My Favorite Scripture -Melissa Bigelow

Psalm 139: 1-18 NIV

1 You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.3 You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue LORD, you, know it completely.5 You hem me in behind and before,and you lay your hand upon me.6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.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.

When I reflect on my favorite scripture passage, I’m blessed to know that God speaks to us in so many ways, if we are only willing to listen.  For me, it was through the words of a song that I heard as a teenager.  The song was simply titled, “Psalm 139” by Rebecca St. James. 

From the moment I heard the song, I felt like it was written just for me.  It became my private praise song, my private prayer.  When I’m feeling down.  When I’m feeling unsure about something.  When I have doubts about a decision that I’ve made. I remember this song, and I remember this scripture, and I allow it to fill me up.  It comforts me in dark times, and fills me with hope and joy to know that God is there in those moments with me.  My faith is strengthened to know there is nothing I can do and nowhere I can go to separate me from God’s love.

Prayer:  Lord, thank you that you are ever present in our lives.  Thank you for loving us despite our faults.  Thank you for being with us in times of sorrow and hurt.  Thank you for being with us in times of joy.  We are comforted in knowing that you have a plan for us together as your church body and as individuals, and there is nothing that can separate us from your love and mercy.  Amen.