September 15, 2021 — Psalm 139:1–142:7    

“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.Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.” Psalm 139:1-12, 17-18

The Psalmist writes these words: “How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  I try to count them – they are more than the sand; I come to the end – I am still with you.” 

Have you ever wondered what the thoughts of G-d must be like? I know that it is dangerous to put anthropomorphic images to G-d, like G-d actually has a right hand or long white beard, but it is truly weighty to consider the thoughts of G-d – if G-d thinks like us. Although G-d has said, “My ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts” yet, if we had a chance to look into the mind of G-d, if we were to be given just a glimpse of the thoughts of G-d, could we understand what we perceive? 

A saying I have seen attributed to Albert Einstein is, “I only want to know the mind of God. Everything else is detail.” But what detail to consider – what thoughts to consume our insignificant minds.

Let Us Pray:

Lord, we cannot know your thoughts, and we are always left wondering about your ways. Help us to trust both – that you always have us in your thoughts and we will eventually understand your ways. Amen.

Pastor Dave