Psalm 139 And The Nicene Creed

Psalm 139 and the Nicene Creed are similar in that they both explore  human relationships with God.

The Nicene Creed explores a relationship with a transcendent God. This is implied as throughout the Creed God is presented as a trinity i.e. he is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As this Creed is written before the Catholic/Protestant split (?) it is believed that the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and Son. The first Stanza focuses on the Father, the second on the Son and the third on the Holy Spirit. This idea of an impersonal/transcendent God is further enforced by the lack of 1st person, also God is referred to as "He", which seems to be the way you'd address someone you don't really know, throughout the text.

The Creed is very inclusive of those who acknowledge it. This is shown through the repetition of "We". The text however, excludes anyone who doesn't follow the religion in this way.

Psalm 139 explores a much more personal and immanent relationship with God. This is evident from the first line "O LORD you have searched me and known me". Here the speaker is directly addressing God rather than just talking about his character. The speaker also uses direct address throughout the Psalm. Walter Bruggemann suggests that the repetition of the 'You' and 'me' pronouns imply that the Psalm is written to a known named and unidentifiable other.

The Psalm also addressed the awesome power of God and emphasises how God possesses all of the Omnis. The first Stanza explores the omniscience of God and tells us how God is on another level of knowledge that is far too great for humans to understand. The second stanza talks of God's omnipresence and gives examples such as God being able to see you in Sheol (a place of no life).  In the third Stanza the speaker talks of how God makes us and suggests that he plans out our lives. "In your book were written/ all the days that were formed for me". Personally I think that this idea shows a great lack of faith in humanity as it suggests that everything that we do was previously planned out by God and that we are incapable of making a decision that hasn't already been made for us.

The last Stanza of the Psalm seems to take on a confessional and almost desperate tone. It is almost as though the speaker has sinned and he is begging God not to punish him as he is scared. I think that this suggests a menacing and unforgiving side to God that is covered up in the rest of the Paslm.

Psalm 139

I found Psalm 139 interesting as I thought that the idea of an 'inescapable God' is not a nice one as it seems  intimidating and unnerving. I think that the idea of a God whom all our actions and thoughts are open to and I thought that there were times in the Psalm in which the psalmist felt the same however they also seemed to be wondrously in love with God and describe how God loves us in return.

I looked at some of the context around Psalm 139 and  found that some had named it the 'crown of the Psalms' as no other one describes the awesome power of God so explicitly. The Psalm is thought to be set to music which makes sense (I think) as it is transcribed by David who was said to write beautiful songs.

The Psalm emphasises the omnipotence and omniscience of God as it describes how he knows our thoughts and even in the womb "your eyes beheld my unformed substance".

The Psalmist has a very strong attachment to God as he talks of how he hates those who hate God. He wished God to know how purely he loves him and lead him to a place where he can always be with him.