O Lord, you have searched me and known me! He knows me, He knows you!
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. He knows everything about us, knows these jumbled thoughts that sometimes race through our head where we try to make sense of all this suffering within us, around us.
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. He knows the words we will speak before they are formed on our tongues. And I cannot help but think of my experience with animals when I read that last stanza, how many times I have dealt with a frightened or wounded animal, speaking softly, working gently as I quietly and patiently hem it in and reach that point where I can place my hand upon it. God hems us in, as we thrash about, wounded and frightened and seeking to escape, gently He speaks to our heart, hems us in and places His hand upon us.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. We are unable to fully wrap our minds around the amazing love that God has for us. It is indeed too wonderful, too high, too lofty, too outrageously gracious for us to fully comprehend.
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 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, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. There is no place where He is not! NO PLACE! He dwells in every corner of this earth, He dwells in every place. He is in the hospitals, He is on the streets, He is in the war torn places, He is in the prisons, He is! There is no place where He is not!
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. He is there in the dark places, the dark nights of the soul. He is there with the loved one that you have not heard from in months, He is there with the loved one who is seemingly alone in the darkness. He is there with you when you feel only darkness. Not only is He there in the darkness, the darkness is as light to Him. In the places where we cannot see where to step next, when there is no clear door to walk though, when all seems hopeless and night is never ending......He is there, He sees clear, it is Light.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 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. We are created, by a loving Creator, One who cares for us, watches us, knows us, knows all our tomorrows and One who has His hand upon us. Trust Him. Walk in Him, and in the knowledge that He has not only today but all your tomorrows. When you cannot see, walk as a blind person who leans upon the hand on their shoulder.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. This entire Psalm sounds out of how precious we are to God, how He searches us, knows us, knows our ways, knows always where we are and is always with us, so when we consider how precious His thoughts are I believe these are His thoughts about us. Consider the grains of sand upon a single beach, or a single desert, or even the grains of sand in a single child's sandbox. That's a lot of sand, a lot of thoughts. God thoughts. We who call Him Father are most richly blessed. It is beyond understanding and impossible to fully grasp the grandeur and the wonder and the certainty and safety of being blessed to call Him Father.
"They said, if you assume a grain of sand has an average size and you calculate how many grains are in a teaspoon and then multiply by all the beaches and deserts in the world, the Earth has roughly (and we're speaking very roughly here) 7.5 x 1018grains of sand, or seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion grains."
""The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind on God. He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. He who loves God is ravished and transported with the contemplation of God. "When I awake, I am still with thee" (Psalm 139:18). The thoughts are as travelers in the mind. David's thoughts kept heaven-road. "I am still with Thee." God is the treasure, and where the treasure is, there is the heart. By this we may test our love to God. What are our thoughts most upon? Can we say we are ravished with delight when we think on God? Have our thoughts got wings? Are they fled aloft? Do we contemplate Christ and glory?... A sinner crowds God out of his thoughts. He never thinks of God, unless with horror, as the prisoner thinks of the judge."
Author: Dallas Willard
I read this Psalm this morning in my devotions. Such perfect timing, such needed grace. I was a bit down, having just finished reading the pleas of a mom who is in such fear for her son, having just read of more death and destruction in war torn places, having just tried to get my mind around the jumbled and troubled thoughts disturbing my own soul. I pray this beautiful Psalm touches your heart as it has mine today.
Be blessed.
