Lord, you have examined me and know all about me!
“Lord, you have examined me and know all about me. (Ok, I’m squirming a bit here. You know ALL about me? I’m not sure we should be friends…)
You know when I sit down and when I get up. (Sometimes I sit too much. You probably know this too. I have great intentions, but I struggle with follow-through.)
You know my thoughts before I think them. (I don’t even know my own thoughts sometimes. You know my secret motives; you read all the thoughts in my mind? If I do something that looks Godly to others, You know the truth of my heart?)
You know where I go and where I lie down. (I feel like I can’t get away from You, God. What if I don’t always want You to follow where I go? Let’s be honest; I love your protection, I love that You sometimes order my life the way I desire, but sometimes, I need my space. Sometimes I need to do things my own way. I know You might not necessarily approve, so those times could I maybe just go on my own?)
You know everything I do. (Everything? Well then, You won’t want to be my friend)
Lord, even before I say a word, you already know it.” (It sounds to me like You may know everything? I can’t see how You would possibly want to have anything to do with me. Sometimes I don’t even like me. I can be negative, self-centred, jealous, unkind… and You still want to hang out with me?)
Psalms 139:1-4
Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you?
Psalms 139:7
“You are all around me—in front and in back— and have put your hand on me. (So You’re protecting me? This sounds like a cover of protection, a shield! So you know the depths of me, and still, you protect me like a mama hen protects her chicks? Amazing!)
Your knowledge is amazing to me; it is more than I can understand. (Yea, I don’t get this kind of complete knowledge and yet unconditional love)
Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you? (I think I’m beginning to understand that wherever I am, You are and have been before me. Running is pointless)
If I go up to the heavens, you are there. (God, You see me when the sun shines on me)
If I lie down in the grave, you are there. (You hear me when I’m crying in my bed at night)
If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the sea, even there you would guide me. (It doesn’t matter where I am in this wide world, You are there)
With your right hand you would hold me. I could say, “The darkness will hide me. Let the light around me turn into night.” But even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is as light as the day; darkness and light are the same to you. (You see as well in the dark as in the light. You see me even when I try to hide in darkness.)
You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother’s body. (God, You formed me! How can I continually speak negative things about myself when the Creator of the universe also created me?)
I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. (You created me for a special purpose! I am unique and quirky, and You make no mistakes)
What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well. You saw my bones being formed as I took shape in my mother’s body. When I was put together there, you saw my body as it was formed. (I see how You would know everything about me now. The Creator knows the creation best!)
All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old. (You have plans for me, God! I’m not just an afterthought or accident! You have actual plans!)
God, your thoughts are precious to me. They are so many! If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand. (give me just a grain of understanding! Help me comprehend Your love for me when I am so undeserving)
When I wake up, I am still with you.”(thank you that I can lay down in peace knowing that You will be with me still, in the morning).
Psalms 139:5-18 NCV
