Psalm 139
1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
I'm an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I'm never out of your sight.
You know everything I'm going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you're there,
then up ahead and you're there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can't take it all in!
7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you're there!
If I go underground, you're there!
If I flew on morning's wings
to the far western horizon,
You'd find me in a minute—
you're already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I'm immersed in the light!"
It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.
13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.
17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I'll never comprehend them!
I couldn't even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
all the men and women who belittle you, God,
infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!
23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I'm about;
See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life.
It has been a long time since my last post. A lot has happened in my life since my last post, which I think is the reason why it's been so long. It is so hard for me to put into words the emotions and events that I have experienced the last several weeks. It has been devastating to watch my friend Melissa go through the heartache of being fired from a children's ministry that she has loved and cared for so much. With my decision that followed to leave Warner, even more sadness came.
When I moved to Lewiston I never thought that I would fall in love with a ministry and so many young people. I am so grateful for all that God has taught me in the last 2 1/2 years through the kids at Warner. It's Melissa's passion for children's ministry and the wonderful kids that God put in my life that has given me such a strong desire to be in ministry.
So what's next? Who knows, but one thing I do know for sure, God knows. Psalm 139 has been such an encouragement to me this last week. Much of the time when I read this Psalm, I get through the first four verses and stop there. The fact that God knows all of me, in and out, is scary to me. But what a blessing it is! I have no clue what is next for me, but He does. Not only does He know what is next for me, but He know what is BEST for me!
My prayer this year is that I let God know me, that I allow Him to search me, and know me. When I stop allowing God to teach me, that's when trouble comes.
Lord, keep me teachable in 2009.
