The devotion Comes From
these verses come from this chapter
139 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
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.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
My thoughts
This line here;" Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether." I find it very humbling. So many times I say things that I aught not... I am often way too quick to speak and then I find myself saying sorry, didn't mean that, came out wrong. But God knows all that. He knows it even before I say it...but say it I still must. God knows me so well and yet he choose to love me, he chooses to continue to call to me. It is humbling, and oh so comforting, at most times. :) There are times I'd like to have secrets, but this chapter reminds me that having secrets from God is not only impossible, but I should be desiring NOT to have secrets. To be aware that having God search me and know me full well is the only way I will change and grow and become more of the person he desires me to be. And this is indeed a GOOD thing.
Further on in this song I read that I can't hide from God either. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! God is simply right there with me ALL THE TIME. This too is a good thing. It means that I am never ever completely alone. God is there in the best of times and in the worst of times, all I have to do is remember that and to look for him.
God was even there before I was thinking clearly. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. Don't know about you, but I like that. It means that he's been able to watch me grow up even from a small baby, he's been there and seen all that I've gone through in life, he's dealt with my anger at the world, my joy in the small things of life, he's seen my fears, my worries, my loves, my everything and YET he is still there. Pretty Cool eh?
All of this helps me to say with the Song writer: How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Even though I don't understand all of God, I know that he understands all of me, and as such, what the thinks, what he wants, I will pay more heed to. Don't you? Don't you pay more heed to the people who only have your good at heart? We should you know. It is more important to me what my hubby thinks, than what some stranger on the street does. He loves me deeply, and to think, God loves me even more deeply and he will NEVER EVER leave me alone. He will NEVER EVER stop loving me. I will pay him heed for that. :)
If you don't pay God heed today, will you give it some serious thought? Will you join me in Loving him back?
From the Email
The next morning, he met his fellow missionaries again for prayer and confessed his sin of spiritual pretense, which God had exposed to him during the long night before. Dr. Culpepper acknowledged that others’ praise of him as a “good missionary” had caused him to be proud and to steal glory from God. He later said, “My heart was so broken, I didn’t believe I could live any longer.”
Out of his confession arose such widespread brokenness throughout the national Christian leadership that the entire province was soon under the sweeping avalanche of the Spirit’s conviction. The resulting Shantung Revival, which burned far and wide into the 1930s, deeply impacted the spiritual landscape of China in that era.
The most dramatic revival movements in history have typically begun with a handful of humble-hearted believers. And interestingly, those men and women deemed to be the “most godly” have usually been the first to humble themselves and admit their need. Have you been waiting for your mate or children or church leaders to get right with God? He may be waiting for you—your brokenness—to provoke the brokenness of those around you.
When is the last time you asked God to search your heart and to show you any “grievous way”? Ask Him for a fresh work of the Spirit in your life, and for grace to respond in true brokenness and humility.