Are you strikingly aware that God knows it ALL about you? You can hide nothing? What stands out about these Psalms to me is the following, plus some additional notes inserted into the copy/pasted Bible text:
- the rapport, the relationship between the Psalmist and God; it is intimate! The relationship reflects consideration, empathy, and awareness, as well as desire for continued relationship and guidance and blessing
- the overt plea for revenge or negative consequences, or violent consequences to fall on the guilty or opposition, in terms that reflect faith that God is omnipotence, meaning He is all powerful
- understanding of God's omniscience (that He knows everything, everything, everything) and that He is omnipresence (everywhere at once, everywhere everywhere)
Psalm 139
139 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
I am baffled but to conclude that light, dark, night, day, blind, seeing, would mean more to humans than to God. Perhaps this is just to say that God is not limited or disabled by such. Also verse 13 and 14 demonstrate to me that God knew you and me before we were born, while we were yet in the womb, as do later verses...
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
(respect, and appreciation)
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21 Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
"Perfect hatred," (righteous indignation?) and in words we see: giving the Lord, headship or Lordship, v. 21-24.
Psalm 140: 12-13
12 I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.
I will take this as a reminder that humanity is accountable to God for how they handle and treat the afflicted, disabled and poor. What morals, values, and love do our decisions and behavior reflect? May they be decisions and behavior reflective of God's perspective and love.
13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.
Now plug in these New Testament scripture:
Revelation 21:4 King James Version (KJV)
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Mark 11:25 King James Version (KJV)
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Romans 12:19 ....Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Do you accept these psalms to reflect truth? How does New Testament effect your perspective?
How do your decisions, actions, political views reflect these Psalms?
Is there a part of these Psalms that is hard for you to understand or assimilate at this point?
Touching on the idea of "disabled," do you think that part of God's plan is that we stretch, and give and grow and long towards Him and our eternal reward?
Oh Father, awesome creator, even though we scarce can fathom Your greatness, or Your character, or Your might, we are grateful that you called us to be Yours and that you are revealing Yourself to us, and are ever molding, working on, and growing us each individually, with nothing ever hidden!
If you have had the reigns (139:13)then nothing was by accident, and we lift ourselves, the "normal," and the "afflicted," and ask You to lead, guide and direct, that YOUR WILL would be revealed and worked out through US Your willing vessels. To You we give all glory and honor. In Jesus's name we pray, amen.
Thank you for joining us for this edition of Blogging Through the Bible. You can catch more wonderful, here:
Words From the Wheel by StaceyLynn Wells
No Longer Lukewarm by Angela G
I always had trouble reconciling the Old and New Testaments, especially in certain places, until I truly began to dig deeper into the study and the correlation between the two. Paul said, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." (Romans 15:4). Excellent exposition here, sister! A true blessing to read!
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