Pages

Friday, July 26, 2013

Psalm 139.

I bet you read the title "Psalm 139" and thought I was going to post an excerpt or a sermon based on Psalm 139.
But no.
It really is just straight up Psalm 139. That's right. Copy and paste, baby!
I tried to write a beautiful prelude to this post, and I have got absolutely nothing.
This Psalm really caught my eye recently, and I have gone back to read it over and over again lately. I can't say I have a particular reason, can't say "Oh I read it for the first time and WOW!"
I've read it before. I've even memorized parts of it before. But right now, it is really jumping out at me. I think the Lord draws different things to our attention at different times, and it's a fact for which I am thankful.
I love this Psalm. The reminder that the Lord is present is just, well, beautiful. He is present for our joys, our sorrows, our triumphs, our failings, our sins, our tears, our crying out to Him, our praising Him. He not only is present, He also is directing everything! He searches us and knows us, and hems us in behind and before. Amazing. There is so much in this Psalm. Hopefully you find it encouraging as well.

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

139 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

The version is ESV, of course. 

No comments: