Psalm 139:13-16 – Is It God or Us?

Again, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³Because You formed my inmost being and wove me together in the womb of my mother.

¹⁴I will praise You upon because I am distinguished [by] feared things. Your doings [are] amazed things and my soul knows [that] greatly.

¹⁵My skeleton was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, [when] I was intricately woven in [the] depths of [the] earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my embryo and upon Your book all of them were written; days were formed and not one among them.

As a follow-up to my last blog, there’s another thing about these verses that I think is interesting and thought provoking.

Matthew Henry said, “My parents were only the instruments of it … [Consider that it is] a great marvel, a great miracle we might call it, but it is done in the ordinary course of nature.” He’s right. This is one of those places where the immediate miraculous workings of God mysteriously and obviously intersect with what appears to be a completely natural process. By observation alone, one would conclude that conception is an entirely natural process. One could, like a Deist of old, propose that conception is a process that the Lord set in place and since then it “just happens” and neither requires nor involves divine intervention.

But the verses before us clearly contradict such a notion. Verse 13 clearly states, “…You formed my inmost being and wove me together in the womb of my mother.” I underline the “You” because it is emphatic in the Hebrew. But with or without my underline, the truth remains that God Himself is intimately involved in the conception of every single human being. Though millions of babies may be conceived in any given day, yet every one of them is a specific and deliberate creation of God.

This fact would have enormous implications for those conceived in, shall we say, less than ideal circumstances – babies conceived during rapes, or conceived perhaps in girls much too young to be mothers, or by couples who might see it as an “unwanted” pregnancy. Regardless of the circumstances producing a conception, that child is a unique and deliberate creation of the Great Artist.

But back to Matthew Henry’s thought, consider that, on the other hand, it is, in a sense, completely a natural process. Is it a miracle or is it natural? The answer is of course, “Yes.” It is both. Unexplainably yet totally both. Perhaps my faith shows through here, but, as a parent, I have no trouble seeing both. My children are all obviously the product of their father and mother. We see so much of us in them, so much even of our families back several generations. Yet each one came out of the womb an absolutely individual creation. They are clearly their own person. So much the same and yet so much totally unique. A miracle seen clearly in what is a completely natural process.

My suggestion would be that this is of course true of all of life. We’re back to the “Sovereignty vs. Responsibility” debate. Is God totally sovereign or am I totally responsible? Yes. Yes to both.

I read recently that, once given rifles, some American Indians actually became excellent shots with them. However, in battle they were known to be lousy shots. The reason proposed was because “magic” was such an important part of the American Indian’s thinking. Much of the war dances and other activities in which they engaged ahead of battle was for the purpose of improving their “magic.” If their magic was strong, they would do great exploits in battle. So they would go into battle counting on their magic. That being the case, they didn’t need to aim carefully. They thought their “magic” would guide the bullet to their enemy. The actual result was simply that they became characteristically lousy shots in battle.

In depending on “magic” they were less careful of their own efforts. I would suggest this is something we as Christians should be aware of. I suspect that it is easy to say we “trust God” and then not really try as hard as we should. Of course it is also easy to forget God and think it’s all on us. But, again, is it God or us? Yes.

Somehow, in every endeavor, we must strive to do our very best, to use all the faculties God has given us, while at the same time trusting God to be at work even in and through those efforts to accomplish His good purpose.

When a child is conceived, is it God or us? Yes. No matter what we do, is it God or us? Yes.

“O the depths of the riches of the wisdom of God.”

Psalm 139:13-16 – While the Artist Works

 Here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³Because You formed my inmost being and wove me together in the womb of my mother.

¹⁴I will praise You upon because I am distinguished [by] feared things. Your doings [are] amazed things and my soul knows [that] greatly.

¹⁵My skeleton was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, [when] I was intricately woven in [the] depths of [the] earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my embryo and upon Your book all of them were written; days were formed and not one among them.

One thing I have to confess is that the Hebrew in this Psalm is particularly difficult. They had such an ornery habit of writing in verbal shorthand and then I think that the genre of poetry affords David even greater license here. The result is that the Hebrew sentences look incomplete to our Western minds, much seems simply left out, and it seems like one has to get deeply into a picture-mindset to even guess at exactly what he means. For whatever it’s worth, I’m not alone in this evaluation. Spurgeon said (particularly of verse 16), “This verse is an extremely difficult one to translate … the sense is hard to come at, and difficult to express …” I don’t think the ideas being expressed are difficult to understand; it’s just figuring out how to translate the specific words and phrases into English that definitely leaves a man scratching his head.

That said, I might have to work up two or three blogs on this section. It holds some enormous implications, I think.

David’s obvious point, I think, is to illustrate God’s omni-ness which had been the subject of verses 1-12. Perhaps we most intimately know His omni-ness in the undeniable miracle of our own creation. Perhaps we would better recognize His omni-ness throughout our lives if we would but seriously ponder it in our own creation. Spurgeon said, “We need not go to the ends of the earth for marvels … they abound in our own bodies.”

Who can deny the truth of these four verses? I was woven together in my mother’s womb. I was intricately woven. God was there. My skeleton was not hidden from him. He saw my embryo. And it all came about seemingly in complete darkness and mystery. I could run ahead to the obvious implication: How can I ever doubt the presence and minute care of the God Who was there weaving me into existence? However, I think I’ll come back to that.

Spurgeon said something else which I thought was explosive: “A great artist will often labour alone in his studies, and not suffer his work to be seen until it is finished; even as did the Lord fashion us where no eye beheld us, and the veil was not lifted till every member was complete … Much of the formation of our inner man still proceeds in secret.”

First of all, I want to ponder Spurgeon’s thought that the artist will “not suffer his work to be seen until it is finished.” Why not? Generally speaking, because it’s ugly. Generally speaking the “parts and pieces” of any creation are themselves ugly. It’s true of music. We all know how awful an alto part usually sounds by itself. It only becomes beautiful when it blends with the soprano. But how much more is that true of a human body? Beyond debate, a human body can be an amazingly beautiful thing – but only when it’s all together. One slice of a surgeon’s knife and things get unbelievably ugly fast! No one wants to see the joints, the tendons, the organs, the brains, and everything else that all fits together to make a complete human. I think this truth, that generally speaking things are ugly until they’re complete, is another fractal of our existence. It is a pattern that repeats itself in a million different ways on a million different scales.

What particularly moved me to observe this fractal was Spurgeon’s comment, “Much of the formation of our inner man still proceeds in secret.” This seems so true to me. “He that hath begun a good work will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ…” God is at work. The Great Artist is sculpting His people. All things are working together for good. … But it doesn’t look that way now. Frankly, much of our lives are ugly. There’s the ugliness of our past sins and failures and stupid decisions; the ugliness of any kind of pain or sorrow or loss; the ugliness of confusion itself. But what does the Bible say? “When Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col 3:4). Our very sanctification is the same fractal, the same pattern. Its beauty can only be seen when it’s complete.

This is enormously encouraging to me. I am very aware of so much failure. I have such crushing regrets. I wish I didn’t have to have so much that is ugly about me. I fully acknowledge that I must own responsibility for my choices and all of that. But that said, the truth of Psalm 139 reminds me, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (I Cor 15:10). Even my failures and the things that appear ugly are all a part of the Great Artist’s work. While trying to be responsible moment by moment, yet I must trust that somehow all the ugliness will weave together into something beautiful in the Artist’s hands – and that the beauty may only be seen when it is all complete. Today, by the grace of God I am what I am.

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates, that the King of Glory may come in!”

Psalm 139:7-12 – Present

 Here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Where can I go from Your Spirit and where can I flee from Your face?

⁸If I ascend [to the] heavens, You [are] there and [if] I spread out [in] Sheol, behold, You [are there]!

⁹[If] I lift wings of morning, [if] I settle in uttermost part of sea, ¹⁰even there Your hand will guide me. Your right hand will grasp me.

¹¹And [if] I say, “Surely darkness will cover me,” even night [will be] light around me.

¹²Even darkness does not make dark from You and night as day shines. As darkness, as light.

In verses 1-6, David pondered the omniscience of God. “You search me and You know.” In verses 7-12, he goes on to ponder the omnipresence of God. Notice in verse 8, I have to supply the [are] in “You are there.” In Hebrew it is just, “You!” “Behold, You!” No matter where I go, You!

I liked what Spurgeon said, “Sin is dreadful business. It is to offend the Almighty to His face and commit acts of treason at the foot of His throne!”

I have been thinking for some time about the business of counseling. So much of counseling is offering “solutions.” “You have this problem? Then do this and things will be better.” Those thoughts certainly have their place, but I have sadly observed first hand over the years how few people seem to actually be helped by that approach. Currently, I am suspecting that the problem is that, in so doing, we really do not address the person’s relationship with God (or lack thereof).  I am beginning to surmise that many problems are actually just the symptoms of a deficient view of God, of a deficient relationship with Him. The typical approach to counseling then is an attempt to treat symptoms without addressing the real problem. Now there is always the problem that we must learn and always be learning, no matter how good our relationship with God. We all have much to learn, even a person who has a robust view of God and is actually enjoying a real relationship with Him. I suppose our common approach to counseling would be appropriate for that person. They have a good relationship with God, they just don’t see how Scripture applies in their current situation. That is where godly counsel is a welcome blessing.

But, in this day of pervasive spiritual immaturity, I’m afraid few qualify. Instead, most often the problem is not a lack of knowledge but a deficient relationship with God. Even Biblical counseling is largely ineffective because we aren’t addressing the real problem. Perhaps we should use counseling and people’s “presentation problems” to first of all explore the reality (or lack thereof) of their relationship with God. If their problems are only symptoms, then perhaps it would be the better part of wisdom to disappoint them and not rush to tell the man how to “fix” his marriage.

I don’t know if this is making sense to anyone. It is all still forming in my own mind. But what do I mean? I think about Spurgeon’s comment above, “Sin is dreadful business.” Take for example a thief. What is his biggest problem? Is it that he steals? I would suggest that his biggest problem is that he imagines God doesn’t see or at least he isn’t even aware that God is present. If he, like Spurgeon, could truly see that he is “offending the Almighty to His face” and “committing acts of treason at the foot of His throne,” he could immediately see the folly of stealing. If he really knew God, he would see that he doesn’t need to steal. “I’ve been young and I’ve been old,” said David, “but I have never seen the children of the righteous begging bread.” “Jehovah Jireh: God will provide.” I suspect when Paul wrote, “Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him work with his hands …,” he was not simply prescribing behavioral modification. He was presuming he was speaking to genuinely born again people who had a real relationship with God. Certainly even a born again man who has spent his life stealing needs direction how to re-package his brain, how to see his needs and wants differently. But I fear our typical approach to counseling is simply to prescribe, “Here’s what you need to do …,” while we are most likely speaking to a person who in reality does not know God. I wonder how “counseling” would look different if that relationship was first on our agenda and behavioral modification was simply an outgrowth of it. I wonder how children’s Sunday School or Youth Groups or college ministries would be different if our main concern was to cultivate strong relationships with God, rather than seeing them all as tools for behavioral modification? Food for thought anyway.

Back to our passage, I feel like studying the first 12 verses of this Psalm has moved me a notch further along in my own relationship with God. I studied this very Psalm years ago and have, since then, enjoyed feeding on the idea of God’s amazing knowledge and presence. “He knows when I sit down and when I get up!” It occurred to me back then that basically no one else really notices or cares. Yet the God of the universe notices and cares – even something as trivial as my sitting and rising. Even now, the thought makes my head spin. But somehow, in my heart, He was still “over there.” Then I thought about like with my wife or my children or other family and good friends. How would I like it if they could be right here with me … forever? Would that not be heaven itself? But my God is the same way. I want Him here with me. Just like my family. And He is! I’ve just never thought of Him exactly that way. Interesting how it warms my heart, just like having one of my little punkins sitting on my lap while I worked at the computer or taking them with me to the hardware store. My mind floods with pleasant memories of loved ones with me. But in a new and different way, I can actually include God in that warmth! He’s been there all along, of course, I just didn’t see it or see it clearly enough to actually warm my heart. And He always will be … both now and into eternity! If I ascend into the heavens or go down to the depths, if I take the wings of the dawn to the furthest parts of the sea, … You! I’ll always have my best friend with me!

Nice.

Psalm 139:1-6 – Thoughts on Being Known

 Here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹To one directing. To David, a psalm.

 LORD, You search me and You know.

²You know my sitting and my rising. You discern my intentions from afar.

³My going and my lying down You sift and You are acquainted [with] the all of my ways.

⁴For not an utterance [is] in my tongue, [but] behold, O LORD, You know all of it.

⁵Behind and in front You confine me and You set Your hand on me.

⁶[It is] amazing knowledge from me. It is high. I am not able to it.

I have been studying and thinking over these verses for the last couple of weeks. My mind continues to generate a rather nondescript potpourri of thoughts. I don’t know that they amount to anything, but since this is my blog, I’ll go ahead and record them.

My first observation is that, for me, these are very comforting thoughts. Unless I have completely deceived myself, I want God to know my every thought. I want Him to know where I am and what I’m doing. If something I’m doing is wrong, I want Him to know it. I want Him to correct me and save me from my own self-destruction. I want Him to be present and aware of when I sit down and when I stand up – especially while He runs an entire universe and cares about every single other person.

I say this in contrast to what appears to me a very common opposite response. William Greenhill wrote: “Look well to your hearts, thoughts, risings, whatever comes into your mind; let no secret sins, or corruptions lodge there; think not to conceal anything from the eye of God.”  I understand Greenhill’s application and it is certainly legitimate. But my own heart objects to his underlying view of God – that He is basically the Grand Policeman in the sky. “Shape up or He’ll have to come and whack you!” Hmmmm. Do most people need this kind of a view of God? Do they need to be threatened and scolded into holiness? It seems to me if that is the case the problem is not in their lack of obedience but in their deficient view of God Himself. The love of Christ ought to compel us. Now it is quite true that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and I have often said that, if necessary, I should obey God because I fear the consequences of my sins. But I say that with a warmth in my heart toward God. I’m glad He loves me too much to let me self-destruct. I don’t like pain but I’m actually glad there are consequences for my bad choices. And I guess I think David would agree with me. I do not think David is writing these things as some kind of divine threat to keep people in line. Again, unless I have completely deceived myself (always an imminent possibility), I want to take these thoughts as love cordials. The closer God is to me the better.

The other competing thought in my mind confuses me somewhat. I’m not quite sure what to do with this. And I’m just being honest. I find it kind of hurtful to think how the Lord knows all of this, my down-sitting and my uprising, my thoughts from afar, every word on my tongue even before I utter it, … how He is so very intimately present … and still there are these very painful trials in my life that never seem to go away. It is hard enough to know that He is up in Heaven watching all, knowing all, and choosing not to answer my pleas for help. But to really realize that, no, He is right here. He is very present. And yet He still doesn’t help me. Sometimes I feel like my heart is wearing out. It seems like I used to be able to pray about things like this and usually there would be rather immediate results. This is a different experience crying and crying and crying for years and seeing no deliverance. I long to be able to say, “I cried unto the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.” But that is not where we are today.

As I said above, these emotions kind of confuse me. Because on the other hand I can confidently say that I totally trust Him. I know that, if He withholds anything from me, it is part of His incomprehensible loving wisdom. It rises from His commitment not to just bless me but rather to mold me. He is my Father. I suspect what I am experiencing is the common lot of all who walk with God for a lifetime. When we’re “young” He gives us a lot of instant gratification. But as we grow, He wants us to learn to trust Him without the constant crutches. We have to learn to ride without the training wheels. That makes perfect sense to me. I guess it just hurts. David said in another place, “I believed, therefore I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted!’” I think I just need to pray more that I can see Him in the storm, not necessarily that He would deliver me from it. Will any of this end in this life? I hope so. Does He still bless me with way more kindness than I deserve? Absolutely. Can I hang on until either He does deliver me or takes me to Heaven? I pray by His grace that I will.

Hmmm. Now we only know His presence by faith. What will it be like in Heaven to actually have Him visibly present 24/7? Probably a perpetual love feast! I know how much I could wish to have next to me all the time all the people I love on earth. How much more will it be to actually have the Lord present? He is now. I need to treasure that all the more. But oh for the day when faith will be sight and faith and hope pass away and only love remains!