Week 1: God With Us
Is there anyone in your life who knows you completely? Do they know what makes you excited? Do they know what makes you scared? Do they know all your secrets and all of your thoughts? Do they know all your passions, gifts, and hopes? Before we begin getting to know Jesus, take a moment to consider this: God already knows you. Every part of you. And He cares deeply for you. Whether or not you’ve been searching for Him, He has been drawing near to you since long before you were born. Today, let’s read about the God who sees, knows, and pursues us.
Read Psalm 139: 1-16 (ESV)
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
Reflection:
How does the truth that God knows and cares for every part of you invite you to trust Him?
What does Psalm 139 reveal about God’s nature and His desire for a relationship with you?