Devotion • October 16
Today's Scripture
Psalm 139:1–18
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 far away.
You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can 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 settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know 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 beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them — they are more than the sand; I come to the end — I am still with you. (NRSV)
Reflection
Immediately upon reading this (a familiar psalm so not my first time, likely like many of you reading this), Martha and the Vandella’s song “Nowhere to Run” popped into my head. “Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide …”
There is something oddly comforting about God’s intimate knowledge of us and presence in our lives. Something soothing that God is with us everywhere we go. Comforting, soothing. and humbling.
The psalmist assures us that God is omnipresent and that no matter where we find ourselves, God is there to guide us and support us. Furthermore, each one of us is unique and wonderfully made in God’s image, and we have inherent value and purpose. Finally, God’s love for us knows no limits!
I am going to change my thinking on this. Instead of thinking God is so big there is “nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide,” I’m going to start thinking God is everywhere and loves me so much that I am going to run toward God and I don’t need to try to hide!
Prayer
Holy God, I humbly thank you for your infinite presence in my life. Forgive me when I live like I am trying to run and hide from you. Help me find joy and comfort in your limitless love for me. Amen.
Written by Anthony Hipp, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church
Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
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