You may never have had someone tell you to your face that they wanted you dead, but you probably suspected that some have fought it. The psalmist had that experience. Only his was more real than just somebody thinking about it. His reaction would surprise most people. And we can learn some valuable spiritual lessons by seeing what happened to him. I'm talking about Psalm 139. It's commonly called the Wisdom Psalm. It's written by David, and in it he faces men who wanted him dead. We will see that toward the end of the passage. So turn with me to Psalm 139. Now, before we get started, I want to say that this passage talks a lot about the nature of God, and there are some highfalutin terms to describe that. It is common to talk about the omniscience of God, meaning He's all-knowing. and that God is omnipresent. That means He's present everywhere at once. There are also those who talk about the omnipotence of God. Now, that phrase you probably heard, that God's all-powerful. Now, this passage more than any other in the Bible talks about those three attributes of God. I'm going to use those three terms, but the Bible doesn't use those 50 cent words. It uses nickel words, which we're going to see in this passage. But I'm going to use those omni words to sort of hang the psalm on. For example, the first thing he does is he talks about the omniscience of God. Look at verse one. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thoughts from afar. You comprehend my path, my lying down, and you are acquainted with all my ways. You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high. I cannot obtain it. Now, I just read the first six verses, but what I want you to notice is he's clearly talking about the knowledge of God. Verse six says, such knowledge. But what he's saying is that God's knowledge is all-encompassing. He knows everything. Now let's go back and just survey these six verses. Verse one says, O Lord, you have searched me and know me. The theme of the first six verses is that statement. The Lord knew David. His knowledge came as if he had scouted every detail of David's life and he knew him intimately. He says, you searched me, you scouted me out. That's verse one. And you know me. Knowledge is the deal here. Look at verse two. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thoughts from afar off. Notice again, you know, you understand. We're talking about God's knowledge, His all-knowledge called omniscience. By the way, in the Hebrew text it's possible to write a sentence so that one word is emphatic. In this case, the word you is emphatic in the Hebrew text. The psalmist employs a figure of speech to express completeness. And that is, he uses two thoughts that are extreme, and it means everything in between. It's a figure of speech. So he says, you know my sitting down and my rising up. Those are the two extremes. And what he means is you know everything. You know, from the time I sit down to the time I get up, you know everything. So God knew every move David made. Moreover, he understood the motives as well as the actions. Afar probably refers to the time rather than space. Now, look at verse three. You comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways." Now notice the emphasis on knowledge. This is God's all-knowing. Verse 3 says, you, and again in the Hebrew text, you is emphatic. God also knew David's daily activities. This is another of those figures of speech. You comprehend my path and my lying down. Those are the two extremes. It represents the whole day's activities. He keeps a constant watch. Nothing is hidden from him. God knows all of David's ways. Look at verse four. There is not a word on my tongue, but behold, the Lord know, you know it altogether. Notice again the word know. These first six verses are all talking about God's all-encompassing knowledge. This presents the greatest proof of God's omniscience. Before David spoke, the Lord knew what he was about to say. Look at verse five, you have hedged me about and before and laid your hand upon me. So David's initial response to this staggering knowledge was that he was troubled. Like any who would respond to the fact that God knows everything, he thought that it was confining that God had hinged him in, cupped his hand over him. So he says, such knowledge, verse six, is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot obtain it. God's infinite knowledge boggles the mind. Our human brain strains under the weight of the idea. It is too exalted for us to comprehend. In 1980, Jimmy Carter was president of the United States. An article written while he was president points out that he made a point, quote, to know a lot about the people with whom he deals. He is constantly being briefed with memos that contain personal sketches of family facts. Recently, 20 aides spent a whole weekend putting together a lengthy memoranda to prepare him for a phone conversation with the President of France. Even walking by visitors was known to Carter. The president said he read 3,000 words a minute and plowed through books about people that he would be talking to. Now that fact boggles my mind. I cannot imagine somebody reading 3,000 words a minute. But that's what that article said. and ended by saying, his morning often begins by scanning 30 to 40 briefing papers on those he would meet that day. Now, we are staggered at the knowledge of Jimmy Carter and his preparation in learning about people. That is nothing as compared to God. And this Psalm says, God knows everything. Matter of fact, let me sum up seven things that God knows because of this passage. Number one, God knows all about us, that's verse one. God knows my thoughts, that's verse two. God knows where we will travel, that's verse three. God hears what we say, that's verse four. God sees us in the dark, 11 and 12. God understands our bodies. verses 3 and 4. God keeps a record of all things. That's verse 16. God knows everything. Now, I said at the beginning I was going to use the word omniscience. That's a big, fancy word. It means all-knowing. Omni means all. Omniscience is knowledge. All knowledge. But you see, that's saying it in the abstract. The psalmist doesn't do that. What the psalmist says is God knows everything about me. It's not an abstract idea. It's an intensely personal idea. So when we say God is omniscient, he knows everything about me as well as everything else. But it's the about me that highlights this psalm. Now, as I mentioned, the second thing he does is talk about God's omnipresence. Beginning in verse seven, he says, where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? Awareness of God's omniscience, verses one to six, led David to try to escape from the Lord. Not only is God omniscient, he's omnipresent as well. Never has the pen of man more effectively described the omnipresence of God, said one author. Where are you gonna go to escape him? Where can I go to get away from your spirit? How am I gonna flee from your presence? Well, look at verse eight. If I ascend to heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. Now, hell in this place is shield, which is the place of the dead. But again, this is a figure of speech. Heaven and hell, or heaven and the grave, are the two extremes, and he's everywhere in between. He is omnipresent. Look at verse nine. If I take wings of the morning and dwell into the uttermost parts of the sea, it's as if he goes from east, the wings of the morning, to the west, the uttermost parts of the Mediterranean sea, lo and behold, God is there. And again, this is that kind of figure of speech where he's expressing two extremes, meaning everything in between. Look at verse 10. Even there, your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. This thought changes the fearful earlier images of God pursuing the psalmist. Now he states the hand of God would lead and comfort him. Oh, I don't have to be afraid of the knowledge of God or the presence of God because God could be there to help me. Look at verse 11. If I say, surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night shall be a light to me. In other words, again, God is everywhere. Fall here, actually the Hebrew word means bruise. He spoke of the night as bruising him because often at night harm came to people. But again, it's darkness and light. It's the two extremes with everything in between. Look at verse 12. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines this day. The darkness and the light are both alike to you. Night cannot shut out the presence of God. David could not be concealed from God, for darkness and light are the same to God because of his omniscience and his omnipresence. Pascal said, his center is everywhere, his circumference is nowhere. God is everywhere. A little boy was tending his father's flock of sheep along the highway. An atheist driving by stopped to talk to the little lad and soon discovered that the boy was a believer in Jesus Christ. Wishing to confound the youth, And he said, tell me my boy, do you know where this God of whom you say you love and worship is? I'll give you an apple if you can tell me where God is. The little boy replied, sir, I will give you two apples if you can tell me where he is not. Cute story, profound truth. Now, so far, what we've seen is that God knows everything. We call that omniscience. And God is everywhere. We call that omnipresent. But keep in mind, that's not the way this is expressed. It's not expressed in the abstract. It's expressed in the personal. It's God is everywhere. I am. Keep it personal. Now there's one more of the characteristics of God and that is his omnipotence. Look at verse 13. For you formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. God knows David because he formed him like a potter and covered him with like a weaver covering somebody with a cloth blanket they made. all in his mother's womb. In other words, since God creates people, he knows them intimately and can be always with them. Verse 14 says, I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works that my soul knows very well. Now keep in mind, we're talking about God's doing something. It's now referenced on his power, not his knowledge. And again, the word you in this passage is emphatic. Someone has said, in each 24 hours, your heart beats 103,680 times. Your blood circulates every 23 seconds and travels 168 million miles. You breathe 23,000 times and intake 438 cubic feet of air. You digest three and a quarter pounds of food. You consume over half a gallon of liquids. You evaporate two pounds of water by perspiration. You generate 98.6 degrees of heat and generate 450 tons of energy. You use 750 muscles and 7 million brain cells. No wonder David said, I am wonderfully and marvelously made. Wow. It boggles my mind that somebody can think that all happened by chance. God made you. Look at verse 15. My frame is not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lower parts of the earth. Now we're to verses 15 and 16. These verses stress selective features of God superintending the process of human fetal formation in the womb. The reference to frame means the skeleton of bones. The depths of the earth is a figure of speech for the womb. Notice that he uses the personal pronoun, I, my, me, in reference to the fetus. This is not just part of the body. It is a person. Look at verse 16. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed, and in your book they all were written. The days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. God saw David's unformed substance, the embryo even before he was born. In fact, God knew David's whole life. It was in God's book before David was born. God's book is the book of the living. David said God predestinated the length of his life before his birth. In verses one to four, he would probably include David's activities as well. So verses 13 through 16 give strong testimony to the fact that human life begins at conception rather than at birth. But it's God's doing, and that's the point David is making. He says in verse 17, how precious also are your thoughts of me, O God. How great is the sum of them. This let David conclude that the Lord's plan, the Lord's thoughts for his people are most precious and innumerable. So he says in verse 18, if I should count them, they could be more in number than the sand. When I awake, I'm still with you. This verse meant that every day when David awoke from sleep, God extends his thoughts toward him. Wow. The psalmist may be referring to the moment of his birth. The thought developed thus far is that God knows everything about us, is present with us no matter where we go, and used his power to create us. Theologians call these truths Omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. Now, I say again, those are legitimate terms, but they're technical terms. And they say it in the abstract. God is omniscient, knows everything. God is omnipresent, he is everywhere. God is omnipotent, he has all power. But that is not quite the point. And at this point, the thought is God knows everything about us, is present with us no matter where we go. He used his power to create us. It's not an abstract, philosophical, theological point. It is intensely personal. I've been known to speak against systematic theology, and it's not that I don't agree that you should systematize the theological thought of the Bible. It's that systematic theology divorces the truth of the Bible from life. It deals with it in the abstract, and the Bible never does that, and this is the perfect example. Word deals with God's truth in the personal, in situations. That's the essence of the whole Bible. Now, why did God, I'm sorry, why did David develop these thoughts in this psalm? Well, there's some more verses, and he tells us, we've seen three things about God that are deeply personal. Now he says, oh, that you would slay the wicked. Oh God, depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. With the thoughts in mind about God that we've seen in the first 18 verses, David turns his attention to his present situation. His enemies were attacking him. He prayed that the Lord would slay those who were trying to kill him. He took comfort from the knowledge of the Lord's presence. Look at verse 20. For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain. David explains that he wants the wicked slain, verse 19, because they speak wickedly against God and take his name in vain, verse 20. David is saying, Lord, this is not just against me. It's against you. Look at verse 21. I do not hate them, O Lord, who hate you. I'm sorry, it's a question. Do I hate them, O Lord, who hate you? And do I loathe those who rise up against you? Now, to hate in the scripture means to reject. That can be seen in Malachi 1.3. The point is that because they were God's enemies, David affirms that they were his enemies too. That's the point. And in the context, the point is that after contemplating that God knows everything, God is everywhere present, and God has all power, David is saying that these puny men who dare to turn against him will be punished, and their punishment is well deserved. Ah, this is the point I've been making throughout this whole explanation of Psalm 139. Namely, that David speaks in lofty terms about the attributes of God, but he does it in the context of a personal situation. The Bible never talks about God's characteristics in abstraction. It always talks about it in concretion. And this is the perfect example. So he says in verse 22, I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. Spurgeon said, he was a good hater for he hated only those who hated good. Now, one scholar said, before we proceed to condemn David for this prayer, it is well to note that we ourselves pray the same thing whenever we pray the words of the Lord's prayer. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. The coming of Christ's kingdom will be preceded by the destruction of his foes. So to pray for one is to pray for the other." David then says, search me, O God, verse 23, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties. He concluded with a prayer that God would search him so that it would be clear that he was not like his enemies. Thus he ends the psalm as he began it with a reference to God's searching knowledge. David wanted God to test him as a refiner test metal to show that he was loyal to the Lord. Since God knows all, he would know David's anxious thoughts. One more verse. And see if there's any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Such an examination, verse 23, search me, would yield evidence of his loyalty, verse 24. The Lord in his leading would then preserve David's life. Now, there's a lot of verses here as compared to some of the Psalms we've looked at lately, 24 verses. And they express some of the most profound truths about God in all of the scripture. But it's personal. So let me sum up the psalm by saying this. When somebody wants you dead, which was David's case in this psalm, remember, God knows everything about you, is always with you, and has all power to protect you. So request their demise instead of yours and rely on the Lord to refine you and lead you. Now that is a mouthful, but all of those thoughts are in this Psalm. So let me repeat it. When somebody wants you dead, or for that matter, when you're in any kind of a trial, this is what you need to remember. God knows everything about you. God is always with you. God has the power to protect you. Now that's who God is. Based on that, request the demise of your enemies, and rely on the Lord to refine you and lead you. Wow, what a profound thought. The attributes of God are not abstract qualities, but active characteristics. His absolute knowledge Assured presence and almighty power are active on our behalf. Wow. God is great. There is nothing he does not know. There is nowhere he is not present. There is nothing he cannot do. If men insist on being the enemies of such a great God, they richly deserve their fate. That is, in belief, is the flow of David's meditation in this magnificent psalm. The early American Indians had a unique practice of training young braves. On the night of the boy's 13th birthday, After learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family or the tribe. But this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick woods and was terrified. Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of a path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was his father. He had been there all night. God the Father is present and has the power to protect. Father, thank you for that great truth. That only highlights who you are, but it's who you are in relationship to where we are. Thank you for the assurance that you have the knowledge and the power and the presence to take care of us. Thank you, Father. In Jesus' name, amen.