It's been a long time! I miss this place so much! I'm hoping to get it a bit more happening around here, but while I'm clearing away the cobwebs and dusting off my study books I want to share with you the chapter in the Bible that convinced me that God truly adores me as His precious daughter.
In the summer of 2016 was getting really frustrated about this crush I had and my church small group leader recommended that when I was tempted to worry about it I spend time with God reading and thinking about scripture instead. She recommended Psalm 139 as a place to start.
As I read it day after day I was blown away by the personal, and thoughtful way that David described God's love for him. I began to realize more clearly what care God takes for me, and what attention He gives me (and all of His kids). I didn't feel the need to worry about that boy anymore! Who can be desperate for anyone's attention and acceptance when you truly realize that God loves and accepts you so entirely and desires to be in a relationship with you? I'm sharing the passage with you below. Take a deep breath and ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand, then read slowly and let Him speak:
In the summer of 2016 was getting really frustrated about this crush I had and my church small group leader recommended that when I was tempted to worry about it I spend time with God reading and thinking about scripture instead. She recommended Psalm 139 as a place to start.
As I read it day after day I was blown away by the personal, and thoughtful way that David described God's love for him. I began to realize more clearly what care God takes for me, and what attention He gives me (and all of His kids). I didn't feel the need to worry about that boy anymore! Who can be desperate for anyone's attention and acceptance when you truly realize that God loves and accepts you so entirely and desires to be in a relationship with you? I'm sharing the passage with you below. Take a deep breath and ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand, then read slowly and let Him speak:
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
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.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
(Psalm 139 ESV)
O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
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.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
(Psalm 139 ESV)
I'll leave you with that. Would you read it a few more times though? Let it really soak in. I have read it over and over and it keeps blowing me away!
-L.
