Psalm Meditation 753
Reign of Christ Sunday
November 23, 2014

Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know 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 beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.
19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil!
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 perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
(NRSV)

As a child I could not imagine how my parents knew what I was doing when I was supposed to be sleeping. How did they know I was up when I was supposed to be down, that my eyes were open when they were supposed to be closed, that I was whispering when I was supposed to be quiet? As I became a parent I realized that what felt like sneaking to me as a child was not nearly as sneaky as I thought. With upstairs bedrooms, even a child’s tip toe makes the downstairs ceiling creak and pop. If an adult can perceive the child’s attempt at stealth, how much more aware is God of my activities in any part of my life.

While it can be unnerving to know we are being watched when we would rather we were not, it is deeply comforting to know when we are insecure or otherwise afraid. To know that someone who loves us has eyes and ears open to our situation can give us the courage to move ahead, to take the next step, as our fears work to bring us to a halt. The knowledge that those eyes can see deeper than the surface and the ears hears more than our minds can imagine adds to the sense of comfort in the presence of God.

The psalmist asks that God search for all the wicked parts and pieces of heart and mind so that there is a clear path ahead. It is tempting to believe that we are able to find our way to God on our own strength and power, that we can muscle our way forward through all the trial and temptations and finally win our way to God. The psalmist reminds us that it is God who leads us best, who points out the spots to avoid, who makes it possible for us to find the way into the presence of God.

November 17, 2014
LCM