RUNNING HEAD: SCRIPTURE JOURNAL 3

Scripture Journal 3: To Be Known, Loved, and Reconciled (Psalm 139)

Caitlin Leffingwell
Eastern University

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Summary
Psalm 139, attributed to David, is possibly one of the most beautiful Scriptural accounts
of how intimately God knows us, loves us, and affects us. The first section (vv. 1-6) begins with
the simple, yet profound, acknowledgement that O Lord, you have searched me and you know
me (Psalm 139:1, New International Version). This is an active, intentional understandingone
that purposefully encompasses every aspect of our lives. As the rest of this first section expounds
in captivating detail, God knows our actions, our thoughts, our habits, and our words even before
they are known to anyone else. His sovereign hand is upon us in the past, future, and presenta
nearness that the writer calls too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain (Psalm 139:6,
NIV). Similarly, the second section (vv.7-12) depicts the fact that God does not just know us, but
is with us whether in heaven or in hell and anywhere in this world. Even in darkness, we cannot
hide from Him, because even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the
day (Psalm 139:12, NIV). This section speaks profoundly to the fact that even our spiritual state
does not place us so far from God that we cannot be reached, which is both a frightening and
encouraging revelation.
As the third section (vv. 13-18) so poetically expresses, God was fully involved in our
very formationcrafting our physical form with all of its practical functionality and intricate
details. Moreover, He was and is fully involved in the paths of our lives as well, such that Every
day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had
passed (Psalm 139:16b, New Living Translation). Such intimate involvement is stunning and
life-changing, and the psalmist exudes amazement and joy in response. Yet in the fourth section
(vv. 19-24), this delight in the Lord compels him to hate those who engage in wickedness, who
misuse Gods name for their own gain, and who hate the Lord. His closeness to God drives him

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away from those who rebel against Him, which can cause tension in readers (myself included)
for reasons too extensive to go into here. However, the chapter ends with a plea that God
continue to search and know the psalmists inmost thoughts, to test for any of his own offenses,
and finally to continue leading him along the path of everlasting life (Psalm 139:24b, NLT).
Theme
One of my closest friends has long considered this David Viscott quote to sum up a great
deal of the human experience: To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides. Indeed,
one of our deepest needs is to experience love as both the giver and the receiver. Yet I also
believe that the impact of such love gains deeper and deeper meaning as it correlates to how well
we know and are known by those with whom we share such love. It is this dynamic connection
between intimate understanding and deep love that I believe to be one a core themes in Psalm
139. The psalmist expresses that God knows him at every possible level: his external self
(actions and words), his internal self (thoughts and desires), his temporal self (past, present, and
future), his spiritual self (whether in heaven or the darkness of hell), and his physical self
(structure and intricacy). Moreover, He has known these things before they even existeda
thought to which the psalmist responds How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How
vast is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:17).
In addition to accurately expressing just how unfathomably incredible such intimacy is,
such a response also speaks to just how much we desire to be known, despite the fact that it can
be distressing in many ways. As Hebrews 4:13 highlights, Nothing in all creation is hidden from
Gods sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give
account (NIV). The entire book of Job is filled with incredible testimonies to Gods omniscient
and omnipresent character, as well as his unsearchable wisdom and sovereign control over the

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entire world. As Wink (1999) wrote, We are on the brink of rediscovering soul at the core of
every created thing. There is nothing, from DNA to the United Nations, that does not have God
at its core. Everything has a spiritual aspect. Everything is answerable to God (p.5). Yet where
such knowledge of a broken and rebellious world should beget primarily enmity, judgment, and
distance from a perfect Creator, it instead becomes an avenue for redemptive grace. The psalmist
asks God to See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting life
(Psalm 139:24, NLT), and by sending the perfect substitute, Jesus Christ, to pay for all of the sin
that He so clearly sees, God proved His love for humanity to be as stunning and allencompassing as His knowledge of our deepest character. Very rarely will anyone die for a
righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God
demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us
(Romans 5:7-8, NIV). As such, man is able to say I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I
did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light
(Job 33:27-28, NIV). As Scripture extols through passages like these, not only does God know
humankind intimately, but He also loves us perfectly.
Application
Although the practical applications of this theme are virtually endless, I think that Keller
(2013) expressed most succinctly a key way that it impacts our lives:
To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is
our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by
God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out
of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us. (p.89)

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Moreover, these three elements (liberation, humility, and fortification) apply specifically to the
urban racial reconciliation that our country needs now as much as ever. The social gaps and often
explosive tensions between different groups burn hottest in the most densely populated areas of
our nation, such that we desperately need to apply the truth that we are all both known and loved
by our Creator.
For those who engage in oppressive actions and mindsets, this knowledge should
radically shift the view of those who are too often seen as lesser than: the poor, the
marginalized, the disinherited, the minorities, the foreigners. Gods intimate knowledge of
humanity not only stems from creating every individual in His image, but also illuminates the
shared darkness in every mans heartparticularly those who consider themselves so mightily
self-sufficient that they act as gods and saviors of the world. To be known by God is to be
exposed for all of our sin, and those with privilege and power would do well to acknowledge the
unrighteousness that pervades even (or especially) the wealthy. Similarly, it should stop us from
seeing the poor as only guileless angels who do not need the life-giving spiritual restoration that
Jesus offers, because the Bible clearly explains that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God (Romans 4:23, NIV). We stand before each other just as we stand before Godlacking all
pretense and pride because we are known for what we truly are.
Just as importantly, we also need to face racial reconciliation with the knowledge that we
are allregardless of color, socioeconomic status, culture, etc.dearly loved by a sovereign
God. Such deep and unconditional love is expressed through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ,
who epitomized the role of both the disinherited and the servant king. In giving his life for a
unanimously sinful mankind, our Savior not only exemplified and motivated a new way of life
for his followers, but also made it possible for all to approach the throne of grace with

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confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need
(Hebrews 4:16, NIV). This humble confidence enables us to approach those who seem most
distant, and even most distasteful, to us with the knowledge that we are all incredibly loved in a
way that we are also called to love. In these ways and many more, the theme of being known and
lovedso beautifully expressed through Psalm 139, even as it weaves throughout all of
Scriptureis part of what turns the us and them element of racial tension into a we
moment that brings us a step closer to justice, compassion, and restoration.

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References
Keller, T. (2013). The meaning of marriage: Facing the complexities of commitment with the
wisdom of God. Riverhead Books: Reprint Edition.
Wink, W. (1999). The powers that be: Theology for a new millennium. Doubleday. New York,
NY.