Psalms 139 · The Lantern

To the choirmaster. Of David. A psalm. LORD, you have searched me and you know.

You Have Searched Me and Known Me

You yourself know my sitting down and my rising up; you have understood my thought from afar.

My path and my lying down you have sifted, and you are familiar with all my ways.

For there is not a word on my tongue — see, LORD, you know all of it.

Behind and before you have hemmed me in, and you have set your palm upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high — I cannot reach it.

In truth, to know oneself seems to be the hardest of all things. Not only our eye, which observes external objects, does not use the sense of sight on itself, but even our mind, which contemplates intently another's sin, is slow in the recognition of its own defects.

What man, then, is there who can comprehend that wisdom by which God knows all things, in such wise that neither what we call things past are past therein, nor what we call things future are therein waited for as coming, as though they were absent, but both past and future with things present are all present; nor yet are things thought severally, so that thought passes from one…

Although the intellect and the affection of the rational soul never rest except in God and in the infinite good, this is not because it comprehends that good, but because nothing suffices for the soul unless it exceeds its capacity.

Where can I go from your spirit? And where can I flee from your face?

Since, therefore, all things are seen and heard, let us fear him and abandon the abominable lusts that spawn evil works, in order that we may be shielded by his mercy from the coming judgments. For where can any of us escape from his mighty hand? For the Scripture says somewhere, "Where shall I go, and where shall I be hidden from your presence?

Behold you find that the runaway in a far country cannot escape His eyes, from whom he flees. And whither can he go now, whose "limit is tracked out"? Behold, what says he? "Whither shall I go from Your Spirit?" [Psalm 139:7]. Who can in the world flee from that Spirit, with whom the world is filled?

Hold most firmly and never doubt that God the Trinity is unbounded in power, not in mass; and that every creature, spiritual and bodily, is bound by his power and his presence.

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; and if I make my bed in Sheol, see — you.

If they really conceive of a kind of degradation of the Son in relation to the Father, as though He were in a lower place, so that the Father sits above, and the Son is thrust off to the next seat below, let them confess what they mean. We shall have no more to say. A plain statement of the view will at once expose its absurdity.

For Deity alone is uncircumscribed, existing everywhere, and as the same and in the same manner. For if I ascend, saith David, into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into Hades thou art present there; if I should take to myself wings at morning—that is, in the east—and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea—that is, in the west—even there shall thy hand lead me: evidently i…

Job says: "I always feared God as though waves were swelling over me." And why? I cannot flee on account of the sublimity of divine power, because "if I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into hell, thou art present; if I take my wings at dawn and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Likewis…

If I lift the wings of the dawn, if I dwell at the far end of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me, and your right hand will hold me.

And if I said, “Surely darkness will crush me, and the light around me will be night,”

even darkness is not dark to you, and the night shines like the day; as the darkness, so the light.

For you yourself acquired my kidneys; you wove me together in my mother’s belly.

I will give you thanks, for I am fearfully set apart; your works are wonders, and my soul knows it well.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, embroidered in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in your book all of them were written — days that were formed, when there was not one of them.

Let them not persuade themselves that they should not do penance, who, although they have not contaminated their hands by impious sacrifices, yet have defiled their consciences with certificates. That profession is of one who denies; the testimony is of a Christian who rejects what he had been.

..."Thine eyes did see Mine imperfect one, and in Thy book shall all be written" (ver. 16), not only the perfect, but also the imperfect. Let not the imperfect fear, only let them advance. Nor yet, because I have said, "let them not fear," let them love their imperfection, and remain there, where they are found. Let them advance, as far as in them lieth.

"Your eyes have seen my actions; in Your book they are all written." In other words, that which had been written earlier is now made manifest: it is not written anew. In this book are inscribed all the eternal laws. And so God is the eternal Exemplar, and this is a matter of faith which believes that God is the creator of all things.

And to me, how precious are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!

If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

If only you would slay the wicked, God! And men of blood, turn away from me —

those who speak of you with a scheme; your enemies lift it up for emptiness.

Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise against you?

Yet, it is not hard for us, if we wish it, to take up a love for justice and a hatred for iniquity. God has advantageously given all power to the rational soul, as that of loving, so also that of hating, in order that, guided by reason, we may love virtue but hate vice. It is possible at times to use hatred even praiseworthily.

I also ask and beg of you to expound for me what [Paul] says to the Romans, for I admit I have very poor sight for this opinion of the apostle about the Jews, where he says, "As concerning the gospel, indeed they are enemies for your sake, but as touching the election they are most dear for the sake of the ancestors." How can these same ones be enemies for our sake, now that we…

Now indeed your neighbor, whom you are truly bound to love as yourself, that he too may savor to you as he is, will surely savor to you no differently than you to yourself, who is what you are: for he is a man. You therefore who love yourself only because you love God; consequently all who similarly love him, you love as yourself.

With a perfect hatred I hate them; they have become enemies to me.

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

And see if there is any way of pain in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

Psalms139

You Have Searched Me and Known Me