Psalm 139
June 11, 2023
preached by Pastor Ryan Bouton
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.”

~ C.S. Lewis, “Is Theology Poetry?”

“David did not say that night vanished, but that night was shining. While night remained night, it was obvious that the troubles and disasters did not succeed in trampling him underfoot. Instead, light shone in the night and enveloped him in support. Things turn into their opposites and appear so, after all, when God wishes.”

~ Commentary on the Psalms by John Chrysostom, (347-407), early Church Father, biblical interpreter, and archbishop of Constantinople

“God does not occupy a neutral position. His hatred to bad, vicious, blasphemous men is intense, complete, energetic. He is as wholehearted in his hate of wickedness as in his love of goodness.”

~ The Treasury of David by Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), an English Baptist preacher

“I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room
Safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me
I am a rock, I am an island.”

~ “I Am a Rock” by Simon & Garfunkel

“All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself.”

~ Thomas à Kempis (1418–1427), The Imitation of Christ

Sermon Passage

Psalm 139 (ESV)

¹ O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
³ You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

¹³ For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I would count them,
they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

¹⁹ Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
²⁰ They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²² I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!