14 day plan

Faith Stories with Naomi Reed

Day 5 of 14

NIV

Psalms 139:1-2

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.

2You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

Reflection:

I interviewed KJ over the phone, in 2020, asking her about her faith story. At the time of my phone call, she was home alone, isolating due to the pandemic. She also told me that she has been blind since birth, and she has Asperger’s Syndrome. She explained that she became a Christian as a teenager, when her family took her to Beach Mission. She heard about Jesus and believed in him. But it was some years later that her Nan helped her get a Braille Bible and she began to read it. After that, KJ began to write her own worship music in braille. Apparently, these days, other people see the way she functions, and they think she’s amazing. But in reality, KJ says she often feels misunderstood. Does anyone know the real KJ? Do they want to? Within her questions, KJ told me that her favourite Bible passage is Psalm 139. God knows her and understands her even when no one else does. God made her and gave her the ability to create beautiful music. Every day, God is with her, even when the whole world is self-isolating during the pandemic, and no one is allowed to hug her. Even then, KJ says, she is not completely isolated. God is with her. And he’s not going to leave.

Prayer:

Lord, I too sometimes feel the struggle of being misunderstood. But you understand me. You made me and you know me, and you are with me today. You perceive my thoughts from afar. Please help me to respond to you in awe and praise, today.

Psalms 139:1-24

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.

2You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

4Before a word is on my tongue

you, Lord, know it completely.

5You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

7Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

8If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

12even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

13For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

15My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

17How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you.

19If only you, God, would slay the wicked!

Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

20They speak of you with evil intent;

your adversaries misuse your name.

21Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,

and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

22I have nothing but hatred for them;

I count them my enemies.

23Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.