Monday morning in the Psalms - January 11, 2021

 The lectionary reading from the Psalter for next Sunday (Jan 17, 2021) is this:

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
15 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.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Devotional Thoughts

When I was younger my mom and I listened to A LOT of Elvis Presley. And so maybe that's why there are certain things that when I hear them, it reminds me of the King of Rock n' Roll. This Psalm does that to me as well. 

King David, after acknowledging the omniscience of God (that God knows all things), asks a very direct (and perhaps slightly redundant question). 

"Where can I go that God is not?" (Verses 7-12)

As I ponder David's question, I hear Elvis asking it his way, "Where could I go but to the Lord?"

Take a listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_s23-_uK4w

And then, as David describes the omnipresence of God, he moves into a full on praise of who God is. 

I invite you to reflect on this Psalm throughout the coming week and the beautiful imagery that it gives us such as:

• "You have searched me and know me, O God"
• "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made"
• "How precious to me are your thoughts, God!"

These alone could be a lifetime of prayers for us, and yet the last 2 verses of the Psalm are to me perhaps the most striking of all. 

• Search me
• Test me
• See

Pastor and author Craig Groeschel uses verse 23 as a starting point in his book, Dangerous Prayers.

And I believe this is just that, a dangerous prayer, not meant to be prayed unless you mean it.

Asking God, who knows everything, who can uncover anything, and who shines His light on all things, to search me completely in my heart? All of my personal skeletens that I want to keep in the closet? All of my imperfections that I try to gloss over and known sins that I have buried?

Yes. 

That is want David wants God to search for. Not because God doesn't already know it there (he's covered the omniscient thing already), but because David is ready for God to show it to him. 

But David keeps on praying!

Now, test me and know my anxious thoughts. 

If we are honest, many of us have many anxious thoughts. Perhaps more in the past year than we ever have. And yet in John 14 Jesus told us, "Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid."

Where are your anxious thoughts today? How has a spirit of anxiety gripped you during this season of our lives? Are you ready to let Jesus in here?

Yes.

And finally, David asks God to see if there is anything offensive in him, and to lead him into an eternal path (the "way everlasting" referring to an eternal journey with God). 

Is there anything offensive in me today. 

YES! 

And so I wonder if these last 2 verses might be a wonderful way to settle into hearing what God desires to speak into our life this week?

I would love to hear your thoughts, and where God is leading you. Feel free to comment below, or email at mvaughn114@gmail.com

I hope to get some thoughts here on the Psalms every Monday, so Subscribe to the blog and get an email notification every time there is something new. 

Blessings on your Monday, and I pray you carry Psalm 139 with you wherever you go. 

After all, "Where can we go but to the Lord?"