In the Searching

Lord, you have searched me out and known me;

you know my sitting down and my rising up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

You trace my journeys and my resting places

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Indeed, there is not a word on my lips,

but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

You press upon me behind and before

and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go then from your Spirit?

where can I flee from your presence?

If I climb up to heaven, you are there;

if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.

If I take the wings of morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there your hand will lead me

and your right hand hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will cover me,

and the light around me turn to night,"

Darkness is not dark to you;

the night is as bright as the day;

darkness and light to you are both alike.

~Psalm 139 1–11

We all feel lonely sometimes. Caught up in our own kinds of darkness, it seems that no one can possibly understand. There are some things we must face alone, but not really alone. The psalmist understood this and tries to convey it to us through this love letter. No matter what we wrestle with, no matter how alone we might feel in the struggle, God is always there. Our unsettling loneliness is a reminder to continue searching for God in the big and little things around us. In the happy and the sad, the dark and the light, he waits to be noticed.

Where do you see God today?