STUDY IN STONE FACES

PSALM 139:1-14 NRSV*

The Inescapable God

Of David. A Psalm.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; 

you discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, 
O Lord, you know it completely.

You hem me in, behind and before, 

and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; 

it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit? 

Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning 

and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me, 

and your right hand shall hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, 

and the light around me become night,”

even the darkness is not dark to you; 
the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts; 
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 

Wonderful are your works; 
that I know very well.

Sharon

*Psalm 139 from the Catholic Women's Devotional Bible, New Revised Standard Version, page 768, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, copyright 2000.