Psalms 139:1-3

Psalms 139:1

The fact that God is always present and knows every minute trifle in our lives, and that His unerring judgment will assuredly take count of every detail of our character and conduct, neither exaggerating nor omitting, but applying absolute justice this truth is one of those which lose force from their very universality. That we should be so little checked, so little awed, in the course of our daily lives, by this perpetual and awful Presence; that we should know God to be looking at every motion and every impulse, and should be so unmoved; that we should do so many things before God's face which the opening of a door and the entrance of a fellow-creature would instantly stop this is an instance of that weakness of faith which proves the fall of man.

I. There is no need to exaggerate in this matter. We may recognise to the full that it is a part of God's own ordinance that we should be, as it were, unconscious of His presence during the greater part of every day of our lives. But that which is quite peculiar in this case is the nature of the forgetfulness. In the presence of father or of mother, or of any one else for whom you care, though you forget, yet the slightest real temptation, still more the slightest open sin, is sure to put you instantly in remembrance. Now I fear there is no such perpetual readiness in us to remember the presence of God. We forget His presence in the absorption of our daily employments and amusements; and forgetting it, we approach some sin which we know that He has forbidden. But our approach to the forbidden path rarely puts us in mind of the awful eye that is ever silently marking our steps. This is a veil which the devil puts before our eyes. It is the blindness of our fallen state.

II. The right state of mind plainly is to have the thought of God's presence so perpetually at hand, that it shall always start before us whenever it is wanted. (1) This perpetual, though not always conscious, sense of God's presence would, no doubt, if we would let it have its perfect work, gradually act on our characters just as the presence of our fellow-men does. (2) This habit, beyond all others, strengthens our faith.

Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons,1st series, p. 178.

References: Psalms 139:1. F. Tholuck, Hours of Devotion,p. 110; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xii., p. 83; E. W. Shalders, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xi., p. 328. Psalms 139:5. G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount,p. 70; C. S. Robinson, Preacher's Monthly,vol. v., p. 73.Psalms 139:7. A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xx., p. 118. Psalms 139:7. Preacher's Monthly,vol. viii., p. 10. Psalms 139:9. A. P. Stanley, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 257.