Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
Verse 2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
Verse 3You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
Verse 4Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
Verse 5You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
Verse 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Verse 13For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
Verse 14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
Verse 15My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Verse 16Your 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.
Verse 17How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Verse 18I try to count them-they are more than the sand; I come to the end-I am still with you.
Devotion
A God who knows all our ways—everything about us—is a God who invades our world, a God who secures us and a God who knits us together. While not included in today's reading, in verse 7 the psalmist asks: "Where can I go from your spirit, Or where can I flee from your presence?" The answer is, "Nowhere." Maybe that's why Samuel slept on the floor of the temple. What better place to take refuge than in the heart of God, where God hems us in and lays God's hand on us.
A group of us in Denver have been engaged in conversations about becoming "Sanctuary churches"—as we seek ways to become agents of this Invasion of Holiness who conquers the darkness. The psalmist ends verse 18 with these words: "I come to the end—I am still with you." These are words about a God who invades us, stays with us. Indeed, I have been fearfully and wonderfully made!
Prayer
Our prayer through the week continues…As you knit us together intimately and hem us in with your light and love, may all people know that they are invited to take refuge in your heart, knowing that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made in your image.…