God’s Unconditional Love

Psalm 139

by Rev Jackie Stoneman

Do you ever feel that you would love to know you were totally and unconditionally loved? No human relationship can provide that, yet we crave to be accepted and loved. It makes sense that we are creatures who long to be loved for God created us to love and be loved.

I’m sure that everyone who is reading this carries pain from broken relationships. If we are honest we know that we have been hurt by others and we have hurt others.

While human beings long to be loved and accepted, we also hide from one another because we are frightened that if someone really knew us as we are, they would reject us.

Psalm 139 is a Psalm of David that helps us see how totally God knows us and loves us.

In the first part of the Psalm David describes the total knowledge that God has of him. He knows all his movements and even knows what he is going to say before it is on his tongue (Vs1-5). David also knows that there is absolutely nowhere that he can go that God isn’t there (vs7-12). This is both frightening and comforting. It is true for us as well. It means we can’t hide anything from God. We can’t escape His knowledge of us. Yet it also means we are never alone. God understands our circumstances. I think David sees all of this in a positive light. In v6 he says “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, to lofty for me to attain.” In other words it is so amazing that David can’t get his mind around it. Even the darkest places are light for God. We can’t hide from him but he can also be with us in those dark places and shed His light.

David also recognises that God has created him as a unique individual (Vs 13-16). That is true for us as well. We are not made from a cookie cutter. Each one of us is unique – specially designed by God.

David responds to all of this in two interesting ways. Firstly in v17-18 he talks about how precious God’s thoughts are and how vast they are. David sees that God is the one that he should focus on. God knows what is best. God has created him and is always with him. God is the one who can truly direct his life and show him what his life is to be all about. From this place of security and unconditional love David can truly live.

The second response is strange in vs 19 – 22. Here David longs for God to slay the wicked. He wants to stay away from them and obviously feels very deeply about those who reject God. This is very strong language. David certainly experienced having enemies himself – one of the main ones was King Saul who sought to take his life on a number of occasions. However David would never try to harm Saul because he was the Lord’s anointed and he trusted God to deal with him at the right time.

The Psalm also finishes in an interesting way. It’s almost as though David realises that he is not perfect and he needs to be careful about calling down God’s judgement on others. Instead he asks God to examine him (vs 23- 24).

You see David did not see himself as the centre of the universe and have God in his life just to make his life easier. David wanted to serve God and live life God’s way. Now we know that he did not do a good job of this and made some terrible choices in his life but in this Psalm I think we get a picture of his heart. He was so grateful for God’s love and knowledge and presence.

What about us? Are we people who are secure in God’s love for us, His knowledge of us and His presence with us? Does that make us lift our eyes to God and want to live for Him and serve Him. We have a much greater knowledge than David did. For we understand that Jesus died for our sins. We are accepted as we are and forgiven for our wrong. We can be free from guilt and shame. We understand that God does know all things – especially about us and has revealed this in His word. We understand that we have His Holy Spirit dwelling in us constantly. His presence is with us and His power to help us live for Him.

I hope that you will take the time to read this Psalm again and to pray that the Lord will ground each of us in His love and purposes. That our identity and security will come from Him. That even though we will experience hurt and will hurt others our God will steady us and enable to keep growing in our knowledge and love of Him. That we will be people who by the power of His Spirit will become more and more like Him.