You search us and know us

You search us and know us

I really like the psalms. When we read them, and especially when we worship with them, we are connecting with people who have done the same since well before the time of Jesus. In fact, Jesus himself, would’ve used the psalms as a part of his worship experience in the synagogues. I have many favourites amongst the psalms, they’ll vary according to how I’m feeling at the time. But one that is always close to the top of the list, is Psalm 139. Here are the first six verses:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, 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.

In some ways it can be quite a disconcerting thought, to think that God knows each of us so intimately. We can’t lie to God; he already knows the truth. He does, in fact, know us far better than we will ever know ourselves. He knows all about our daily lives, when we sit, and when we rise. He knows all our ways, our mannerisms and character traits, our motives and goals. He even knows what we’re going to say and think, even before we do. That can be a disconcerting thought indeed.

But it can be a comforting thought too. We don’t have to put on airs and graces or pretend with God; he already knows us. We don’t have to try and be the person we think others want us to be; he already knows who we really are. It’s the real person deep down inside that God wants, and calls into his service.

Despite him knowing us so intimately, knowing all the bad things in our lives and character as well as the good, already knowing the things about us that we’re ashamed of, as well as those we’re proud of, he still loves us. God loves the real us, the real me — warts and all!

It’s because of that love that we can rely on him in strength, and rest on him in weakness.

Almighty God,
you search us and know us:
may we rely on you in strength
and rest on you in weakness,
now and in all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect for The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council