Good Monday morning to you all,

The assigned Psalm for yesterday was select verses out of Psalm 139, one of my favorites; so I’d like to continue some reflections on this wonderful psalm this morning.

One of our dear associate members who is a regular at our Wednesday morning Searchers group was personally pondering the same question that the psalmist in Psalm 8:4 put forth:

“what are human beings [who am I] that you are mindful of them [me],
mortals that you care for them?”

And I suppose had I thought of it at the time I could have responded with vs 5:

“Yet you have made them [me] a little lower than God,
and crowned them [me] with glory and honor.”

Maybe next time I will.  But on this occasion the first thing that came to mind was some of the verses from Psalm 139 – verses that to me, express how deeply God knows and cares for each one of us.  Beginning right from verse 1:

“O Lord, you have searched me and know me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways,
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.”  (vs 1-4)

That’s pretty intimate!  And I suppose it can be both a welcome message and a scary message, depending on one’s life situation.  If one is unsure of God’s presence and feeling alone, I think one would find it very comforting to know that God knows us that well.  On the other hand, as I’ve stated before, if one thinks life is going pretty well and that we don’t want God to be “too close,” then this kind of intimate knowledge could be a  little frightening.

The psalmist goes on to say in vs 13-14:

“For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are you works; that I know very well.”

So not only is God’s knowledge of us intimate, it is everlasting, from beginning to end.  God knows us and loves us.  And for this, the psalmist helps us express a proper response, “I praise you!”

Well, back to our Searchers friend.  She stopped me after worship yesterday and commented that she now heard the message of Psalm 139 loud and clear.  For you see, not only did she hear it in class on Wednesday, but she read it again on Friday, January 12, since it was the assigned reading for in the daily devotional, Christ In Our Home, which many of us at St. Timothy use, as well as hearing it again yesterday!  Sounds to me like she may have experienced her own “Spirit sighting” – our living God at work in the world today!

Knowing how wonderfully each and every one of us are made and how much God loves and cares for us through a deep, intimate relationship, let us offer praise and thanksgiving this week to our loving and merciful God!

Blessings to you all,

Pastor David
(All Scripture references are from the NRSV)