1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.2You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.3You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.4Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD.5You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.7Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?8If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea,10even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast.11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—12even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.13For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.14I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.15My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.16Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.17How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!18If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.19O God, that You would slay the wicked— away from me, you bloodthirsty men—20who speak of You deceitfully; Your enemies take Your name in vain.21Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?22I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them as my enemies.23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.24See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.
What’s happening. A psalm of David reflecting on how completely God knows him.
What it means. God knows when we sit and rise, what we think, and what we will say before we say it. That could feel frightening, but in this psalm it is a comfort: we are fully known and still held. There is nothing about us God has to discover and then reject.
What’s happening. Continuing Psalm 139, David turns from God knowing his thoughts to God forming his body.
What it means. God knit each person together in the womb, and saw us before we were born. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made”. It speaks of the value of every human life, and invites us to see ourselves as God’s careful, intentional work.