Contemplation on Psalm 139
The Steps of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading)
Place yourself in a quiet environment. Be still and acknowledge God’s presence. Invite God to speak. Consider praying the prayer of Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
1. Read: Read the text slowly and prayerfully, listening for the word, phrase, or picture that God highlights for you. Read or listen to the text a few times.
2. Reflect: When a word or phrase strikes you, spend a moment considering what God might be saying to you or showing you.
3. Respond: Prayer is your response to God’s word. It is your conversation with God about what you’ve heard. What do you want to say to the Lord in response to the Word spoken to you? Enter into a loving conversation with God.
4. Rest: Rest in God’s presence and receive His transforming love. Sit still with God and allow what you have heard to take root in you. Remember that this time with God isn’t something you have to manufacture, rather be still and allow God to act in you.
The Passage to Reflect On:
Psalm 139
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—
12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up,
you are still with me!