3/19/20 I Devotion

Psalm 139

 1LORD, you have examined me. You know me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up. Even from far away, you comprehend my plans. 3 You study my traveling and resting. You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways. 4 There isn't a word on my tongue, LORD, that you don't already know completely. 5 You surround me—front and back. You put your hand on me. 6 That kind of knowledge is too much for me; it's so high above me that I can't fathom it. 7 Where could I go to get away from your spirit? Where could I go to escape your presence? 8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there. If I went down to the grave, you would be there too! 9 If I could fly on the wings of dawn, stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean— 10 even there your hand would guide me; even there your strong hand would hold me tight! 11 If I said, "The darkness will definitely hide me; the light will become night around me,"12 even then the darkness isn't too dark for you! Nighttime would shine bright as day, because darkness is the same as light to you! 13 You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother's womb. 14 I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. Your works are wonderful—I know that very well. 15 My bones weren't hidden from you when I was being put together in a secret place, when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my embryo, and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me, before any one of them had yet happened. 17God, your plans are incomprehensible to me! Their total number is countless! 18 If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand! If I came to the very end—I'd still be with you. 19 If only, God, you would kill the wicked! If only murderers would get away from me— 20 the people who talk about you, but only for wicked schemes; the people who are your enemies, who use your name as if it were of no significance. 21 Don't I hate everyone who hates you? Don't I despise those who attack you? 22Yes, I hate them—through and through! They've become my enemies too.23 Examine me, God! Look at my heart! Put me to the test! Know my anxious thoughts! 24 Look to see if there is any idolatrous way in me, then lead me on the eternal path!

Devotional: 

There are over seven and a half billion people living on earth, and each of us has been carefully formed, knit together by our Creator God. God has counted every hair on every head and knows the intricate details of each and every fingerprint. The psalmist was so impressed with the wonder of God's gift of life that he spoke of it as being "knit" or "woven together." It is the imagery of a craftsman who skillfully weaves a beautiful and colorful tapestry. What the psalmist is basically saying is this, "I didn't just happen. I am not an accident. I have value. I have worth. God made me and God cares about me." And the psalmist was confident in saying this because he recognized that he was created by God. It was God that gave his life value. It was God who gave him worth. 
 
That is what it means to be known by God. We are valuable in God's sight. God knows us even better than we know ourselves! That is something wonderful; something to be celebrated. And that is just what the psalmist did! He says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful!"
 
Growing up in youth, I would always get to help with children’s time. And one of my favorite days for a children’s sermon was Mother’s day…because all of the kids are asked what they love about their mom. And you could look out into the congregation and notice how many parents would begin to squirm nervously when it was their child’s turn? What would they say… will our child be the one to blurt out that terribly embarrassing? 
 
Often it's quite intimidating to be known, to be really known. And yet, we are known in that way by God. "O Lord," the psalmist says, "you have searched me and known me."  It is my prayer that during these strange and uncertain times, you can rest in the knowledge that God loves you. If you are struggling, God sees you. God is with you. God accepts you just as you are. 

Amber Lea Gray. Associate Pastor