Psalm 139 - How NOT To Be a Practical Atheist

by Becky

LINK: Psalm 139

How often do those of us who claim the name of Chirst live as if we don’t trust in Him? We live as practical atheists. We doubt His concern for us and forget about Him and His involvment in our lives; we live as if He doesn’t exist.

This psalm should cure us of that.

So read this psalm! Soak in it.

REFLECTION

I cannot tell you how many times I have turned to this psalm as I have struggled with various fears and doubts.

Here’s one time:

My husband was in the Navy, stationed aboard a submarine, when we were first married. He would go out to sea and I wouldn’t see him or even hear from him the whole time, because he was under some ocean. Fear and loneliness fed on me at first. I feared for him; I felt afraid and alone at home. I remember reading this psalm. It wasn’t the first time I’d read it, but I read it with new eyes. God was with Jerry, even in the depths of that ocean. God was with me, too, at home by myself. Even if I wanted to hide from Him, I couldn’t! Our LORD was with each of us, so in that sense we were together. I realized I wasn’t alone and neither was Jerry. And God was not only with us, but He had a plan for each of us! Nothing could touch us that wasn’t already known by Him. Comfort flooded in and shielded me from that fear that had been eating away at me. I realized and believed that my LORD was actively concerned and with me.

This psalm brings to mind the children’s picture book, The Runaway Bunny, in which the baby bunny says he will run away from the mommy bunny by becoming many different things (a bird, a fish, and more) and the mommy bunny says that she will find him no matter what. She says she will become a tree that he will fly to, or a fisherman that catches that fish! When I read that book, I think of God, never letting His children go, not because He wants to punish us, but because He loves us. The mommy bunny says at the end of the picture book as she hugs her baby bunny, that she finds him because he is her baby and she loves him! That is what this psalm says. God made me and loves me and is intimately concerned with my heart and what I do. He will never leave me!

APPLICATION

This psalm NEEDS to be read out loud. So do that. Then do it again! No comments on this psalm can do it justice. I can’t say anything any better than David, filled with God’s Spirit, did. It answers so many fears and doubts and does it with beautiful language and images. So ponder the psalm.

To help you out here, I’m linking a video that recites part of the psalm: Psalm 139

If you doubt God’s love and concern for you, this psalm speaks to that. He examines us and knows our hearts. He knows each of us intimately. He is the one who made us who we are! His thoughts about each of us outnumber the grains of sand!

If you fear, this psalm tells us that God is with us, before us and behind us. Darkness is as light to Him!

If you are running from God, read this psalm and realize that He is with you. You cannot escape from Him and His love!

Our response? How can we not, like David, invite God to continue to lead us and search our hearts and long for Him to show us anything in us that offends Him?

How can anyone who belongs to the LORD live as a practical atheist after reading this psalm?

PRAYER

Try to read this whole psalm out loud as your prayer. I will quote the last two verses here:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me, and know my thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Amen.