The author of the One hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm is a philosopher who, like Socrates, dares to examine his own inner life. Nor does he do so without benefiting thereby. For the more he probes the labyrinths of his mind the closer to God he finds himself. Awesome as the experience is for him, however, it never conjures up fear in him. Instead, it brings him a deep sense of peace.

Amazing Grace

To begin with, through his self-study the psalmist has learned that the best of life derives from intimate relations between the creature and the Creator - relations which God himself initiates in his own way and time.

Here is no Deity high and lifted up - no Isaiah’s Sovereign before whom even the heavenly host must cover their eyes (Isaiah 6:1, 2). Here is a God willing to meet us face-to-fac…