23 O God, let the secrets of my heart be uncovered, and let my wandering thoughts be tested:
Put me in the scales, O Lord, so that I may be tested; let the fire make clean my thoughts and my heart.
(Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness:)
So that the true metal of your faith, being of much greater value than gold (which, though it comes to an end, is tested by fire), may come to light in praise and glory and honour, at the revelation of Jesus Christ:
And I will make the third part go through the fire, cleaning them as silver is made clean, and testing them as gold is tested: and they will make their prayer to me and I will give them an answer: I will say, It is my people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.
<To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.> O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets.
But, O Lord of armies, judging in righteousness, testing the thoughts and the heart, let me see your punishment come on them: for I have put my cause before you.
But by whom may the day of his coming be faced? and who may keep his place when he is seen? for he is like the metal-tester's fire and the cleaner's soap. He will take his seat, testing and cleaning the sons of Levi, burning away the evil from them as from gold and silver; so that they may make offerings to the Lord in righteousness.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 139
Commentary on Psalms 139 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 139
Some of the Jewish doctors are of opinion that this is the most excellent of all the psalms of David; and a very pious devout meditation it is upon the doctrine of God's omniscience, which we should therefore have our hearts fixed upon and filled with in singing this psalm.
This great and self-evident truth, That God knows our hearts, and the hearts of all the children of men, if we did but mix faith with it and seriously consider it and apply it, would have a great influence upon our holiness and upon our comfort.
To the chief musician. A psalm of David.
Psa 139:1-6
David here lays down this great doctrine, That the God with whom we have to do has a perfect knowledge of us, and that all the motions and actions both of our inward and of our outward man are naked and open before him.
Psa 139:7-16
It is of great use to us to know the certainty of the things wherein we have been instructed, that we may not only believe them, but be able to tell why we believe them, and to give a reason of the hope that is in us. David is sure that God perfectly knows him and all his ways,
Psa 139:17-24
Here the psalmist makes application of the doctrine of God's omniscience, divers ways.