(This past weekend, Debbie included Psalm 139, a favorite of hers, in part of her talk. What she didn’t know is that Psalm 139 has also been a favorite of mine for the past 17 years when Mitchell died and I so needed to cling to the fact that both Mitchell and I were known and loved and that each of our days were accounted for by the most loving and intensely personal God. Every time I study this passage I find new treasures in it, new glimpses into the vast heart and mind of God. Debbie inspired me to segment the passage. The parenthesized parts are the words God spoke to me this morning, in my own language, to make this beloved message fresh and clear and new once again. I hope you can hear God’s loving voice whispering YOUR name in each phrase…)
Psalm 139 –
YOU KNOW ME –
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me. (You GET me – You have poured over every part of me and KNOW me)
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; ( You know my activities, my actions)
you perceive my thoughts from afar. (You understand my thoughts and their motives better than I do)
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; (You know when I’m busy and when I’m at rest, literally and figuratively)
you are familiar with all my ways. (You have intimate knowledge of my entire life, even the parts that haven’t happened yet)
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely. (You’re very aware of every word I’m going to say, every nuance and tone and hidden message)
5 You hem me in behind and before, (You are all around me and the things I know and say and do and think)
and you lay your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, ( I can’t even comprehend how well, how intimately, how personally you know me)
too lofty for me to attain.
YOU ARE WITH ME –
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence? (I can’t run away from Your love, Your work, Your presence in my life)
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; (You’re there when I’m up)
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. (You’re there when I’m down)
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, (If I’m free and flying high in that freedom)
if I settle on the far side of the sea, (If I’m alone and isolated and wrestling)
10 even there your hand will guide me, (Every time, in every circumstance, You will guide me to the next step)
your right hand will hold me fast. (Every time, in every circumstance, You will hold me and keep me safe)
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; (You are not afraid of the darkness that surrounds me)
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you. (Your light penetrates any darkness I might face)
YOU MADE ME –
13 For you created my inmost being; (From the inside out, Your God hands made me)
you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (You used both hands to make me something that’s one of a kind)
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; (I am a unique and on-purpose miracle)
your works are wonderful, (Everything You make has purpose, beauty and value beyond my understanding. Including me)
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you (None of who I am escaped your attention at my creation)
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. (Like a beautiful tapestry, You slowly and carefully made me to be who I am)
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; (You saw me and loved me in my most raw and unfinished state – then and now)
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. (You have a plan and purpose for every single minute of every single day of my entire life)
MY RESPONSE TO YOU KNOWING ME, BEING WITH ME, CREATING ME –
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! (I want to hear what You’re thinking)
How vast is the sum of them! (I will never be able to finish discovering them)
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand— (Eternity is all that can encompass the depth and number of your thoughts)
when I awake, I am still with you. (I am amazed that all of those thoughts include me and that You share them with me each morning)
AND NOW LEAD ME –
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; (Get in and dig in my mind and heart, God)
test me and know my anxious thoughts. (Bring to mind my frailty and my desperate need for You)
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, (Show me what I need to change, with Your help)
and lead me in the way everlasting. (Take my open hand and walk me into the things of Your heart, the thoughts of Your mind, the love of Your soul)
