Friday, July 06, 2007

Psalm 139

1O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

For a person who is somewhat claustrophobic and hates to be hemmed in my people, for some reason these verses, these words are one of comfort as opposed to "ooooh... get me out of here". In fact what these words tell me is how protected I am by God.

7Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,"
12even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

I cannot escape the Lord. he is with me regardless of where I am or go or do.

13For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16Your 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 were none of them.

He knew me before I was even born, and that didn't stop him from wanting to me his own.

17How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

Oh that this were true. So often things get in the way. I want to be able to say these words and mean them full well. I want, I long for God's words to be this precious to me.

19Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain!
21Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

I have to admit, I do struggle with this. how do I hate the hatred that others show God, How do I hate their action and still love the person beneath it? The person that God has created in his own image? I don't know yet how to do this well. To really hate that which is against God.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

This remains my heart-cry. That God know my heart, that he knows my thoughts, that he continues to search me and try me so that wickedness with in me goes away and I am led in the way of everlasting.

Neat psalm isn't it? :)

1 comment:

Starla said...

This is one of my favorite Psalms.