Today we are again in Psalm 139, with an eye searching for questions this Advent season:
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
As we saw yesterday, God is everywhere we can go - high in the air, deep in the oceans, anywhere we may go. This Christmas Astronauts in space and crews on submarines are not out of His sight or concern. He even sees us when we think we can hide in the dark, going back to one of our questions from our first day. As we also saw yesterday, one question we should ask is: Am I living life recognizing God is watching me? As we get to the core, the center of this Psalm, David goes even deeper, to the question: Why am I here? God formed you; made you His workmanship, wove you, and developed a plan for you in His purpose. That conviction goes long in helping us answer this deep question. If we are fearfully and wonderfully made, maybe we are more resistant to the things we fear than we think. Often times we pine about people who think they are "God's gift to the world," because of the way they speak and act with pride. But there is a sense in which we all are "God's gift to the world," in that He has a purpose for us to be here. Of course, understanding ourselves as a gift requires that we see and respond to God's greatest Gift, His son. And if we are made on purpose, for a purpose, maybe we need to ask more sincerely and faithfully: Am I wasting myself as a gift on things less than God's intended purpose for my life? and What should I do about that?
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