"You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before,and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand — when I awake, I am still with you."
Usually I blog using a passage or two to capture the point that God is sharing with us. But I just couldn't stop at one or two when reminding you who you are. Re-read this passage in Psalm 139 every time you begin to doubt who you are, who you belong to or why you are here. The God of this universe knows when you rise and when you sit down. He pays that close attention to you because you matter that much to him. To some that may be a comforting thought, to know that God is always watching and has his hand upon us at all times. To some this may be hard to think that God is always watching. Sometimes our behavior, our words, our thoughts or interactions... they aren't always proud moments that we'd want God to see. I know for me this scripture is both a comfort and reminder that I don't have a life outside of Christ, all that I am, all that I was created to be is wrapped up in him. That gives me a supernatural feeling of strength. His word says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. It doesn't say I'm a mess, it doesn't say I'm broken, it doesn't say I'm unworthy. The world will tell me that, the world loves to shout that out and it's what I know I am! But that's not what MY GOD says... He says that all my days were ordained and written in the book before one of them even came to be. He knows all of our moments, knows the words formed on our tongue before we even speak them. How can that not make you feel valued and loved? There is no place that you can hide from his presence, he is with you always.
God saw your unformed body being knitted together in your mother's womb. He's had his eye on you before this world knew of your existence. Do you know, can you begin to understand how precious you are to him? When fear and doubt begin to weigh you down, when life seems unfair and out of balance and you have no clue as to what to do or how to make your next step, call out to the one who David wrote this Psalm for, call out to your Heavenly Father and ask him to remind you who you are. Christ went to that cross to cover ALL of our sins, the ones from yesterday, today and tomorrow. He's already paid the price and he did this not for someone he considered broken, a mess or unworthy. He did this for you and me... his beloved, his child. We are who we are because of who we belong to.
I couldn't close this blog without thinking of the song Casting Crowns wrote, "Who Am I?" Listen and meditate on the words and know that the Lord of all the earth cares to know your name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjhxOv9YDag
Blessings,
Heather
