Always Growing: An Introduction to Psalm 139

It’s easy to pick out the parts of Scripture that we like to hear:

God so loved the world…

In everything, give thanks…

I can do all things…

Nothing is impossible with God.

These are all thought-provoking, heart-touching truths. They aren’t misquoted as written above. They are useful truths, applicable to each day of our lives. Yet, part of growing in our faith and our lives is looking at the wider picture, adjusting the lens to include the right and the left, beyond our personal tunnel vision of what sounds lovely, to all that God is saying. Some of which is lovely, and some of which holds us uncomfortably accountable. And some of which is a mirror for all the things of this life we wish we didn’t have to deal with.  

Psalm 139:13-14 is one of those passages we like to pick out. It’s trustworthy and comforting. It has big impact while taking up very little space.

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.

Let’s get comfortable with looking wider together:

What does knit together really mean and what does it change?

Why is fearfully and wonderfully made so hard to believe when the shame creeps up and the inner critic worms his way in?

If my soul knows it full well, why do I have so many questions?

Psalm 139 has incredible depth. These 24 verses of Scripture contain both wisdom and complaint, exuberant praise and strong lament. Its words apply to the smallest components of our DNA and the grandest plans of a God without our boundaries of time and space. It echoes true when our unknown cells come together quietly within a womb, sneaky sprites waiting to unmoor the lives of two unsuspecting humans. And they ring no less true when we return to dust and our history is written and eternity begins in earnest.

The entire expanse of our existence is beautiful to God. It is worthy of contemplation. It is worthy of wrestling. So, we will look at Psalm 139 from a whole-life vantage point:

infancy to elder years

thoughts, words, and actions

heart, soul, mind, strength

crystal clear and murky waters

the lovely of life and that which leaves us in lament and protest

the frustrations and the hope

Psalm 139 is written in four movements, which I invite you to read alongside me. We’ll offer two short meditations for each movement. Our challenge together will be to see not only how the words apply to our day today, but also how they applied when we were children and how they’ll apply when we are older. We’ll look to honor the gentle affirmations in the words God speaks through the author of the psalm, King David, and we’ll also aim to hear clearly the admonitions toward relationship with God in each moment, not only those moments we like a lot.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

And you’ve got a ways to go.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

And I’ve got a ways to go.

I think David understood the tension between fearful and wonderful in the wide and varied moments of life.

Maybe this is one reason God brought Spirit together with David’s pen together for what we see before us as Psalm 139. Psalms are verses made to be sung or recited. They are chants from the cheerleaders of our lives, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our psalm for this study, Psalm 139, like many others, helps us to express our emotions before God more easily than some of the other stories and words we find in the Bible. They are emotional expressions of the human experience, as well as the inspired Word of God. We feel less alone when we sit with David and hear his wonder. We feel less alone when we sit with David and hear of his anxieties.

Here’s a few things David expresses both wonder and concern about:

his relationship before God

his relationship with God

God’s majesty and kindness

our inclination to move near and move far from that majesty and kindness

the mystery of God’s seeming absence at times

the everlasting-ness of eternity, a place where both loneliness and mystery are absent

Do you have questions or contemplations about any of these things?

I look forward to growing together around these things. I look forward to answers, and I look forward to more questions. I look forward to sitting with this psalm long enough to digest it rather than simply enjoying it. I look forward to searching and being searched, to knowing and being known. 

Welcome to Always Growing: A Study of Psalm 139.

GROWTH QUESTIONS:

What parts of your life or the world around you leave you standing in wonder or awe?

Where do you turn in your moments of concern or anxiety?

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