Psalm 139

 Psalm 139 is amazing. Don't take my word for it. I encourage you to read it for yourself. Some of its verses are favorites of mine when writing in birthday cards or sending a message of encouragement.

The title in my Bible (New King James Version) calls the Psalm "God's perfect knowledge of man." That is beautiful and true, because surely the One who created us would be the one who would know us so perfectly well.

It begins with verses 1-3 "O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways."

God is with us throughout the day, in our comings and goings. 

We don't always have to explain in great detail a bunch of stuff about our lives to Him as if He doesn't know it already. He is with us in the midst of what we are going through. His care is constant and His love is assured.

Verses 17-18 say, "How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You."

God has a multitude of thoughts about us. If you have ever walked on a beach you will appreciate there are more than a few grains of sand on it.

I know David is speaking with some poetic hyperbole, but the number is still extremely high, more than we can comprehend.

God thinks about us as individuals. We are not just a mass of humanity to Him. Each of us are "fearfully and wonderfully made." 

Verses 13-15 says, "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well." 

Those words are a great antidote to anyone struggling with self image or self worth. We are precious to Him, beyond what we are capable of understanding in this life.

When we pray we don't need to do all the talking all the time, because as the Psalmist says in verse 4, "For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether."

God knows what we are going to say before we say it. 

Can we say the same about knowing what God is going to say before He says it? I think we are much more in need of listening carefully to everything He wants to say to us.

I love this truth in verse 16, "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them."

Wouldn't it be amazing to spend time listening to God reveal what He has for us, what is in His heart and in His plans for us. 

We rush through life trying to achieve what we think is best, often without pausing for breath to ask God what He is thinking about for our lives.

We will always be so enriched to listen to His voice, His thoughts, His vision for us.

I don't know why I didn't think to do this earlier in my life, to spend time every day listening to God.

Perhaps it was because no one had suggested it to me.