Tehillim 139 | “Where Can I Flee from Your Presence?”

This psalm gives voice to a person who feels overwhelmed by God’s providence. The Lord knows all his actions, and all the thoughts in his heart: “You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.” (v.2) He tries to flee: he ascends to the heavens, descends to the underworld, journeys to the farthest edge of the sea, but always finds that: “Even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast.” (v.10)

Suddenly, in the middle of the psalm, the tone shifts, and divine providence, once a source of pressure, becomes something positive. The poet turns to God in gratitude: “I praise You because I am awesomely, wondrously made.” (v.14) Again he describes God’s providence and how all his deeds are written in God’s book, but this time he sees it as something positive.

What changed? In a brief shiur (attached), Dr. Yoshi Fargeon suggests that the turning point lies in the verse: “For You created my innermost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (v.13) The realization that God’s involvement in our lives is not something new, arriving at some later point of life, but is actually the very root and foundation of our existence, even from before birth — calms the psalmist. Suddenly, God’s presence is no longer a burdensome oversight but becomes a loving gaze, woven into the fabric of our life, accompanying us through every step.

There is no way to escape the hand of God, but the choice remains with us: whether to view His hand as an extended arm pursuing us, or as a hand we are glad to reach for, asking it to “lead me in the everlasting way.” (v.24)