Nowhere Beyond His Reach
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
There is no location outside his Father's knowing — heaven, the grave, the far side of the sea, or darkness that turns out not to be dark. That includes the womb, where the writer was knit together. He ends by inviting the search: know my heart.
139 1You have searched me, my Father, and you know me. 2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 3You search out my path and my rest, and you are familiar with all my ways. 4Even before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, my Father. 5You hem me in, behind and before, and you place your hand on me. 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot reach it.
7Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the grave, you are there. 9If I ride the wings of the dawn and settle at the far side of the sea, 10even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me fast. 11If I say, "Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me will become night," 12even the darkness is not dark to you; 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. a a v13 Each person is personally formed and known by our Father from the womb — there are no accidental lives. 14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. 15My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, intricately woven 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, my Father! How vast their number! 18If I could count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
19If only you would slay the wicked, my Father! Away from me, you who thirst for blood! 20They speak of you with evil intent; your enemies take up your name in vain. 21Do I not hate those who hate you, my Father? Do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
23Search me, my Father, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts, 24and see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
