Psalm 139:1-12

Psalm 139:1-12
English Standard Version (ESV)
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster.
A Psalm of David.

  The Psalmist is clearly making a powerful statement here about how intimately and completely God knows us.  There's two critical points related to this that make this such an incredible fact.
  First, God is for us.  This is clear throughout the Scripture, but becomes blindingly clear during the ministry of Jesus Christ -- Christ has come to save us.  Christ portrays himself as the shepherd, coming to save the lost sheep.  The mission of God, evident throughout Scripture, is to gather people to himself, to redeem those who are ensnared in death, to set the oppressed free.  God is for us, and sends Jesus Christ so that we might be freed and be caught up in hope.  The mission of God isn't to create a test that only the top students can pass -- it's to do everything possible to welcome as many people into the Kingdom of God.  Christ is for us, in that he dies on the cross so that you might have life.
  Secondly, God is all-powerful.  God has the ability to defeat the power of sin and death and free us.  God can liberate us - there are no limits on what God can do.
  So dwell on this -- God knows you, and God is for you, and God is able to save.  So while there is nowhere in the universe that you can go to escape from God, when God is with you, God is working to transform you into the image of God, as you were created to be.  God is at work to free you from the things that ensnare you.  God loves you and wants the best for you and will ultimately and eternally bring you into a place where you can live in the full glory you were created for.
  For each of us, there will be moments when we feel like pulling the darkness over us as a cover, and we'll want to dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.  That's a real part of the human experience, even for the Psalmist, for the most faithful disciples, there are chapters of life like this.  In those moments, when despair is the only language we can speak, never forget that God is there, that God is present.  God understands pain and despair -- this is the God who endured the cross, who absorbed all of human pain and shame and sin and was abandoned on the hill at Calvary.  God is there with us in the most painful moments, and God is at work, redeeming them and calling us forward into life.  The light still shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not win, however dark it may seem.