Even when you feel lost in the darkness—when all your senses tell you, “God has abandoned you,” and all your circumstances scream, “All hope is gone!” Even that darkness is not dark to Him, and night is as bright as the day (Ps. 139:11–12). 

“I’ve been thinking about you,” we say to people we care about. Our minds naturally gravitate toward those we love, especially when they are in need. We want them to know that they are not forgotten, they are not alone, and we are praying for them. Even atheists, who have no faith in God and no belief in prayer, when times are tight, will speak of sending positive thoughts your way.

In Psalm 139, David says, in effect, “God has been thinking of you.” In fact, you are never out of His mind. For some, such a concept fills them with dread. Christopher Hitchens, the well-known atheist, for example, once confessed:

I think it would be rather awful if God existed. . . . If there was a permanent, total, round-the-clock divine supervision and invigilation of everything you did, you would never have a waking or sleeping moment when you weren’t being watched and controlled and supervised by some celestial entity from the moment of your conception to the moment of your death. . . . It would be like living in North Korea.

I suppose that is one perspective, but it is not the psalmist’s. The idea that the mind of God is alive with thoughts toward him fills his soul with delight, not dread. “God’s thoughts of me,” he says, “are so many, I cannot count them (see Ps. 139:17), and they are so precious, I cannot put a value on them” (see Ps. 139:6). Young children often fall asleep in their parents’ arms, but they usually wake up to an empty bedroom. This never happens to the Christian. Even when he sleeps, David says, God is there watching, knowing, loving. When I awake, I am still with Him—He hasn’t left me for a moment.

Let’s think about the thoughts of God for you and me by examining Psalm 139.

Whatever We Do, He Knows Us

God’s knowledge of us is careful and complete. Look at the verbs in the first stanza.

• Searched (Ps. 139:1): This word always refers to a “difficult and a diligent probing.” It carries the idea of searching something exhaustively—not the half-hearted rummage of a brother looking for his sister’s Barbie accessory in the cavernous confines of a toy box.
• Known (Ps. 139:1): This is the verb Moses selects to describe Adam’s intimate knowledge of his wife, Eve. Adam knew her as nobody else did. So it is with God. He knows us better than we know ourselves.
• Discern (Ps. 139:2): This verb goes beyond gathering data. It describes a person’s putting all the pieces together, like Sherlock Holmes at the end of one of his famous cases. God knows us so well; furthermore, He can recognize what’s going on in our minds from a mile away (Ps. 139:2b), like a husband looking across the room at his wife who is struggling with an awkward conversation partner at a party. She glances at him for a second but doesn’t have to mouth a word; her eyes say it all: “Get me out of here!”

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