1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My 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.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Reflection
Sometimes I can listen to a song for years and just kind of go through the lyrics without them saying anything to me.
That’s how it was many years ago.
I was listening to Chris Rice, my favorite Christian singer and writer. I wrote down a line from the song. I know I’ve listened to it, many times, but this time I heard it.
I picked up a pen and wrote the lyric down on a reporter’s notebook. Thing was, I wrote it down wrong, or at least thought I did, as I found the lyrics and began reading through them.
I wrote, “Follow to the Place where you belong,” not knowing what song it was.
The first time Chris sang it, he asked if “There ever would be a place, where I belong.”
The second time it was, “To hope there’d be a place where I belong.”
It wasn’t until the third time that Chris sang, “Follow to the place where you belong.”
It’s on his album, “Smell the Color 9.” It’s called fittingly, “Belong.”
And I realize he was singing it to me.
The song doesn’t start off all happy. It started off how I was feeling.
I don’t feel this way every day, but more than I would like.
“Fading memories ignored, I crawled across the forest floor. Pool reflects an orphan child, Dirty, lost, alone and wild.”
When I was 67, I never thought I would feel this this way. But my first wife was now gone, and fading memories are all I have. I don’t know if I ever felt like I’ve crawled across the forest floor, but I can certainly feel like an orphaned child, dirty, lost, alone and wild.
This is how I felt when I woke up alone in an empty bed. This just wasn’t how I pictured my life, at least when I was 67.
And then Chris talks about belonging or wondering if he’ll find such a place.
“Fatherless and nameless still. Fallen heart and broken will there ever be a place, where I belong.”
Morning and evening I wonder if I’ll find a place where I belong.
Don’t get me wrong. I have my children and grandchildren. I have some good, strong friends. But going to bed, and waking up—alone, it makes me wonder.
“I hear a sound, I recognize. You lift my chin and seek my eyes. Song of love You sing to me. I ache to sing it back to Thee.”
God. There is always God.
Sometimes I don’t recognize Him. Sometimes I don’t see Him. Sometimes I don’t hear the song He’s singing. But He’s always there.
And then it happens.
“Father Love prepares a place. And brother Jesus leads the way. Follow to the place where you belong.”
I need to remember there is a place that I belong to.
I belong because He belongs.
Now, Five years later I’m married again–to my very first girlfriend. And I’m not alone. But I never was, was I.
I thank God that I always have Him.
And I can follow Him to the place where I belong.
Because that’s where He belongs.
by Rick Reed
For Pondering and Prayer
Psalm 139 is such a wonderful psalm.
God is always there. But sometimes I forget it. But better yet, You know me You have searched me, and still care about me.
Prayer: Almighty and Wonderful God. Nothing is hidden from your sight-and you still love me. Amazing grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
