Psalm 139:1-10
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 afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall 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 dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, January 14, is Psalm 139, verses one through 10. Oh, Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know, when I sit down and when I rise up, You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways, even before a word is on my tongue. Behold, oh, Lord, you know it all together, you have me in behind, and before you lay your hand upon me, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence. If I ascend to heaven, you were there. If I make my bed in shale, you were there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead me. And your right hand shall hold me. Here ends the reading. The psalm begins with the sure knowledge that God knows us, and is with us in all things. Oh, Lord, you have searched me and know me when, you know when I sit down. And when I rise up, You discern my thoughts from afar. So God knows us, not just by looking down upon us from up in heaven, but he actually understands our thoughts and our feelings and our paths. And that continues, you search out my path and my lying down, you are acquainted with all my ways. God knows everything that we do. He is with us in all things. And continues, even before a word is on my tongue. Behold, oh, Lord, you know it all together. So God doesn't just know like, watching what we do, he knows what we will do. So even before we speak, God knows what we will say. Even before we wake up, God knows what we will do. God knows all things, the future, the past and everything in between. And he is there with us in all of it. You have me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain it. Now, you might wonder what Wait, you him me in? Is that like a fence is the blocking? I think what is going on here? Is it saying that God hems the the person onto the right path. It's a little bit like bumpers in bumper bowling. Right? When you go to a bowling alley, and you've got a really young kid who's not very good at it, they'll bring the bumpers in, and then they bowl the ball and a bounces back and forth. But it doesn't go in the gutter. And it's going to hit something right. When God hems in David, it means he's keeping him on the right path. He's keeping him from falling off the path from one side to the other. And it's part of God's good and mighty power. Now, this can feel pretty bad when you really want to run off the path and jump into sin and do some terrible things. But in the end, it's pretty good because God's power to hem us in through his law through His Word through through his the actions that he does in the world. They help us because we want to be on the right path. We want to be heading towards God's salvation. We don't want to run off into shit into great sin and despair and vice and all those things that would would lead us away from God. We want him to hem us in. And so he goes Such knowledge is too wonderful me, for me, it is high, I cannot attain it. The idea of God's presence and his constant care for us is so amazing. It's just it's hard to understand. Because we look at a material world and we see people all around us we don't see God. It's not like he comes down and his. It's like there's this flash of fire and he says, Don't take this job. It's all in human things all through vocation, all through through life and experience and learning and lessons and the word of God that spoken through people. And so it's an amazing thing what God does, how He guides us and cares for us behind the scenes. And the next move is really interesting. He goes, where shall I go from your spirit or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in che Oh, you are there. If I take Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. Now, this passage for Christian is just a wonderful and amazing promise, right? Can I can I get out of God's grasp? Is the question. If I'm up in heaven, God's there, if I'm in the grave, God is there. If I'm if I'm out in the morning, rising with the sun, God is there, if I'm down in the bottom of the ocean, God is there, we cannot be alone. How amazing is it that it's even true, when we are down in shale is that God loved us so much that Jesus Christ entered into the grave with us into shale oil with us, so that he could be there with us. But this isn't just joyful. Because if you are not in a great relationship with God, where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I free from the presence? If I ascend to heaven? You're there. If I go into my bed and shale you're there to if I'm making the wings of the morning and I dwell in the uttermost parts of the seat, even there, you are there to judge me. Because we can't escape God. The question is on this is, what is that presence of God for us? Is it justice and righteousness through Christ, joy and salvation? Or is it the judgment of God in His presence around us, seeing what we do? The only difference is by being in Christ, following him, hearing His Word, and following his path. That ends the reading for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai