Psalm Sunday on Tuesday

Oops. In all the excitement (read: frazzled stress) of packing our worldly belongings and getting ready for The Big Move (or BM, which is a fabulous abbreviation, don't you think?), I neglected to post a Psalm this past Sunday. Allow me to correct this oversight by posting a Psalm that has been near and dear to my heart for many years. This Psalm amazes me with its breadth, covering a range of aspects of God's intimate love and provision for His children. As we prepare for the BM, this Psalm is again precious to me as it speaks of God's hand over us, going behind and before, of His inescapable presence and knowledge of our innermost hopes and fears.

I also notice how the Psalmist doesn't stop at observing God's love for Him. In light of God's infinite love and intimate involvement in the very knitting together of his body and soul, the Psalmist goes on to proclaim his love for God's Word, presence, and justice. And the Psalm concludes with a plea for the Lord to prune away any "grievous way" that is in him. The Psalmist's desire for obedience flows from his knowledge of God's love and faithfulness; in response to God's love, the Psalmist's heart burns within him with zeal for the Lord and for His commandments.

May my heart echo the Psalmist's words when he cries out, "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!" May I be reminded that even in times of great stress and difficulty, when I am utterly self-focused in my busy-ness and exhaustion, my life is not about me. I find comfort in the Psalmist's example of always turning from his vexation toward the saving grace that is God's redeeming work. Nay - of His asking the Lord to turn him when he cannot turn himself. "Not what my hands have done..."

How small my troubles seem when I reflect on the intimacy of God's love for me, and that while His love accepts me just as I am, He loves me too much and is too good to leave me as I am. When I focus, instead of on my own joys and sorrows, on the infinity of who God is and what He has done, I am reminded that I am not in control (far from it!), nor am I to dwell on my own self-interests.

Rather I am called to dwell in the Lord's good presence and, as I am fully known by Him, to ask His help in revealing and repenting from my grievous ways. Oh, that I would find goodness and beauty as I bow before my God in worship, and that He would graciously prune away my sin so that I might reflect His glory ever more fully! Oh, that I would seek this because my heart is being enlarged by His grace, causing me to run in His ways! Oh, that I would bear the glorious name of my Father with the honor that is due Him!

Psalm 139

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 afar.
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, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall 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 dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Amen and amen.