Psalms 139

Having finished Ephesians, I'm not sure what book I'll be studying and blogging next.  Instead of stopping the blog I've decided to do some Psalms until I know which direction I'm headed.

Psalms 139

¹ You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

These first six verses I find humbling, comforting and little bit disconcerting. To not have any secrets and to known so completely strips away any pretense of control or falsehood.  There is no arguing my point because God know ever word, every excuse and every argument before I say it.  He also knows what I did and why I did it.  Yet I find comfort that even with all this knowledge, God still chose to save me and loves me.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

I remember as a youth hiding in the pine trees to smoke cigarettes.  God was there.  I remember as a teen when my parents went away and I was free to do things I'd never do with my folks home.  God was there.  I think even now, when I am alone, God is there.  The difference now is I'm more aware of His presence and His guiding hand.  I'm aware that the Holy Spirit can and will help me to "hold fast"

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand —
    when I awake, I am still with you.

All of us were knit together.  Knitting is not a random act.  The one knitting has a pattern and follows the plan.  Miss a stitch and it won't hold.  God has a plan.  You and I are not mistakes.  Verse 14 says we are wonderfully made because God's works are wonderful.  

We had a frame work.  The frame not only supports but determines the shape of the structure.  God wave us in our mother's womb.  God knew the egg and the sperm that would create us. Through out all of history, God in His providence had the right man marry the right woman so that each of mom's and dad's would be able to exist.  He brought them together at the right time so that your egg and your sperm would join and bring you into existence.

Now some of you reading this may not have been born under the best of circumstances.  Your conception may have been the result of rape, incest or a premarital relationship.  These are sin and I can appreciate that you may feel some shame.  I must say that YOU did not sin in your conception and though you may not have been part of mom and dad's plan you ARE part of God's plan or you would not be here and all these verses apply to you as well.  YOU ARE NOT A MISTAKE.  YOU ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT.

Verse 17 and 18 speak of God's thoughts.  I'm convicted that God's thoughts rarely enter my mind because I'm too busy with my own agenda.

¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

 Verses 19 - 22 speak of God's enemies.  The writer has reached the point that he hates evil and those who practice evil.  I immediately think of our society the revels in evil and admires those that practice evil.  Do we hate evil?

In the last two versed the Psalmist ask God to search him again.  Are we ready to be searched by God?

God Bless.