When God Knows Everything About You (And That’s Actually Amazing)
What’s Psalm 139 about?
This is David’s breathtaking meditation on God’s complete knowledge of every human heart – a psalm that dares to explore what it means to be fully known by the Creator of the universe. It’s intimate theology at its finest, wrestling with the wonder and weight of divine omniscience in deeply personal terms.
The Full Context
Psalm 139 emerges from David’s mature reflection on his relationship with God, likely written during his later years as king when he had experienced both God’s protection and his own moral failures. This isn’t abstract theology – it’s the confession of someone who has lived long enough to understand that being truly known by God is both terrifying and wonderful. David writes this as both king and sinner, addressing not just Israel but anyone who has ever wondered whether God truly sees and knows their inner world.
The psalm fits beautifully within the broader collection of David’s personal prayers and meditations, serving as a theological capstone that explores three fundamental attributes of God: His omniscience (knowing everything), omnipresence (being everywhere), and omnipotence (having all power). What makes this psalm unique is how David processes these massive theological concepts through the lens of personal relationship. This isn’t a lecture about God’s attributes – it’s David marveling at what it means to be intimately known by an infinite God, complete with all the vulnerability and wonder that entails.
What the Ancient Words Tell Us
The Hebrew word yada’ that opens this psalm – “you have searched me and known me” – is the same word used for the most intimate human knowledge possible. When the Bible says Adam “knew” Eve, it uses this exact word. David isn’t saying God has casual awareness of him; he’s saying God knows him with the deepest possible intimacy.
Grammar Geeks
The Hebrew verb tense here is particularly striking – yada’ta is perfect tense, indicating completed action with ongoing results. God’s knowing of David isn’t something that happened once; it’s an accomplished reality that continues moment by moment.
But here’s where it gets fascinating: David uses the word chaqar for “searched” – a term typically used for mining precious metals or exploring unknown territory. Picture ancient miners carefully examining every inch of rock, looking for veins of gold. That’s how thoroughly God has explored David’s heart and mind.
The word ratsach in verse 2 for “understand” literally means “to be pleased with” or “to accept.” God doesn’t just comprehend David’s thoughts from a distance – He receives them, considers them, even delights in them. This isn’t surveillance; it’s intimacy.
What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?
Ancient Israelites lived in a world where gods were typically distant, unpredictable, and often hostile. Their neighbors worshipped deities who needed to be appeased, tricked, or bargained with. The idea of a God who actually wanted to know you – really know you – would have been revolutionary.
When David declares in verse 7, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” his original audience would have heard something their pagan neighbors couldn’t imagine: a God who is everywhere not to trap you, but to be with you.
Did You Know?
In ancient Near Eastern literature, the closest parallel to Psalm 139’s intimacy with deity comes from Egyptian love poetry, where lovers speak of knowing each other’s thoughts and being unable to escape each other’s presence. David is using the language of romance to describe his relationship with God.
Think about what this meant to people who lived with constant uncertainty about divine favor. Their gods might help them one day and abandon them the next. But David is describing a God who knows exactly where you are, what you’re thinking, and what you need – and chooses to stay close anyway.
Wrestling with the Text
But let’s be honest – there’s something almost overwhelming about verses 1-4. “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely.”
For many of us, this level of divine attention feels more like being under a microscope than being loved. We’re used to privacy, to having spaces where we can be imperfect without judgment. The idea that God knows our thoughts before we think them, our words before we speak them, can feel suffocating rather than comforting.
“David transforms what could be the ultimate anxiety – being completely known – into the ultimate comfort.”
But notice David’s response. He doesn’t cringe or try to hide. Instead, in verse 6, he breaks into wonder: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” The Hebrew word pil’ah means “wonderful” in the sense of miraculous, extraordinary, beyond normal comprehension.
David has learned something we often miss: the difference between being known by someone who wants to condemn you and being known by someone who wants to love you. God’s complete knowledge isn’t a threat to David – it’s a marvel.
How This Changes Everything
The climax of this psalm comes in verses 13-16, where David moves from being amazed that God knows him to understanding why God knows him so completely: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
The Hebrew word qanah for “created” literally means “to acquire” or “to possess.” God doesn’t just know David because He’s omniscient – He knows David because He made him. This is the knowledge of a craftsman for his work, an artist for his creation, a parent for their child.
Wait, That’s Strange…
The phrase “knit me together” uses sakak, which means “to weave” or “to cover protectively.” It’s the same word used for the covering of the tabernacle. David is saying God wove him together with the same care and precision used for the dwelling place of the Divine Presence.
When David says “your eyes saw my unformed body” in verse 16, he uses golem – which means “embryo” or “unformed substance.” Before David had any shape, any identity, any accomplishments or failures, God was already writing his story. The word kathab for “written” suggests not just recording, but authoring – actively composing David’s life with intentionality and care.
This completely reframes what it means to be known by God. It’s not that God is watching David like a security camera; God is engaged with David like an author with his beloved character, a parent with their child, an artist with their masterpiece.
Key Takeaway
Being completely known by God isn’t something to fear – it’s the foundation of being completely loved. When the One who made you also knows you perfectly, you’re not being judged; you’re being cherished.
Further Reading
Internal Links:
External Scholarly Resources:
- The Message of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann
- Psalms Volume 3 by Derek Kidner
- The Psalms: Language for All Seasons of the Soul by Don Saliers
- Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament by John Walton
Tags
Psalm 139, Psalm 139:1, Psalm 139:7, Psalm 139:13, Psalm 139:16, omniscience, omnipresence, divine knowledge, intimacy with God, God’s presence, God as Creator, being known by God, David’s psalms, Hebrew poetry, ancient Near Eastern literature
