Psalm 139 Mar. 18 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.  1Yahweh, You have searched me and You know me. 2You know my sitting down and my rising up, You perceive my thoughts from afar. 3You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, You know it altogether. 5You hem me in behind and before, You have laid Your hand on me. 6This knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty and beyond me. 7Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence? 8If I ascend up into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there! 9If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will hold me. 11If I say, Surely the darkness will overwhelm me then the light around me will be night; 12even the darkness doesn’t hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness is like light to You. 13For You formed my inmost being, You knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful and my soul knows that very well. 15My frame wasn’t hidden from You when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. 16Your eyes saw my body. In Your book my body parts were all written and the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them. 17How precious to me are Your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum! 18If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with You. 19If only You, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men! 20For they speak against You wickedly, Your enemies take Your name in vain. 21Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate You? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against You? 22I hate them with complete hatred; they have become my enemies. 23Search me, God, and know my heart; test me, and know my thoughts. 24See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.   

Commentary

139:2 We are now in God's presence, and can't escape from it; and the presence of God is judgment language (Acts 3:19; 2 Thess. 1:9; 2:19; Jude 24; Rev. 14:10). He not only sees and knows everything in our lives but is judging it too.
139:7-9 Jonah knew the Psalms; his prayer from inside the fish is packed with allusion to them. And yet he thought he could flee from God’s presence (Jonah 1:3)- even though these verses almost prophesy of Jonah, that nobody can flee from God’s presence;  neither the sea itself nor geographical distance can hide from God. Jonah knew this. But he simply acted in a way diametrically opposed to that knowledge.  We read the same words he did, and are faced with the same choice as to whether we truly believe them or merely know them.
139:15,16 If this is the level of intention and planning which God put into us, we at least can draw the certain conclusion: life is not aimless. God has a purpose for us and we therefore ought to be living a purposeful life, not just drifting from experience to experience as in a half-conscious dream. God is focused upon us and we should be upon Him.
139:24 Wicked way- The Hebrew translated “wicked” also means ‘sorrow’ or ‘pain’. The way of sin, the path to quick pleasure, is in fact the way of pain and sorrow.