THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

CXXXIX. Handling Our Anxious Thoughts

(Psalm 139:1-24)

 

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

            Right now, anxiety is a big and a growing part of the lives of most Americans:

(1) Thirteen days ago, on September 22, 2025, licensed clinical social worker Whitney Coulson posted the article, “America the Anxious” on the psychology.com website that was reviewed by Monica Vilhauer, Ph. D., and in it she stated that “Americans are experiencing historically high anxiety levels . . . 73% of American adults report experiencing elevated levels of anxiety related to the U. S. political climate,” and “70%” suffer from “financial anxiety.”  We face “24/7 news cycles that never rest” that aids “a creeping sense that the world is shifting beneath our feet” so that “more than half adults report clinical levels of anxiety” and “more than half report feeling more anxious now than they did a year ago.”

(2) Evidence of this anxiety abounds even at the local level: Editorial titles in just the October 1st edition of the Waterbury Republican-American, p. A6-A7 read, “The left’s ongoing anti-Trump terrorism campaign,” “Improper payments are cheating taxpayers,” “Chronic absenteeism requires compassionate, holistic solutions” and “Data privacy?  What data privacy?”

 

Need: So we ask, “How can we effectively handle our anxious thoughts?”

 

I.             David authored Psalm 139:1-24 when he experienced intense anxiety over evil people who hated God:

A.    Verses 23-24 comprise the petition section of the psalm, and it reveals that David was experiencing anxiety:

1.     The word “thoughts” (v. 23 KJV) renders the Hebrew noun sar’appim that means “disquieting (‘anxious’ NIV, NASB) thoughts” (H. A. W.., Theol. Wrdbk. of the O. T., 1980, v. II, p. 880), and the words “wicked way” (v. 24 KJV) renders the Hebrew noun ‘oseb, that means “hurtful” with the connotation of “mental discomfort” because the verb ‘asab that is associated with ‘oseb implies mental discomfort here, Ibid.

2.     Thus, David admitted that he had anxious thoughts (Psalm 138:23), so he asked God to examine him to see if he had any mentally hurtful way in him that had produced a wrong attitude (Psalm 138:24).

B.    David’s anxiety was his reaction to the acts of God’s evil foes, v. 19-22.  David said he “hated” them, a claim that he refused any association with them, not of harboring malice toward them (B. K. C., O. T., p. 892, 1576).

II.          God had sent the Holy Spirit Who rested on David for life when he was anointed king (1 Samuel 16:13), so to address David’s anxiety, God put him into a prophetic trance under the Holy Spirit’s control to show God’s infinite knowledge of-, presence with-, power over- and care for David, Psalm138:1-18a:

A.    The Holy Spirit put David into a prophetic trance, and verses 1-18a record what God then revealed to David:

1.     In Psalm 138:18b KJV, David mentioned that when he awoke, the Lord was still with him!

2.     The verb “awake” (KJV) there translates the Hebrew verb qis that is used not only of waking up from sleep, but also for coming out of a prophetic trance (B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 884).

3.     Since David had been given an extensive revelation about God’s omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence and His infinite love for him in Psalm 138:1-18a, David had not been asleep but in a prophetic trance where the Holy Spirit had revealed important truths about God that David needed for handling his anxiety:

B.    God then revealed those important truths about Himself for David’s insight and benefit in Psalm 138:1-18a:

1.     First, God revealed His omniscience, His infinite knowledge of David, Psalm 138:1-6:

                      a.  The Lord had thoroughly examined David with the result that He knew all about him, Psalm 138:1.

                      b.  God knew about all of his actions, described in all of his sitting and rising actions, Psalm 138:2a.

                      c.  The Lord knew David’s thoughts even from a distance, Psalm 138:2b.

                      d.  God had carefully analyzed David’s going out and coming it, all his habitual actions throughout a typical day in David’s life so that the Lord had intimate knowledge of all of his ways, Psalm 138:3.

                      e.  In fact, before David could even say a word, God fully knew what he was going to say, Psalm 138:4.

                      f.  God’s knowledge had thus hemmed David in, from behind him (in his past) to in front of him (in his future) so that God had laid His hand on David where he was in his present time of anxiety, Psalm 138:5.

                      g.  David testified that such knowledge was too far above his mortal comprehension, Psalm 138:6.

2.     Second, God revealed His omnipresence, His infinite presence with David, Psalm 138:7-12:

                      a.  If David were to ascend to heaven or make his bed in the grave, God would be there, Psalm 138:7-8.

                      b.  Were David to latch onto the sunlight of the dawn of the rising sun in the East ride that beam of light at the speed of light only to settle down into the deep depths of the far side of the Mediterranean Sea in the West, even there God’s hand would lead him, and God’s right hand of ability would grasp him, Psalm 138:9-10.

                      c.  Were David to say that the darkness of the depths of the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea would hide him, God would see him, for with God, darkness is the same as light, Psalm 138:11-12.

3.     Third, God revealed His omnipotence, His infinite power over David, Psalm 138:13-16a:

                      a.  David knew that God would see him even in great darkness, for God had formed his “reins” (KJV), the Hebrew word for “reins” being kilyah, meaning “kidneys,” what here figuratively refers to David’s “seat of emotions” (B. D. B., op. cit., p. 480) in the utter darkness of his mother’s womb, Psalm 138:13a.

                      b.  God had also “knit” the physical parts of David’s body together in his mother’s womb, Psa. 138:13b NIV.

                      c.  David expressed great praise for how God had fearfully and wonderfully made him, for his skeleton was not hid from the Lord when he was made in the womb where God beheld his unformed body, v. 14-16a.

4.     Fourth, God revealed His infinite love and thus His infinite care for David, Psalm 138:16b-18a:

                      a.  All the days that God had ordained for David’s earthly body’s parts were recorded in God’s book before any of those days occurred, and God’s thoughts about him outnumbered the grains of sand, Psalm 138:18a.

                      b.  David reacted to this insight by rejoicing over God’s infinite knowledge of- and loving care for him, v. 17.

III.        Thus, David asked God to apply His omniscience, His omnipresence, His omnipotence and His infinite loving care for him to lead him out of anxiety and into God’s lasting path of blessing, Psalm 138:23-24:

A.    David closed Psalm 138 with a request that God might thoroughly examine him by way of His infinite omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence and love as applied to his current anxious condition to discern if there were any “mentally hurtful” (‘oseb, cf. “I,A,1” above) way in him, Psalm 138:23-24.

B.    In the end, David asked that God might “lead, bring, take (him) in the direction of” (nahah, B. D. B., op. cit., p. 634) the everlasting way (of blessing), Psalm 138:24b.  In effect, David sought to go in the path of healthy righteousness with regard to handling his debilitating anxiety!

 

Lesson: When David asked God for help dealing with his anxious thoughts, God’s Holy Spirit put him into a prophetic trance to reveal the infinite oversight God used out of His infinite attributes of His omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence and love for David to be willing and able to give him victory over his anxiety.

 

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.  (2) Since God gave us believers in the Church era the Holy Spirit to minister to us (1 Corinthians 12:13; John 14:16-18), (a) by relying on the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), we can trust and pray for God to use His infinite attributes in Psalm 139 to give us victory over anxiety, Philippians 4:6.

 

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message and/or provide additional guidance . . .)

            Significantly, when God addressed David’s anxiety by putting him into a prophetic trance where the Lord had complete control of David’s thinking, the Lord did the opposite of what secular psychotherapists do!  God directed David’s attention to God’s abilities in God’s omniscience, God’s omnipresence, God’s omnipotence and God’s infinite love that worked in David’s behalf where psychotherapists seek solutions apart from God by themselves trying to adjust their clients’ thinking (Martin and Deidre Bobgan, Psychoheresy, 1987, pp.259).

            John C. Whitcomb, Jr. and Henry M. Morris in their landmark book, The Genesis Flood, 1961 (reprint 1971), on pages 440-441 explained this contrast.  They wrote: “There are really only two basic philosophies or religions among mankind.  The one is oriented primarily with respect to God, the Creator, of Whom and by Whom and for Whom are all things.  Man is a creature of God . . . utterly dependent upon and responsible to Him . . . The other basic philosophy is oriented primarily with respect to man.  This system, appearing in an almost infinite variety of forms, supposes that man is inherently capable of acquiring by his own efforts all he needs in this present life and in any possible life to come . . . The idea of development, of growth, of progress, of improvement appeals to man’s pride and ambition and so finds abundant manifestation in all the many religions and philosophic systems of man, be these ancient idolatries or primitive animism or modern existentialism or atheistic communism!”

            With the issue of anxiety, then, the problem is a form of idolatry.  The anxious person has looked to some idol, some replacement for God for his security, and the failure of that idol to provide such security has produced anxiety!

            May we thus trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life.  May we believers then NOT seek to address anxiety by our own efforts or wisdom, but may we rely on Almighty God Who uses His infinite attributes to care for us and thus to settle our hearts in peace!