Jan 10 2019 Psalm 139: 1-17

LORD, you have searched me out and known me

This section of the Psalms feels pretty personal, intimate even. Isn’t that what we all want? To be sought out, known and loved for exactly who and what we are? The psalmist goes on to wonder where they could go to be removed from the Lord’s spirit.

If I climb to the heavens, you are there. If I make the grave my bed, you are there. If I dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me.

Ever present. Everywhere present. The Lord who made all that is, seeks me out. Knows my thoughts. That’s comforting and frightening, all at the same time. All my thoughts? Even the not-so-charitable ones? As the psalmist continues, all my restless thoughts? Indeed.

And despite my restless thoughts, my faults and flaws, the God who made the stars knows and loves me. In the movie The Shack, the God figure says to Mack, I am particularly fond of you. And then about another character with the utmost sincerity, I am particularly fond of you. I’m not looking for a theological argument about The Shack, but I did appreciate the genuine way this encompassing love was portrayed.

It’s a big responsibility, isn’t it? To be sought out by God, that well known by God, that loved by God, and that trusted by God to go about in this world, trying to love like God.