Monday, December 29, 2008

HOPE IN THE LORD
...the comfort of placing our trust and assurance in God alone

This is one of the great Psalms on the omniscience and omnipresence of our God. It is a Psalm of David and one of hope and assurance for the believer in the Lord. Here the deep questions of the heart are voiced and answered; here the character of God is exalted; and here the wonder of creation is affirmed.

Though a familiar Psalm, as we read these words below may the Lord use them to prepare our hearts for another year to serve Him in 2009.

Grace and peace,
Steve

PSALM 139
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!

2 comments:

SJ Camp said...

Exactly!

Nathan W. Bingham said...

This is a great Psalm, and a great reminder of who the God it is we serve. May this Psalm crush us as we consider our sinfulness, may it humble us as we attempt to fathom that this God, for His glory, would save wretches like us.

Thanks for posting it, and I pray similar to you, that these words would prepare us all for service in the year to come.