GROUP GUIDE: Psalm 139

In verses 7-12 of Psalm 139, David speaks of the omnipresence of God. David realized that God was fully present in all places at all times. There is no place and no time that God is not fully there. When David speaks of God’s “presence” the Hebrew reader would have understood that to be God’s “face.” God is not partially everywhere, nor is He ruling everywhere from afar; God is totally and fully everywhere. And for David, this was not just a theological truth, it was personally comforting.

In verses 1-6 David found comfort in God’s omniscience. To say that God is omniscient is to say that God knows everything. God’s knowledge is exhaustive, God never learns or discovers anything. David knew God knew him better than David knew himself and that God used that knowledge to surround David with his love. David felt the same way about God’s omnipresence.

In verse 7 David asks a rhetorical question, “Where can I flee from your presence?” David doesn’t actually want to run away from His all knowing, all present God, even though some men do. An all knowing and all present God can be a threat to those who do not love Him and desire to submit to Him. God is a threat to those who want to live life the way they want to live without any authority over them. Therefore, there are people, like Adam and Jonah, try to flee the presence of the Almighty God. Some men do this by simply ignoring God while others seek to redefine God into something He is not. Then of course there are those who deny the existence of God altogether.However, David is doing none of these things. He is simply stating that it would be absolutely foolish to think that he or anyone else could ever escape the presence of God.

In verse 8-12 David poetically expresses the totality of God’s omnipresence. He makes mention of the fact that he is not separated from God by death, by distance, nor by darkness. A key aspect to this passage is found in the verses where David acknowledges that his darkest times are not dark to God. Darkness and light are both alike to God. What David cannot see, the omnipresent God does see. Yet in this darkness, God is not simply present, He is there, in David’s darkness to guide him and to hold him (verse 10). Again, David does not want to flee this omniscient, omnipresent God, David knows that he can rest in God’s hands regardless of the circumstances of this present life.

Would it not be this same line of thinking and believe that would cause David to write;

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake. And yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou annointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23).

How comforting it is to know that in our darkest hour, our most difficult trials, our moments of utter exhaustion, we are not only not alone, but we are in the presence of a God who knows us fully and loves us completely. May this truth quiet the most troubled soul.