Slices
Prepare
What are the images or words of God that help you feel most comforted or reassured? Pray these right now, that you would know the reassurance of God’s ‘knowing you’.
Bible passage
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, 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.
Explore
Late today, I was called to the bedside of a woman living her last hours. June shared her deep love for Jesus. But she was becoming anxious. We talked. We read June’s favourite psalm together: Psalm 139.
Psalm 139 describes an experience of being one with God that is tender and beautiful. God knows us perfectly, far beyond what we know of ourselves (vs 1–6). There is nowhere where God is not; nowhere for us to hide, even in dark places (vs 7–12). God was there when we were made. When we awake, he is there still (vs 13–18). Because we love God, we hate all who stand against him (although now we remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:43,44); our hearts need searching also, so we don’t offend him (vs 19–24). What stands out for you in these words?
As we read together, June’s face seemed to register the well-loved words, as if they had never been heard before. Slowly an almost tangible warmth moved across her face and being. She soaked up each word… each image… smiling that her Lord was so close and that she could never find somewhere where the Lord was not already awaiting her. Deep peace.
Respond
The wonder of God’s love for us shines through this psalm. Blessed ourselves, let’s celebrate by thanking God and deliberately sharing his love with another… perhaps someone lonely?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Chronicles 4–6; Zechariah 13,14
Pray for Scripture Union
The Scripture Union Campus Fellowship, a ministry to young people in tertiary institutions in Nigeria, will be holding their annual conference 13-16 June. Pray that this will lead to many new leaders for SU Nigeria.
