My Favorite Psalm #TheLoft

     My favorite Psalm - in fact, my favorite chapter in the entire Bible - is Psalm 139:

"O LORD, you have searched me 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 know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in - behind and before; you have laid 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, O 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. If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

     I had read that Psalm many times, I'm sure, but one day it just grabbed me. God knew me! He "knit me together in my mother's womb!" The very eyes of God "saw my unformed body!" He designed me, He created me just exactly the way I am - all for His plan and purpose. He knew what every day of my life would look like before the first one had even come about. He knew me before I was born on this earth, and He knows the day I will take my last breath on this earth. 

     The day that Psalm took hold of me was a transforming moment in my life as a Christian. It opened my eyes to the fact that Jesus not only had a personal knowledge of me, but that I was created for a specific purpose on this earth. Learning this about Jesus has led me to develop that personal relationship that He was longing to have with me - after all, if Jesus knew me so well, shouldn't I strive to know Him more? Shouldn't I desire to know Him more intimately and personally? The 139th Psalm paved the way for me to develop a relationship with Jesus that is so much more than superficial! It opened the door for me to have this wonderful, ongoing fellowship with Him, and has led me to trust in Him to fulfill His purpose in my life, and not make my own way. 

     And, whenever I stray from the path He has marked out and chosen for me, I, like the psalmist, ask Him to "search me", to "see if there is any offensive way in me." And then, I have His promise in verse 24, that He will  help me get my feet back on His path. He will "lead me in the way everlasting." Amen!