Experiencing God in Life 

 

(Psalm 139:1-5)                                                                                     Pastor. Songsoo Park

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

We are beings created for God’s holy purpose.
In Isaiah 43:21, God clearly tells us the reason He created us:

“The people I formed for myself will declare my praise.”

Friends, God does not want us to be people who only praise Him during Sunday worship services.
He wants to see us praising Him when we open our eyes in the morning and thank Him for the bright sunlight and the air we breathe...
Praising Him for the health and strength that allow us to work and sweat at our jobs...
Praising Him for the family and friends who surround us with love...
Praising Him for granting us peace so that we can live in a nation where we are free to worship Him openly.

However, Isaiah 43 also reveals an essential prerequisite for living such a life of praise:
we must first experience God — that is, we must experience His presence in our daily lives.
Only when we have truly experienced God can our praise go beyond mere melody and become the gospel itself —
a prayer powerful enough to move heaven and shake the earth —
and a witness that proclaims and glorifies the works of God to the world.

As Isaiah 43:10 says,

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.”

The Hebrew word for praise is “tehillah” (תְּהִלָּה),
which means “to boast about or proclaim what one has seen or experienced.”
That’s why in Psalm 34:1–2, David uses praise and boast as synonyms:

“I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul will boast in the Lord;
the humble will hear it and rejoice.”

In Psalm 139, which we read today, David praises and boasts about the God he personally experienced.
Let’s look at verses 1–4:

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue,
you, Lord, know it completely.”

If we summarize Psalm 139:1–4 in one sentence, it would be this:
“God is the One who watches over me and studies me all my life.”

David felt deeply that God was always watching over him.
This kind of spiritual experience may actually be more important than witnessing a supernatural miracle,
because miracles, while powerful in the moment, can fade over time — and when their intensity fades, faith can fade too.
Sometimes people end up believing in the miracle itself rather than in the God who performed it.

The Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis, in his famous work Zorba the Greek, once asked,

“Did everyone who witnessed miracles come to believe in Jesus?
If they had, they would never have crucified Him.”

Indeed, the Pharisees and teachers of the law saw and experienced Jesus’ miracles firsthand — yet they did not believe.

So what, then, does it really mean to experience God?
It’s not primarily about mystical experiences or miraculous events.
Rather, it’s about this simple question:
“How intimate am I with God right now?”

We may call God “Father” when we pray,
but often, He doesn’t feel like a close and loving Father.
Sometimes God feels distant — high above in heaven,
or merely a name printed in the pages of the Bible.
We feel as though we can’t sense Him in our daily lives.

But David was different.
What did he experience in his ordinary life that made him praise and boast of God so fervently?

The Bible speaks extensively about David —
from 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, to the Psalms,
his story runs throughout.
And beyond that, many other books mention his name or faith:
Ruth, Nehemiah, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Zechariah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 2 Timothy, Hebrews, Revelation.

Out of the 66 books of the Bible, nearly half — about 27 books — refer to David. And yet, remarkably, his life contains very few miracle stories.

When David defeated Goliath,
or when he fought against the Philistines, the Ammonites, Amalekites, Midianites, and Arameans —
Scripture does not record miraculous interventions.

Instead, David simply confessed and praised who God was to him in those moments. He sang about how God transformed his fear, anxiety, and worry into courage and peace.
His focus was not on the answer or the solution,
but on the God who provided it.

Let’s look again at Psalm 139:5:

“You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.”

When trials and hardships come upon your life,
what kind of God have you experienced in those moments?
For David, in the midst of suffering,
God was the One who surrounded him and laid His hand upon him.

In Scripture, laying on of hands means to transfer or impart something.
In Leviticus, worshippers would lay their hands on the head of a sacrificial animal before it was slain —
symbolizing that their sins were being transferred to it.

So what does it mean when God lays His hand upon us?
It means He is imparting something of Himself to us.
While humans transfer sin,
God transfers life, power, mercy, and grace.

Thus, when the psalm says,

“You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me,”
it means that in the midst of suffering,
God places His hand upon us to give us the courage, faith, wisdom, and self-worth we need to overcome hardship and prevail.

When David fought Goliath,
God did not intervene with a visible miracle —
instead, He gave David courage that was not bound by fear,
faith to advance in the name of the Lord Almighty,
and the skill to use his sling — a skill honed in daily life —
with precision and confidence.

Scripture tells us in 1 Samuel 17:48–49:

“As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead.
The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.”

Interestingly, historical studies suggest that slings were not meant to be thrown while running.
They were usually used from a stationary position,
since running could reduce accuracy due to centrifugal and centripetal force.
Also, the stone had to be securely placed in the sling before spinning — otherwise it could slip out.

But David ignored both of these rules.
He ran forward, took a stone from his pouch mid-stride, loaded it into the sling, and hurled it — perfectly.

Why?
Because God had filled him with courage and faith.
He wasn’t anxious about missing.
He wasn’t afraid of failure or death.
He was calm, confident, and composed —
and so he performed with greater skill than ever before.

Throughout his life, David sensed that whenever an unfamiliar strength, wisdom, courage, or peace arose within him —
that was the moment when God was laying His hand upon him.
He realized,

“Ah, God is watching over me right now.
He is laying His hand upon me, giving me wisdom, courage, and peace so I won’t fall in this hardship.”

So remember this:
When you face a crisis,
and suddenly find within yourself courage, peace, boldness, or wisdom that you did not have before —
believe that it is God’s hand resting upon you.
For these gifts are not from within you;
they are gifts from the God who watches and cares for you.

This is the God David experienced.

When life’s storms come and you receive a strength, joy, or power that is not your own, and you recognize it as God’s gift —
that is the moment you are truly experiencing God.