Psalm 139 - Megan Fate Marshman
https://youtu.be/7W5DwNCp1pM?si=-Vbb8ZK2FgjR-IqA

Praying Psalm 139- Based on Megan Marshman’s teaching 
Introduction: “Wherever you’re at, that’s exactly where God wants to meet you.” Megan Marshman’s words capture the heart of why we’re beginning this journey into praying the Psalms. For most of church history, the Psalms were the daily prayer book of Jesus, the apostles, and the early church. They taught God’s people how to rejoice, how to give thanks, and—maybe most importantly—how to be honest with their emotions before God. The Psalms give us back what we’ve lost: what Calvin called “the anatomy of the soul.” They give us permission to bring every emotion—joy, fear, anger, confusion, grief—into God’s presence. Psalm 139 is our starting point, a sample Psalm to help us learn how to pray honestly, how to let Scripture shape our conversations with God, and how to meet Him right where we actually are.

Devotional Journey: Overview of Psalm 139 (Megan’s Structure)
Megan divides Psalm 139 into four sets of six verses, each revealing an “omni‑attribute” of God:
vv. 1–6 — God is Omniscient (All‑Knowing)  
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.”  
  1. God knows everything about you — your thoughts, motives, fears, patterns — and none of it makes Him love you less.
vv. 7–12 — God is Omnipresent (Always Present)  
“Where can I go from your Spirit?”  
  1. God is with you everywhere — in every place, every season, and even every moment of your timeline.
vv. 13–18 — God is Omnipotent (All‑Powerful Creator)  
“You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”  
  1. God intentionally crafted you — your story, your wiring, your emotions, your capacity for joy and sorrow.
vv. 19–24 — God is All‑Holy (Search Me & Lead Me)  
“Search me, God… lead me in the way everlasting.”  
  1. God invites you to bring your real self — your sin, your pain, your anger, your confusion — into His transforming presence.
How to Pray Psalm 139- Psalm 139 is one of the easiest Psalms to learn this practice with because it already models honest prayer: God knows you, God is with you, God made you, and God can search and lead you. To pray this Psalm, you’re not analyzing it — you’re letting its words become your words before God.
1. Read the day’s section of the Psalm Slowly- Don’t rush. Let each line land. Let each phrase name something true about God and something real about you.
2. Turn Each Verse Into Prayer- Use the Psalm’s own language to speak directly to God.

THURSDAY 8/6 — Psalm 139:1–6 God Knows Me Completely (Omniscient)**
Read: Psalm 139:1–6 slowly. Notice every verb of God’s knowing.
Megan’s Insight - “You are fully known. You won’t, you can’t, and you haven’t surprised Him yet.” She describes how different people respond to God’s knowledge:
  • Some feel comfort: “I’m so known.”
  • Some feel exposed: “He knows everything?”
Both are true — and both are invitations.
Reflection- Where does your mind wander when you try to pray? Megan says that wandering is a gift — it reveals your heart.
Prayer Practice: Acknowledge God’s omniscience- Tell God honestly:
  • what you’re worried about
  • what you’re hiding 
  • what you’re ashamed of
  • what you wish He would fix
Say: “You have searched me and you know me” — say it to God as truth about your life today. Pause: “Lord, here’s what I’m actually feeling today…” Continue through the rest of the day’s verses in the same manner- write out your prayer before God.

FRIDAY 8/7— Psalm 139:7–12 God Is With Me Everywhere (Omnipresent)**
Read Psalm 139:7–12. Notice the “if I go… You are there” pattern.
Megan’s Insight: “His presence is our inescapable environment.” She explains that God is not only present spatially, but also in all of time at once: “He’s already at the place of the person you’re becoming.”
Reflection: Where have you assumed God is absent? A dark season? A confusing relationship? A fear about the future?
Prayer Practice: Ask, “Where can I go from Your presence..?” Pause: “God, here’s the place I’ve been trying to hide from You…” Name the place you feel most alone. Sit quietly and pray through each verse, “God, even here… You are with me.”
SATURDAY 8/8— Psalm 139:13–18 God Made Me Wonderfully (Omnipotent Creator)**
Read: Psalm 139:13–18. Notice the intimacy of God’s craftsmanship.
Megan’s Insight: “He created you even with a capacity for the emotions you hate.” And:“If ever you and God disagree about your worth… you’re wrong.” 
Reflection: What part of yourself do you criticize most? Your body? Your personality? Your story? Your emotions?
Prayer Practice: Say, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Pause: Be honest-“Lord, here’s the part of myself I struggle to believe You delight in…”  Write a short prayer of gratitude for how God made you:
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. .”
List three things about yourself that are “awesomely distinct.”

Sunday 8/9— Psalm 139:19–24 Bringing Your Anger Honestly to God**
Read: Psalm 139:19–24 (Read slowly — notice the sudden shift in tone.)
Megan’s Insight: Psalm 139 ends by showing us something essential:God does not ask you to hide your anger — He invites you to bring it to Him. “This guy is so mad. And God goes, "Print it. I want my people to know where to bring it. It's not to hide it, it's to bring it.” “ Some of you need to open the heart and be mad. And this time, open it to the God who is perfectly mad about it. Or maybe it's a mad issue that he wants to deal with you in.”
Reflection: Ask yourself:
  • What am I angry about right now?
  • What hurt, injustice, betrayal, or frustration have I been trying to hide?
  • What anger have I been carrying alone?
Prayer Practice: Bring your anger to God — honestly, directly, without editing.
Pray something like: “Lord, here is what I’m mad about. I’m opening my heart to You — not to hide it, but to bring it.”
Then pray David’s closing words: “Search me, God… test me… lead me in the way everlasting.”
Let God show you:
  • where your anger needs comfort,
  • where it needs healing,
  • where it needs correction,
  • and where it needs His justice.

Monday 8/10— Integrating the Whole Psalm- Letting God Use “All Things” to Form You**
Read -Psalm 139 in full. Let the four movements wash over you:
  • God knows me (vv. 1–6)
  • God is with me (vv. 7–12)
  • God made me (vv. 13–18)
  • God can search and lead me (vv. 19–24)
Megan’s Insight: Megan says something stunning about God’s presence in your life, His omniscience: “He’s already at the place of the person you’re becoming, and He knows precisely how to get you there.”
Psalm 139 shows a God who:
  • knows every detail of your story,
  • is present in every moment of your timeline,
  • crafted you intentionally,
  • and invites you to open your heart honestly.
And then Megan connects this to Romans 8:28–29 — the passage many people quote without understanding:“In all things God works for the good of those who love Him…”
But Megan reminds us:
  • “Good” does not mean comfortable.
  • “Comfort is the god of our generation.”
  • God’s definition of good is Christlikeness.
  • Verse 29 says God uses “all things” to conform you to the image of His Son.
Psalm 139 + Romans 8 = God knows you, God is with you, God made you, and God is forming you — through everything.
Reflection: Megan asks a piercing question: “What’s your thing?”
What surfaced in you when you prayed this week?
  • disappointment?
  • anxiety?
  • overwhelm?
  • rejection?
  • grief?
  • anger?
Megan shares her own story: “Four years ago my husband went to heaven… I got handed that one.”
She stands on the other side saying: “That verse is true…” Paul redefineses good in Romans 8:29 and says it's not the cultural definition. “The thing that God is present in the thing that God already knows is not that it will make your life more comfortable, easy, successful, or rich. The thing that God knows is that that very thing he wants to use all things to conform you to the image of his son.
Reflection: Ask yourself: As you open it to him, how do you think the spirit might be wanting to use that very thing to form you more into the likeness of Jesus?

  • Has this thing brought me to my knees?
  • What might God be revealing in me through it?
Prayer Practice: Pray through the whole psalm again — slowly — and let each section speak into your “thing.”
  • God, You know me — show me what’s really happening in my heart.
  • God, You are with me — even in the parts of my story I don’t understand.
  • God, You made me — help me trust Your intentionality in my life.
  • God, search me and lead me — use this “thing” to form Christ in me.
Then pray Megan’s invitation: “Lord, use even this to make me more like Jesus.”

TUESDAY 8/11— Response Day- Ending Where David Ends: “Search Me”**
Read -Psalm 139:23–24 (Read slowly. This is the psalmist’s final posture — and ours.)
Magan’s Insight: Megan closes her message by pointing out how Psalm 139 ends: “Search me.” After all the theology —God knows me, God is with me, God made me, God can handle my anger — David lands in a posture of open‑hearted surrender. “It’s him waiting before the Lord, and it can be our exact posture.” 
Reflection: This is the moment where everything you prayed this week comes together.
Ask yourself:
  • What did God reveal in me through Psalm 139?
  • What anxious thoughts surfaced?
  • What offensive or harmful patterns came into the light?
  • What part of my heart needs God’s leadership today?
This is not a moment of shame — it’s a moment of invitation.

God already knows.
God is already present.
God already sees your whole timeline.
God already wrote your days in His book.
God already made you intentionally.
God already sent Christ to make you righteous.
So now you can pray honestly: “Search me.”
Prayer Practice: Pray David’s words slowly — as your own:
  • “Search me, God, and know my heart.”  Open your real emotions to Him.
  • “Test me and know my anxious thoughts.”  Name your fears. Name your worries. Name your tension.
  • “See if there is any offensive way in me.”  Let God show you what needs healing, forgiveness, or transformation.
  • “Lead me in the way everlasting.” Ask Him to guide you into Christlikeness  — the path He already sees clearly.