By Guest Writer
I can still picture the three of us sitting in the living room: me, my brother, and Mom. Every morning, near a canopy of pine trees out the window, we read a chapter of Scripture together, and this morning our mission was to memorize Psalm 139. To be honest, one of the reasons this memory stands out is because memorizing Scripture wasn’t a big part of my life growing up. But for some reason, Mom got it into her head that this psalm was going to be the one.
From what we know about wisdom literature in the Bible, Psalm 139 appears to be, in part, a wisdom psalm. This means it’s meant to encourage us to reflect and meditate on God and his Word. Woven throughout each stanza, we notice themes of worshipping God and His creation, including the smallest details that make up our human bodies. “I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made,” wrote the psalmist. “Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well (Psalm 139:14)”
I can’t help but make a connection between this verse and our brain’s remarkable ability to memorize and recall things like songs, stories, and Scripture. This alone is worthy of awe and praise. Because I struggle to memorize verses, I’m grateful to have gotten this one psalm inside of me so many years ago.
I relied on this last summer during an MRI when my nerves got the better of me and I began to panic. God kindly brought this passage to mind, along with other relaxation strategies, and it was such a powerful comfort to recite each familiar verse like it was an old friend. Even in the MRI machine, I was under God’s care and protection.
Lent is a time when we willingly reflect on our sin and mortality. I find this a little easier to do after reading Psalm 139, which assures us that God knows our inner thoughts already. If Lent unearths feelings of shame, this is a great psalm to read as a comfort. God is not surprised by our brokenness or the limitations of our love. “Even the darkness is not dark to you,” the passage says (v.12). When we remember how God formed us from dirt—which some do by marking their foreheads with ash on Ash Wednesday—it humbles us. But we’re also told just how beautifully crafted we are and that God delights to show us the path out of our temptation to sin.
We receive so many daily messages challenging God’s truth that we are well-made and well-loved. But reading Psalm 139 can help us reflect on our truest identity.
So today, even as we confess our sins, let’s also thankfully remember the hope we have in Jesus: “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me,” writes the psalmist. “LORD, your faithful love endures forever; do not abandon the work of your hands” (Psalm 138:8).
Written by Bailey Gillespie
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