I AM NOT HIDDEN...

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 139:1-18 (NRSV)

Formed in my mother's womb

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.

DEVOTION

Ah! Hallelujah!

One of the most beautiful things about our relationship with God is that we love and are loved, care and are cared for, and know and are known. Whether or not we choose to love, care for, and know God, God still loves, cares for, and knows us!

Isn’t that amazing?! The relationship with Creator is the most intimate relationship of all. I have heard intimacy phrased, “IN—TO—ME—SEE.”

Truly we have “in-to-me-see” with God! The psalmist says, “You have searched me and known me…you discern my thoughts from far away…Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.”

WOW! Truly there is nobody who knows me like this!

I am close to my parents, but they do not know me like this. I am close with my siblings, but they do not know me like this. I have had very close friends, but they do not know me like this. I am extremely intimate with my husband and yet, even he, does not know me like God does!

Psalm 139 asks, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?” And the answer is made manifest when we realize that there is absolutely nowhere that we can go, where we are hidden from God’s love, care, and knowledge of us!

When we were knit together in our mother’s wombs, God was there. In the darkest hours of our lives, God was there. In the most joyful of days, God was there.

Sometimes, when I think about my worst and most sinful days, I am appalled that God was there. I am embarrassed that God saw me at my very, very worst. I am so sad about the angry words that I said to God in the midst of my pain.

Yet even on my worst days, God would not leave me! Even when I asked God to depart, God would not go! Even when the stench of my sin reached up to the heavens and I tried to run away, I could not out sin, out fox, or out run the love of God that has been revealed to me in Christ Jesus!

Glory to God!

Isn’t it amazing that God loves us so? Isn’t it wonderful that God loves all of us so much that God gave Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sin and gift us with eternal life?

What an amazing love!

In the face of so much love, care, knowledge, and forgiveness, how can we turn away?

Friends, no one ever has, or ever will, love you in the way that God does! Won’t you put all of your hope in Jesus today? He’s waiting for you with open arms…

Please pray with me:

Holy God, today I am sure that you love, care, know, and forgive me. So, I am putting all of my hope in Jesus. I believe that Jesus died on the cross to save me from my sin and gift me with eternal life. I know that he did not stay dead, but was resurrected, just as he promised that he would! Won’t you please forgive me of my sin and fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I can share your love, care, knowledge, forgiveness, and concern with others! I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

SPECIAL NOTE

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, today, you are saved! Let me encourage you to tell a Christian friend that you just put all of your hope in Jesus. Ask him or her to help you find a Bible that is easy for you to understand and to find a good Bible believing church where you can be baptized and make new friends who will walk with you on your Christian journey!

Congratulations and Happy Re-birthday! Your salvation is our GOOD NEWS, please go and share the GOOD NEWS with others!

Won’t you please take a moment to click “YES” in the survey found in the upper-right hand corner of this blog in answer to the question, “Did God save you today?” Thank you.