Thursday 23rd November
“You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.” (Psalm 139:2-3) (NIVUK)
At first glance it may seem that these verses simply refer to our everyday physical actions of sitting, rising, going out, and lying down. But when you stop and think about it, it actually describes every aspect of our life, everything we do and think, whether active or passive (‘all my ways’ v.3).
God knows it all.
Whether we sit to read, rest, eat, study, ponder, have a conversation, or rise to do something, get something, or go somewhere, our Father knows not only what we do and who we do it with, but knows our motivations, intentions, and destinations (see Ps 1:1,2). Even at rest and when asleep he knows our ponderings and our dreams, and if our sleep was sound or restless.
He also knows our thoughts ‘from afar’ – not just what we are thinking now, but our past and future thoughts. He knows all our hopes, plans, successes, and failures.
Our Father is ‘familiar’ with ‘all’ our ways. His deeply personal knowledge of us gives us confidence that he walks with us through all the significant and seemingly insignificant aspects of our lives. There is nothing we cannot share with him, or nowhere that we go where he is not beside us, encouraging, comforting, and directing us.
Karen Barklay
