Psalm 139: You Know Me

Psalm 139

1 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.

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!

13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

God is acquainted with all of my ways. That could be scary! ... Or very encouraging, for God not only knows my ways, but He made my personality, He formed my inward parts. So, somewhere in the strange mix of who I am, is exactly the ingredients that God intends to use to cause me to walk in the good works that He has prepared for me. In the midst of the sin and the wandering heart inside of me is the light that someone else needs to see that will cause them to glorify our Father in heaven and turn to His Son for life.

Sometimes I feel so incompetent and incapable of the mission that God has set before me. But I am reminded that on the days that I feel closest to Him and my heart is soaring, and I feel like I can touch Him, He is there and my light is shining. But, just as true, on the days when I am in the depths of sin and despair, and my heart is chasing after some lesser pleasure, He is there and my light is shining, though dimly. I cannot flee from His presence because the Spirit has chosen to reside WITHIN me! What a thought. Even when I am doing my best to cover it up, the light of Jesus is shining, because I am in Him. It is who I am, not something I do.

So, Lord, search me and know my heart, find any grievous way within me. And I thank you that, while I am being sanctified, at every given moment, I am perfectly suited to do the work and live the life that you have laid out for me! Shine your light through me, Lord, and lead me in the way everlasting!