The Psalms were composed long before the incarnation of Christ, yet not prior to His Lordship: He, as the eternal Creator, was born at a specific time from His creation. Let us have faith in this divine nature and strive to comprehend Him as equal to the Father. However, this divine essence, equal to the Father, shared in our mortal condition—not from His own nature, but from ours; so that we, in turn, might partake in His divine essence, not of our own, but through His grace.
“Lord, You have searched me and known me” (Psalm 139:1). Let Christ Himself utter this, and let Him also communicate to the Father. His Father is not His Lord except in the context of His fleshly birth. He is the Father of God and the Lord of Humanity. Do you understand who His Father is? It is the Son who is equal to Him. The Apostle writes, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage” (Philippians 2:6). This divine form is indeed the Father, and the unique Son, begotten of His own essence, embodies this equality. Yet for our benefit, to remake us and allow us to share in His divine nature, He took on our mortal essence. What does the Apostle declare? “He emptied Himself, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7). He existed in the form of God, equal to the Father, yet assumed the likeness of a servant to become lesser in His humanity.
“You discern my going out and my lying down” (Psalm 139:2). What does it mean to sit, and what does it mean to rise? The one who sits humbles himself. The Lord sat in the midst of His suffering and rose in His resurrection. You knew this; meaning You willed it, and You approved it; it was done at Your command. Yet if we consider the words of the Head in the Body's persona, a man sits when he humbles himself in repentance; he rises when his sins are forgiven and is uplifted to the hope of eternal life. Do not elevate yourselves before first having humbled yourselves. Many wish to stand upright before they have knelt in acknowledgment of their sin.
“You understand my thoughts from very far away; You mark out my path and my lying down, and You are familiar with all my ways” (Psalm 139:3-4). What does it mean “from afar”? While I journey through this life, before I arrive in my true homeland, You have known my innermost thoughts. The prodigal son went to a distant land. After enduring toil, suffering, and need, he remembered his father and wished to return, saying, “I will arise and go to my father.” He resolved to rise before he sat down. Here, you can discern him declaring, “You understood my sitting and my rising.” I sat down in need; I arose in desire for Your sustenance. You comprehend my thoughts from afar. I have traveled far indeed; yet where can I flee from the One I have forsaken? Thus, the Lord conveys in the Gospel that his father met him as he walked. This is truly because He knew his thoughts from afar.
“My way consists of error, the way in which he left his father's house,” he laments. What is my way? The path I've taken. What is my limit? What I have accomplished. You have traced both my path and my limit. This limit, however far away, has not escaped Your gaze. I journeyed mightily, yet You were ever present. Moreover, all my ways were known to You beforehand. He did not say “saw”; He stated “saw in advance.” Before I traveled them, before I entered into them, You perceived them ahead of time; and You allowed me to wander in laborious paths, so that if I chose not to labor, I might return to Your ways. For there is no deceit in my speech. What did he imply by this? Behold, I confess to You: I have strayed, I have distanced myself from You, the One who is my good; the absence of You is truly my misfortune.
“Even before a word is on my tongue, Lord, You know it completely” (Psalm 139:4). You comprehended my capacity for both the good and fallible acts; You understood my final actions when I squandered my inheritance among the swine; You recognized my earlier sins when I asked You for my portion of the estate. These earlier transgressions became the beginning of my most recent troubles: that original sin, when we fell; and the subsequent penalty imposed at our entrance into this challenging mortality. If this was the finality of our past, it can be for us now, should we wish to return. For there remains a last ultimatum for some wicked individuals, to whom it will be said, “Depart into the eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41).
“You have formed my inward parts; You have knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). While no one exists who is not made by God, You shaped me for the tasks for which all human beings are born. Lord, You crafted me for labor, and laid upon me Your hand—Your hand that avenges and humbles the haughty. For He, in His goodness, brings down the proud so that He might exalt the humble.
“Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well” (Psalm 139:14). The marvel of Your creation has been made manifest to me; it has become strong, and I cannot fully comprehend it. How does my soul recognize this, except because the night within me has been illuminated by joy? Enlightenment floods my soul because of Your grace, bringing light to my darkness; for You have seized my reins from before I drew breath.
“My frame was not hidden from You; when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth” (Psalm 139:15). You have created within me a particular strength, a hidden resilience. This inner power exists within me and cannot be seen by others; it cannot be broken or yielded, regardless of hardship, troubles, or tribulations that may surround me. Such strength of spirit is a gift from God, as another Psalm expresses: “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him alone” (Psalm 62:1).
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16). This notion presents dual implications; allow not the imperfect to fear. They should advance as their strength permits, without losing sight of the Lord’s Body. During the daylight, they shall dwell, as was with our Lord, Jesus Christ; for He instructed: “Work while it is day” (John 12:35). Consequently, during His earthly ministry, the imperfect were permitted to stray.
“For me, your thoughts are precious, O God. How vast is the sum of them” (Psalm 139:17). Not only have those imperfect individuals been glorified, but they have also honored me so greatly that I marvel at their transformation after His resurrection. Those whom once wandered in the daylight have become friends of God, emboldened as Apostles, leaders of the Church, shepherds of the flock.
“I count them and they will be more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with You” (Psalm 139:18). Through these wanderers, a multitude has emerged—so vast that it resembles the sands by the sea. For God has stated, “They shall be multiplied beyond the sands.” Although they are numerous, they are still counted by Him. He has risen, and yet He is with the Father, hidden to many who fail to recognize His presence.
He tells us in this time that, although risen, He is still with the Father, enduring the alliances of the unholy and the divisions amongst those who oppose Him. If You, O God, were to eliminate the wicked, their cities would be in vain; for their souls, surrounded by darkness, are alienated from the life of God (Ephesians 4:18). Blinded by their arrogance, they perished without acknowledgment of their transgressions, as the Scriptures affirm: “The confession of the ungodly vanishes away” (Sirach 17:28). They pursue their vanity without acknowledging the harm of separation from communion with believers.
But the Church, the Body of Christ, questions: “Why do the proud falsely accuse me, assuming I am stained with sin?” (Psalm 139:21). Have I not despised those who loathed You, O Lord? “Deliver from me these unrighteous men!” In this communion of saints, where is the love for enemies? Should we not forgive them, as Christ taught: “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44)? We reflect His principles when we dislike their actions while loving them as individuals, embodying God’s creation.
“With perfect hatred I hate them; they have become my enemies” (Psalm 139:22). This speaks of hating their vices but loving the individuals as God's workmanship. How do we reconcile the command of loving our enemies with perfect hatred? We can only do so by detesting their wicked behavior while holding onto the intrinsic worth of their being, despite their transgressions against God.
As the Body of Christ will ultimately distinguish itself from the unholy and unworthy, now amidst them, what do the virtues of Christ realize as they blossom like a lily among thorns (Song of Songs 2:2)? “Test me, O God, and know my heart” (Psalm 139:23). For only You, God, know me thoroughly. Your examination reveals that I remain untainted amidst the works of the wicked.
“See if there is any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:24). Here he requests examination of his thoughts and actions. What is the eternal way but the truth embodied in Christ, who proclaims, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6)? Should You uncover any unworthy conduct, lead me toward that path in which is righteousness, for we have an advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ the Righteous. These are deep mysteries, dear brethren. How does the Spirit speak to us in this night of revelation? What is it that brings us joy amidst darkness?
He intermingles our understanding with His love in astonishing ways, rendering even the mundane words fresh and dear. Did you not know that in the fellowship of the Church, both the unrighteous must be accommodated, and divisions mitigated? Being aware that should one attempt to separate the good from the bad, peaceful fellowship would be torn apart. This psalm holds wisdom that was previously obscured but is now enlightened, renewing what you have already known.
THEOSIS