You've probably seen a toddler who tries to hide himself by putting his hands over his

face. He stands there in full view, thinking he's well hidden because he can't see you.

Well today on Truth for Life we'll find out why attempting to hide from God is neither cute nor

silly. It's ridiculous. Alistair Begg is teaching from Psalm 139. We're picking up our study in verse 8.

Shale the abode of the dead is described throughout the Old Testament in various ways.

And when we read these things we have to recognize that the language is evocative language. It is

poetic language. It is not definitive language. So that a cry for example as here in the fifth verse

of Psalm 6 is a cry from the heart. The Psalmist is saying what everybody recognizes and that is

that life is all too short, that death is implancable and decisive and it has ramifications.

But at the same time although it is a cry, a cry of sadness it is not a denial of God's sovereignty

beyond the grave. Now you know that when we read our Bibles we say to one another it is helpful to

read them backwards because we are able to do what the Psalmist was unable to do. The Psalmist as

an Israelite is writing according to his own understanding of God's revelation of himself.

But the Psalmist writes without the benefit of the knowledge that we enjoy since Christ has not only

come but Christ has also triumphed over sin and death and the grave. So we have to read these things

in light of the ultimate reality. So for example to help us in that regard when Peter

preaches on the day of Pentecost, one of the things that is so remarkable about that sermon

is the way in which Peter is able under the direction of the Holy Spirit clearly to

marshal all of this information to encapsulate it in a way that is so clear.

This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,

you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless man. God raised him up, losing the pangs of death

for it was not possible for him to be held by it. You go down to verse 31, David, for saw these things

...