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

  you, Lord, 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 attain.

7 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.

NOTES:

PERSONALIZING THE PSALMS

In your time alone with God in scripture reflection, solitude, prayer and journaling, begin with a breath prayer like "Holy Spirit, come," or listen to a song from the playlist. This summer we are focusing on one Psalm per week. Consider using one or more of the practices to reflect on the Psalm.

• Journaling: Write out the Psalm in your journal. Make notes in the margins to amplify or clarify words. Be creative with doodling, drawing, highlighting words or phrases, collaging with cut-out words or pictures. Take your journal with you wherever you go this summer. At the end of the summer you will have a journal full of your own reflections, thoughts and prayers!
• Reading: Take time to slowly read aloud the Psalm. What words or phrases stand out to you? What questions do you have? What feelings arise in you? Which physical response seems appropriate: hands raised or open? head bowed or lifted? standing or seated?
• Memorizing: Commit to memorizing one or more verses.
• Praying: How does this Psalm inspire praise, confession, lament, gratitude, or guidance for yourself, others or the world?