A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM CXXXIX.
_David praiseth God for his allseeing providence, and for his infinite mercies.—He defieth the wicked.—He prayeth for sincerity._ To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known _me_. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted _with_ all my ways. For _there is_ not a word in my tongue, _but_, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. _Such_ knowledge _is_ too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot _attain_ unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou _art_ there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou _art there_. _If_ I take the wings of the morning, _and_ dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light above me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light _are_ both alike _to thee_. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully _and_ wonderfully made: marvellous _are_ thy works; and _that_ my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, _and_ curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all _my members_ were written, _which_ in continuance were fashioned, when _as yet there was_ none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! _If_ I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me, therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, _and_ thine enemies take _thy name_ in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if _there be any_ wicked way, and lead me in the way everlasting. This is a high and glorious Psalm of thanksgiving, wherein the Psalmist, with a marvellous fervour of spirit, touches on that all-high matter,—God’s predestination of all things; and proclaims that incomprehensibleness of the divine wisdom and goodness, whereby, in a wonderful manner, he himself and all men, with all their affairs, all their works and all their thoughts, both the greatest and the least, were predestinated of God from everlasting. This manifold wisdom of God is incomprehensible to flesh and blood!
“Thou, O Lord (saith the Psalmist) hast searched me out and known me; thou knowest me altogether; thou understandest my thoughts long before they are conceived by me. Wherever I move, whithersoever I go, thou surroundest me on every side; and being ever present with me, thou beholdest all my undertakings, and my works, and my ways, and all that I think of doing or undertaking. There is no speech, not even the least word, upon my tongue, but thou, O God, knowest it, before I utter it. Thine eyes beheld me, when yet imperfect in my mother’s womb; and thou didst wonderfully form and fashion me there.” And (ver. 6) the Psalmist exclaims, “Such knowledge is too high and wonderful; no mortal thought can attain unto it.” Here, it is as if the Psalmist had said, it is not in the capacity or powers of any mortal to think or determine how he will lead his life, what he will undertake, what he will do, what he will speak, what he will think, where he will go, or to, or from, or in what place he will turn; but all our acts, motions, and thoughts, are nothing less than the works of God ever present with us, doing and ruling all things as he will. And hence (ver. 19.) he utters his indignation against the wicked; saying, “Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.” Here he burns with zeal against hypocrites, who, being ignorant of all the works and words of God, and utterly blind and mad, ascribe all their doings to their own works and merits.
These mortals are perpetually putting forth and boasting of their own ability and works, and are ever relying on their own doings and merits, and ascribing unto themselves that glory which belongs to God alone; whereas they have not one of their words in their own power, as of, or from, themselves; but all their words and thoughts are in the hand of God.—This glory, I say, they arrogate to themselves, when they are all the while so far from the wisdom of God and his divine works, that they neither know themselves nor any one part of themselves; nor understand how they were formed or fashioned in the womb of their mother; nor what their own body is, nor what are its properties and organs; nor what their eyes are, nor what their brain is; nor what the origin and nature of that motion is, by which their body is moved; and, in a word, when they know not what the soul and this natural life are; nor whence arise all those various motions and affections of the mind within, nor how they are uttered outwards by the tongue. When, therefore, this whole that we are, and this all that we do, are not our own wisdom or doing, but God’s; and since we cannot comprehend these earthly things; since, I say, we neither can know nor do any one of these earthly and corporal things, as of ourselves; how awful a sin is that enormous arrogance, whereby we profess that we have so much power in ourselves and in our free-will, that we can understand God, and do his divine and spiritual works, and deliver ourselves from sin, and death, and hell. Wherefore (ver. 20.) the Psalmist utters his holy indignation against such hypocrites and teachers of human works and doings; saying, “Thine enemies speak blasphemously against thee, O Lord, and they are proud and lifted up against thee without cause. Guard thou me, and prove and try me, that I may continue in the right way; the way that is true and eternal;” that is, in the way of the knowledge of the word of thy grace.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.