the middle of it all, verse 10? Please don't miss verse 10. And even there, your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. In the ancient Near East, the right hand was a place of protection and it was a place of covenant. It was a place of security. A father held his child's right hand. And with his right hand, not a casual grip, not a loose grip. An inescapable grip. And this inescapable God, and here's what David is getting at, isn't trying to trap you. Think of verse 10. He wants to shepherd you. He wants to love you and lead you and hold you. I remember when my girls were really young. And if you've got young kids, perhaps you've done this as well. But we would play hide and seek. And I always knew where they were hiding. I would watch them go hide. And I would act like I was looking around. And then I would cling open the closet door. And when I did, they didn't run, but they screamed with delight. You know why? Because they knew who was looking for them. That's the whole difference. The same closed door, it's either dread or it's delight, depending on who's on the other side of the door. And David is figuring out as he works through this who is on the other side of the door, and he's realizing the one that he finds is not his enemy. It's his father. It's his God and his king. Wherever you end up, whether it's in the darkest night that you've ever had or the hardest season of your life, God not only knows it, he not only sees it, he's already there. And he's not waiting to condemn you. He's waiting to shepherd you and to care for you and to meet you. You are never truly alone. And that changes everything. Because the God David cannot escape turns out to also be a craftsman. The God who knew David before David even knew himself. And that's where he goes next. Crafted by a God who made him. Look at verses 13 through 18. Another shift in the Psalm. And it's very intimate. It's very personal. And again, I think it's so easy for these verses. We've some of us have read these verses our entire lives. Let's slow down. Holy Spirit, help us to hear these as we're hearing them for the

Crafted On Purpose And With Care

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very first time. I mean, think about what's being said here. Verse 13 through 15. For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. That word formed carries this sense of creation with ownership, the way a craftsman possesses the work of his own hands. And so God did not commission the making of David to someone else. He made David personally, deliberately, just like he made you personally and deliberately. There was never a moment of your formation, hidden, unseen, before anyone knew you existed, that God was not present and working. And then think about this word inward parts. God didn't just make your body, that word inward parts literally means the kidneys. And so what he's getting at here is this deep seed of emotion and conscience, is what he's referring to by inward parts. In other words, God gave you your passions and your personality. He gave you your longings and your particular way that you feel things and navigate the world and your temperament and your wiring and the things that make you come alive. God made that. And then verse 16, he pushes it even further. Before a single day of your life had been lived, God had already written all of them. Before you could earn anything, before you could run anything, he already had it planned. And that knowledge, look at verses 17 and 18, that felt too much to bear in verse 6 now becomes the most comforting thing that you can possibly imagine. You see, we live in a world obsessed. With image. Social media has handed us a 24-7 highlight reel of everyone's best moments. And we scroll and we scroll, and we do so knowing everything about ourselves. And the comparison you see is rigged from the start. They're showing you their best, and you're judging yourself by your worst. And no one wins at that game. And we just feed ourselves over and over. And after enough feeding, what does that begin to do to you? Well, it starts to fill you with self-doubt. You start to ask questions like, what's wrong with me? I'm not quite enough. It fills you with discouragement. And if we were to take that even deeper, the wound goes deeper than image for some people. They don't like how God made them. And you start to really wonder at your core. It's not just about how you look, but it's who I am. And you start to say things. Do you ever do this? I do this all the time. I'm too sensitive. I'm too much for people. Or I don't know about my personality. Or I'm not enough. Or the personality that I bring just never seems to be right for the room. And it never quite fits. Hear this. The specific combination of temperament and wiring that makes you you has never existed before and will never exist again. God formed that. God made that. You are not a rough draft that He is trying to fix. You're not mass-produced. You weren't built to fit a mold that someone else invented. You are the work of a master craftsman, of a God who deliberately planned you, who has numbered your days. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. That is true for you, and that is true for every person that you come in contact with. The image of God is not selective. God knitted together every human being. We are all knitted together with the same hands. And we could spend a lot of time working out the implications of that. But it has a whole lot of implication for the ways that we treat one another. Verse 16 again. You cannot read this honestly without acknowledging what it means for life in the womb. That life is sacred. It is under God's authorship from the very beginning. And that's not a political statement. That is a biblical statement. And I know that that lands very hard for some of you this morning. In a room this size, some of you have made decisions long ago that you would give anything to undo. And I want you to listen to me. The gospel is for you. The gospel is for you. There is no guilt too old. There is no grief too deep for the gospel to reach. Please don't carry that alone. Come find me. Call our office. Find one of the pastors. Find someone you trust. That burden was never meant to be carried in silence. Jesus is big enough, and so is our church. The proof of that, the proof of how seriously God takes what he made is that he was what he was willing to do to get it back. God took on flesh. He took on a human body and he suffered all the things that we suffered. The Son of God put on human skin and said, It is worth redeeming, it is worth inhabiting, and it is worth resurrecting. Whatever you have been told about yourself by the culture, by the mirror, by the voice in your head, by social media, hear what this text says. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You have purpose. You are worth the cross. And we do not get to call junk what God is planning to raise and planning to glorify. Lastly, surrendered. Look at verses 19 through 22. This is a pretty jarring turn. He probably felt it in the reading, everything that we've been through, all the intimacy and the wonder and the precious thoughts. David now suddenly starts talking about slaying the wicked, and you reading it, and you're like, whoa, we got the wrong psalm here. How did I get to another psalm?

Surrender And The Prayer Search Me

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That's the way it feels. But don't skip that. Because it's doing some really important work. David is not expressing personal vengeance here, he is drawing a line. And the enemies here are people who've decided to live like practical atheists, who've just treat the world as if God doesn't exist and that God is unaware of everything. And David is saying here, I'm not them. I'm not them. I refuse that path. And in doing so, he names the only real alternative to what comes next. Because you see here, there are really only two responses to God in Psalm 139. One, you can live like that, and you can run your entire life from God. You can manage him from a distance, you can manage your image, you can treat him and walk through the world as if God doesn't exist. That's one option. David says, no, I'm not doing that. And the other option is what David does here, and that is surrender. Look at verses 23 and 24. Search me. Know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there's a grievous way in me and lead me to the life everlasting. Think about this. The man who opened up the psalm, being searched by God, is now asking God to search him. And this knowledge that felt like too much in verse 6 is now David is saying, bring it on. Bring it on. Search me, God. And so it's now an invitation to be searched. And so then the question is, okay, how did David get here? How did he get from the place of, I want to flee? Where can I go to search me? One thing's changed. It's not that David suddenly became good enough. Not that David cleaned himself up between Psalm verse 6 and verse 23. It's that David caught a glimpse of what God does with what he finds. You see, David sees dimly what we see fully at the cross of Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus stood fully exposed under the complete searching gaze of God on the cross, bearing our record, not his own. Every page of the journal, every hidden

The Cross Turns Exposure Into Covering

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thought, every motive, every failure, he carried all of it. And he was searched to the bottom by God and found to be righteous in our place. And because of that, when God searches us now, he doesn't find our record first. He finds the record of his son, the righteousness of Jesus covering us. Friends, the audit is in. The audit is complete. The verdict has already been rendered and it has come back clean. Again, not because of us, but because of Jesus and everything he has done. Do you see how powerful this is? Can you see that if we really believed this and locked onto it by faith, how it would change our lives? Tim Keller says, you don't mind people looking at you when you know you look good. When you have the perfect dress. Guys, when you have the tailor-made suit that's brand new and fits perfectly, and you look your best, you walk differently and you talk differently, you walk with confidence, you're not self-conscious, you can handle the scrutiny because you know what people are seeing. Because of Christ, you are clothed in his righteousness, and that means you look good, that you look great, that you can walk with confidence, that you can handle the scrutiny, that you don't have to be afraid of someone looking in, and you don't have to be afraid of God looking in. You're not bracing for the verdict because the verdict is already in. Friends, Jesus is the only thing that makes search me an invitation and not a death sentence. You do not have to be good enough for the searching, you just have to be able to trust the character of the one doing the searching. And it is not a God who exposes what he finds, it is a God who covers it. And when you do that, this prayer, which is so frightening, isn't it? I mean, if you ever prayed, search me and you're like, I don't know if I want to pray that. But when you believe the gospel, that prayer that felt like a dangerous thing suddenly becomes the freest thing that you'll ever say. Search me, know me, lead me. Friends, that's not a prayer of desperation. That is a free one. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you have searched us, that you have known us, and that you've loved us anyway. Forgive us for the years that we've spent managing what you see instead of bringing it to you. And Holy Spirit, would you give us the grace to

Final Prayer And Sending

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place, to pray this prayer that David prayed? Search us, know us, lead us in the way everlasting. Would you do that in Jesus' name? Amen.