Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
Verse 2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
Verse 3You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
Verse 4Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
Verse 5You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
Verse 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Verse 13For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
Verse 14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
Verse 15My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Verse 16Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
Verse 17How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Verse 18I try to count them-they are more than the sand; I come to the end-I am still with you.
Devotion
Recently there's been resurgence in record players and vinyl in the music world. Due to technological advances, a musical record was even recently made from the cross section of an old growth tree. An engineer designed a needle for the player that ebbs and flows with the natural order of the growth rings. The engineer's theory proved to be true, and—behold!—a song was indeed embedded in nature within the wood.
The psalmist sings of the expansive presence of God from the heights to the depths, throughout the vast expanse of creation. Like the annual rings of a tree being played by a piano, the creative presence of God continues to bring wonder, love and praise to expression among us.
Prayer
God of Creation, your presence brings a sense of awe and wonder. May you give us a song today to sing of your glory and creative work. Amen.