Sunday Devotional: Psalm 139:16

Your eyes have seen my embryo and in Your book all the days that were planned [for me] are written when [there was] not one of them.

In Psalm 139, David reflects upon the sovereignty of God, and the intimacy of His knowledge of us. There is nowhere he can go to escape from the Lord, and there is nothing about him that God doesn’t know. Indeed, God knows David even better than David knows himself, because it was by His hand that David came into being. From the final section (verses 19-24), we get a sense of the reason behind David’s words. It would appear that David feels wronged, that he is being unjustly accused by his enemies. This explains why he appeals to the fact that God truly knows him, and if David is concealing guilt, the Lord knows and will make it known.

If any verse in Scripture could be taken as an antidote to pride, it’s verse 16. David wrote this before ultrasound technology, when the idea of seeing a baby form and grow within the mother’s womb was unthinkable. But God’s perspective penetrates the impenetrable. He saw us and knew us even before we were born. His knowledge of us is so intimate, He was there at our conception, and superintended the division of our cells. Our origins are not a mystery to God. There isn’t a day we have lived that God doesn’t know and remember with greater detail than any of us can recall.

Moreover, God has written in His book (whether this is a literal or metaphorical book is another discussion) all the days that were planned for us. Even before we were conceived, before time began a reckoning of our existence, the precise number of our days was known to God. He has ordained our lifespan, and each day is in His sovereign control. When James calls out the boasting of his readers when they make plans for future activity (James 4:13-17), this notion of God’s sovereignty is behind his words. We dare not plan, or live our lives, as if God is either unconcerned or unaware of our activity. Indeed, we should live each day with the understanding that it is only by God’s will that we go anywhere or do anything.

Our culture likes to tell us that we control our own destiny, and that our fate is in our own hands. These words are well-intentioned, meaning that we shouldn’t wait for things to happen to us, but should be active in pursuing our goals and dreams. While I appreciate, and to a large extent agree with that sentiment, there’s a danger we become prideful, and think we are in control of our lives, that the number of our days, and all that happens to us is a direct consequence of our own actions. David reminds us that such thinking is arrogance. Our lives are in the Lord’s sovereign hands. We would do well to spend less of our time trying to control our own destinies, and rather expend our energies finding ways to best glorify our Lord with the time He has graciously given us.

I pray that will be our heart’s desire, this week and every day.

Have a great week!