You have searched me, Lord, 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, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.  Psalm 139:1-6

When I think of Psalm 139, I imagine the Psalmist perhaps sitting by a body of water, surrounded by lush greenery, maybe an oasis in the desert.  He is contemplating life and God, and came to the realization that God knows him, and us.  God knows us so much that nothing we do is a mystery to God.  But the Psalmist doesn’t say this in a threatening way (“you better be good because God is watching you), rather in a beautiful and intimate way, such as a parent watching a new born baby.  God knows us so well that God understands even our muddled thoughts and incomplete ideas. 

Often when I am in prayer, I get stuck.  I know I need to be praying for something or someone, or I’m trying to express myself fully to God but cannot say or even conceive of the words.  Yet God knows what I am asking.  The very act of coming before God in prayer is all we need as God will do the rest.  In Romans 8, Paul says “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

Thanks be to God that God knows me so well.

Pastor Bill