If you are feeling like God has forsaken you or given up on you, then read these words from Psalm 139. Let them sink deep into your heart. God cares for you more than you can fathom. His love for you reaches through the Cross and embraces you.
“O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know! I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night–but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous–and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:1-18, 23, 24).
As a father, I love hugging my little boy. Even more, I love it when he hugs me, or as he calls it, “big squeezers.” Just typing those words brings tears to my eyes. How much more does God enjoy it when we embrace him?
I don’t think anyone can truly understand how much God thinks about one of his children. His thoughts outnumber the very grains of sand throughout the earth. That’s a lot!
Today, spend some time and soak in the sweetness of his love.
Prayer: Father, you have made me perfectly according to your plan, and you love me despite my weaknesses. Forgive me for being dissatisfied with the way you have created me; and thank you that you will always be with me, thinking of me, loving me.
