How Psalm 139 encourages and reassures those who feels invisible that their Creator actually knows them better than anyone, even better than they know themselves.
I grew up in church, but it wasn't until at a high school worship event that I heard this psalm, and it is the first passage I can remember that resonated so profoundly in my soul that it changed my faith and how I relate and approach God forever. It's even the basis of my whole platform! When I first heard this psalm and continue to read it over and over I began to no longer imagine God as this all controlling, white-bearded man in the sky overseeing the large orchestration of His creation, but instead began to understand and envision God as personal, accessible, willing and warm towards me (although I still image the Father as a late middle-aged man, not unlike actor Jeff Bridges, just closer to me).
As I began to study the passage, I came across a study guide for Psalm 139 by David Guzik. Guzik helps to understand where David came from when he wrote this psalm. Not unlike me, David must have seen his Father in a similar way as this is one of his only psalms that reads like a personal letter, addressed directly to God. For David to view and know His God not just on a deeply personal level, but in a loving way was unheard of. Many of the world's people of His day worshipped pagan gods whom they themselves thought were hostile or indifferent towards them, mere humans. David was able to recognize that the true God He worshipped and knew cared so immeasurably about His creation that He was intimately in every detail of every rock, tree, insect, grain, bird, etc., etc., and especially, especially of those who bore His image.
I can understand with my brain that God knows His creation but I can often fall into the trap of thinking that God is only a big-picture God; that He is too busy managing all of creations wars, woes, suffering, and heart-ache that He can't possibly have time to tend to my own minuscule hurts and joys in the grand scheme of things. Maybe you can relate. But right from the start of Psalm 139 we are reassured that God searches and knows us, every little mundane thing; when we sit, sleep, all of our odd habits and routines, every word we speak before we even know what they will be. God has shown me throughout the COVID pandemic and beyond that He is more than capable of caring for those larger-than-life tragedies and for the fact that I have a picky eater that simply refuses every dinner I make. He cares about the orphans left from war, but also that I had a huge blowup argument with my husband that morning. He cares for the homeless yet sees my bedtime success of getting both of my babies to bed on time. He is capable. More than capable.
We continue in this psalm and read that not only does He know us, but He goes everywhere with us, (even if and when we try to escape Him...) even when we move across the country, or out of the country. We can find ourselves wondering if God will be the same in our new place. Can we worship and know Him the same way? What if it's not a physical change of location, but a major life change; a new baby, a new job and change in routine, a divorce, or kids moving out of the home for the first time. Can God still relate to us? Will God be the same to us? He will likely not look the same to us, because instead we have changed and our view and knowledge of Him will have grown as we will have discovered more about His love for us. Psalm 139 reassures us that not only does He see where you go, but He goes with you whether to the depths or to the heavens. But He doesn't simply go along for the ride, He guides us but not with a hand of oppression or judgement, but a hand of strength, love, calm, and comfort. We are reassured throughout David's psalm that God is in the weeds with us and in the purest joys of our lives, which are certainly a gift from Him to the one He loves, you.
No other verse in the Bible has affected and comforted me more than Verse 14 of this psalm, and that is that He made me perfectly and He made you perfectly. You are not a mistake, and you are worth knowing. You are worth God's time and effort to go with you wherever that may be. To care for the details of your life, and even orchestrate the ones you do not recognize in order to give you a life purpose fulfilled in Him. When you are feeling invisible, lost and chaotic - your clothes don't fit, your hair is wrong, you were misunderstood or unheard, do what I do and look in the mirror and repeat this verse as a mantra: "I am perfectly and wonderfully made. I am perfectly and wonderfully made." Then give yourself a smile (you may also fix your hair because I've realized a simple hairbrush can change my whole energy) and go forth doing the next right thing God has called you to do. Get on that airplane, or simply make dinner, write in your journal, pick up your kids, clarify your words, or have a cup of coffee. God will go with you, in fact He's already there.
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