READ Psalm 139:13–24. 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, 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.
WHEN I AWAKE. God also is omnipotent (verses 13–18). This should be a vast comfort to us. No matter what the future holds, God is in control with a power greater than death. The psalmist says God will never let go of our hand no matter how dark it gets (see verses 11–12), so that “when I awake I am still with you” (verse 18). As Psalm 17:15 says, God is so committed in love to always be with us that he won’t even let death separate us (Romans 8:38–39). We will be with him forever.
Prayer: Lord, I confess there was a time in which the idea that my days were “ordained” in “your book” felt limiting to me. But as time goes by, and I can see how limited our wisdom is, my only hope becomes reliance on yours. I praise you that I am fearfully and wonderfully made! Amen.