Reading Psalm 139 can be a little frightening because you quickly realize God knows all about you! He knows where you are, what you’re doing, what you’re thinking, and what you’re going to say before you say it (v.1-4)! You also realize that there is no place you can go to escape this all-knowing God. “Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run to get away from you?” (v.7). It is almost like Psalm 139 is God’s version of George Orwell’s 1984 poster, “Big Brother is Watching You”!
Intimate and Delicate Language
God is not watching as “Big Brother,” but as your Creator. God knows you because he made you. “You alone created my inner being” (v.13). Here David uses very intimate language. ”Created my inner being” is a Hebrew idiom that could be translated, “You made my kidneys”! The kidneys were the last organs removed in the sacrificial process. They denote the very depth of who you are-your “inner being.” Clearly, God was intimately involved in making you who you are from the beginning.
Next David uses delicate language. “You knitted me together inside my mother” (v.13). ”Knitted” means to “cover” or “fence in.” There is a progression. God created your very essence (your inner being), and then wove or knitted a covering for “you”-your body. This also seems to confirm the biological process for procreation that God established. You were uniquely “you” at the moment of your conception. Cell division begins and your “covering”—your body—develops.
We know, of course, that God does not have tiny little knitting needles that he uses inside a uterus. However, guided by the Holy Spirit, David paints a picture of God’s intimate and delicate involvement in the formation of life from the moment of conception. As many people know, weaving or knitting is delicate work. It takes concentration to make sure the right strands go in the right place to produce the pattern that will lead to a recognizable whole. The scarf that your grandma knit is not only beautiful because of the amazing pattern of the woven threads, it is beautiful and valuable because of the hands that made it. Your life is amazingly beautiful and valuable, not only because of the miraculous complexity of your body, but because of the hands of your Creator.
The Awe of It All
David was awed by this. “I will give thanks to you because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made. Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this” (v.14). Are you “fully aware” of how amazing and miraculous you are? It doesn’t matter what you look like, or how good you are at math, or whether all your parts still work! You are the work of God’s hands! As such, don’t ever question your value. God himself says, “Are you going to give me orders concerning my handiwork?” (Isaiah 45:11). From the moment of conception, God has been involved in your life.
That brings David back to God’s intimate knowledge of you and me. “My bones were not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, when I was being skillfully woven in an underground workshop” (v.15). “Underground workshop” is a reference to the womb. Adam was made from the earth (Genesis 2:7). So the idea of earth, dark, underground, secret place, womb, beginning of life-these would all go together for the Hebrew. David’s point is clear: God knew us even before we were born. He is our “Skillful Weaver.”
In verse 16, God’s knowledge of you before you were born is repeated with an addition. “Your eyes saw me when I was only a fetus. Every day of my life was recorded in your book before one of them had taken place.” God not only knew you while you were being formed inside your mother, God had a plan and purpose for your life! It just makes you want to say, “Wow”! That’s how David continues.
“How precious are your thoughts concerning me, O God! How vast in number they are! If I try to count them, there would be more of them than there are grains of sand. When I wake up, I am still with you” (v.17-18). In other words, you are always in the thoughts of God! You have been from the very beginning of your life. God knows you because he was intimately involved in your formation. The reason God is always present in your life is because what he made is precious to him.
The Comfort of Being Watched
That brings us back to the idea that God is watching over you as your Creator, and not as “Big Brother.” Yes, he sees and knows everything you do and that’s not always good! But don’t be afraid! God has provided a means of forgiveness. His Son, Jesus, took our place from the very beginning. He, too, grew and developed in the womb of his mother, Mary. He lived a perfect life in our place. Then he took our sins upon himself and suffered and died in our place on the cross. He satisfied God’s justice and endured the punishment for sin for all people for all time-including you! Through faith in Jesus, whom God brought back to life from the dead, we are seen by God as holy and pure. Therefore, it’s not frightening to think about God knowing us and watching us. In fact, it is very comforting. He sees you as the work of his hands. He sees you as reclaimed by the outstretched hands of his Son. You are indeed precious to him! Wow!
Facing a Terrible Reality
Although Psalm 139 describes so amazingly God’s involvement in human life from the very beginning, it also provides a platform upon which to face a terrible reality. Not everyone sees the preciousness of human life in the womb. There are those who favor invading this “knitting room” of God and killing the life God creates there. Abortion has been around so long that many have become desensitized to what it really is and does. Even many Christians ask, “What’s so wrong with the right to choose?” Read on and see what defending the “right to choose” is really all about.