Psalm 139:1–16

Explore the Bible
Assistant Professor of Christian Studies, School of Christian Studies, University of Mobile

Valuing Every Life
Psalm 139:1–16
Our society tends to evaluate certain persons as less desirable or less worthy than others, treating them accordingly. This treatment expresses itself in different ways.

We often ignore or push aside the elderly. We mistreat those who are racially, socially and/or economically different from us. We go as far as to kill unborn babies.

Even many believers in Christ struggle with acknowledging every human being as having intrinsic value and inherent worth. Nevertheless God’s Word teaches that God made us in His own image and that He values each one of us.

Each person’s life is precious so that we have a responsibility to protect and promote the value of each person from conception to death.

Psalm 139 emphasizes the value of every human life. It describes God’s personal nature and His intimate concern for each one of us.

Here David reflects on the God in whom he has trusted, and as readers of this song, we are invited to put our trust in this God.

We are challenged not only to look at God’s Word but to look from it to our own lives. Do we know the God who knows us intimately? Do we value other individuals in the way that God values us?

Value of Being Known (1–6)
David is in awe of God’s intimate knowledge of his life. God searches and knows David’s heart (1–4).

God knows his actions, his thoughts and his words even before David speaks them. He is also intimately involved in David’s life (5–6). He is all around David, and David marvels at God’s greatness.

David’s words remind us that God knows us inside and out.

Such intimate knowledge suggests that God values us as precious. Moreover, because God has shown He values each of us by knowing everything we do, think or say, we can value all individuals.

Value of Being Accompanied (7–12)
David considers that there is no place he can go where God is not present with him. God is everywhere, in the heights of the sky and in the depths of the earth (7–8).

Not only is God everywhere but He is guiding and protecting David both in the day and in the night (9–12).

Again David’s song reminds us that no matter where we are, God is there with us.

As believers in Christ, God is uniquely present with us through the Holy Spirit. Acts 17, however, reminds us that God “is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:27–28).

God is present with each one of us giving us “life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:25).

No one — not even the most convinced atheist — can avoid God. He is always there, even when we are not aware of Him.

Value of Having Purpose (13–16)
David knows God as his Creator. Moreover he sees his life as part of God’s eternal plan.

David rejoices that before he was born, while he was still being formed in his mother’s womb, God had a purpose for him. He sees the value of being “wonderfully made” in the image of God and as part of God’s eternal plan.

He marvels that God knows his life from beginning to end.

David’s words remind us that God created each one of us with purpose.

Each of us is precious to Him; He knows us and everything that will happen to us in our lifetime.

Furthermore, because God has shown He values each of us by creating us to fulfill His purposes, we can value every individual.