Psalm 139

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.

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.

The Psalms are the hymnbook of the people of the Bible. As such, here is a song of Adoration – a song that is a reminder of the nature of God. This is a song that acknowledges that  God knows us better than we know ourselves; our inner drives and attitudes are known – and accepted by God. The song then describes a God who is always present with humanity; echoes of the parable of Jonah are heard in the words of vs 9 & 10 that celebrate a God who is to found “at the farthest limits of the sea”. There is no place too distant, or too dark for God – Who is to be found everywhere.    

Use this Psalm as a prayer for this weekend: a prayer of confidence in the all-encompassing love of God that reaches everyone.....everywhere.

Song:

Wide, wide as the ocean,
High as the Heaven above;
Deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Savior’s love.
I, though so unworthy, still am a child of His care;
For His Word teaches me that His love reaches me everywhere.
Charles A. Miles, 1914

Sixth Sunday after Trinity

37 The Church for Others
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 231.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.