A Deep Dive into the Comforting Embrace of Psalm 139

Have you ever felt the profound peace of being known and loved, imperfections and all? Join us, as we continue into the new year with hearts wide open, embracing the sublime truths nestled within Psalm 139. Our conversation traverses through the valleys and peaks of being fully understood by God, echoed in the children's book called "The Run Away Bunny," and the life-changing realization that our deepest fears of unworthiness are quelled by divine acceptance.

With a fresh start upon us, we gather around the spiritual campfire to share a unique praise fest grounded in Psalm 139's opening verses. This practice guides us towards a more intimate relationship with the Lord, who knows our thoughts before they even take shape. Our personal anecdotes and metaphors serve to illustrate the transformative impact of recognizing God's omnipresence, infusing our everyday walk with a sense of security and purpose.

The episode then leads us down a path of self-discovery and gratitude, even amidst the thorns of suffering. You'll hear about Christina's wrestling match with chronic Lyme disease, a testament to the intricate tapestry of life's pain and beauty. We then venture into the New Testament, seeking solace and strength, and learn how our trials can carve a deeper space for intimacy with the Lord. This heartfelt exchange is an invitation to join us in celebrating our design, confronting our struggles, and pursuing an unobstructed relationship with our ever-present God.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi and welcome to Revelation Within on the Go. I'm Heidi Bilesma-Epperson, one of your hosts and the owner and lead coach of the Revelation Within Ministry.

Speaker 2: 0:09

And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a Revelation Within coach and Heidi's partner in all things Revelation Within. We're so happy to invite you to join us for this episode of Revelation Within On the go.

Speaker 1: 0:25

On the go. Hey, that's our first one of the 2024, even though we've had other podcasts, this is our first recording.

Speaker 2: 0:36

It is. It's our first one.

Speaker 1: 0:37

Happy New Year. I know we're about four weeks late, but that's okay. Well, today we thought we would look together at Psalm 139. We have been so encouraged by a lot of the verses in Psalm 139. So we thought maybe we would share with you all something that are such great encouragement to Christina and me in Psalm 139. So I think both of us have the English standard version that we're using today, but you can use whatever version you want.

Speaker 2: 1:12

Absolutely so.

Speaker 1: 1:13

Christina, let's start off by why don't you share Cause?

Speaker 2: 1:16

you always mentioned this Psalm in all our classes and in all the things we do.

Speaker 1: 1:22

It's the only one I know. That's because you're not Heidi Bibles, ma'am, I know I know it's true.

Speaker 2: 1:31

No, you know what? This Psalm has always been my favorite because it speaks so gently, tenderly, sweetly, compassionately, joyfully all of those straight to my heart in an area of my life that has caused me so much trouble and hopelessness and angst and all of that. It just it speaks to who I am and I just I love the way, I love the voice in it. It's beautiful and it just reminds me. It's like okay, when I'm losing my way, when I'm struggling with issues of body image, issues of who I am, even issues of how I was made and who made me, and all of those things, I just I can turn back to the Psalm and it's kind of like my home dance, I think.

Speaker 2: 2:28

It's refreshing, isn't it? How about you, heidi? I know it's a special Psalm for you too.

Speaker 1: 2:33

Yeah those verses are great, 13 and 14 that you're mentioning. I love those. But I think one of the things that jumps out to me the most has to do with this. I don't know, did you ever read the children's book Run Away Bunny? Yes, okay. So the little baby bunny is, you know, wanting to run away from mom for some reason. And if he becomes a rock climber, mom becomes the mountain, if I mean all of those different things. If he floats away on a raft, she becomes the river or whatever.

Speaker 1: 3:02

Well, I feel like Psalm 139, the opening verses and verse seven to 12, you know, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself. We can go back to it in a minute, but it's like I love this image that God is the mommy in that runaway bunny story. He really is. He will become the mountain if I'm a rock climber, he will become the tree. If I swing and hope to go up to the heavens away from him, he won't let me get away from him and I've seen that. I'm encouraged because I have this tendency to wanna run. It's something in my life that he's working with me on, not run from God only, although that's part of it. Run from difficulties, run from feelings, all kinds of things. Let's go ahead and journey through this Psalm a little bit, psalm 139. Well, why don't you just start reading and see where a good stopping point is?

Speaker 2: 3:52

Oh, Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. Let's go ahead and stop there. Yeah, let's stop there. I was just gonna say I love this idea of being known. I mean, I think about my friendships in my life, I think about my favorite relationships and you know, there's just there's a few that really really stand out, including mine with you, heidi, and it's like there's something so good, so special and in this world maybe kind of unique to be known like deeply known you know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 4:38

Yeah, and deeply known and loved. I remember in my first marriage when there were a lot of secrets going on that I didn't know about, I loved my husband, madly, but he said you don't really know me. If you knew me I don't think you would love me anymore. And wow, I mean I'm so glad we don't have to worry about that, with the Lord that he searches us. He knows all the cracks and crevices and failings and foibles and all that stuff, to the point that he knows when we're sitting down. Yeah, he knows, he totally knows, and he loves me. He discerns my thoughts from afar. I have no idea what that means, the thoughts from afar thing. Do you have any idea of that one?

Speaker 2: 5:22

Well, you know what One of the things that I love about this I was just going to mention that verse you discern my thoughts. You know I've talked a lot about on this podcast how I didn't used to think that my thoughts were important. They were like my little secret, you know. So this helps me so much to realize God is right there in my thoughts. He knows what they are. So, yeah, I don't know. You discern my thoughts from afar. I'm not sure what that afar is about, because of course he's not far from us.

Speaker 2: 5:55

That whole idea of I don't have any secrets from the Lord. He knows what I'm thinking, he cares about what I'm thinking. It's really, really important to him. It's right here in this song. You know, he knows what I'm sitting down and when I get up, but he also knows what I'm thinking all the time. He knows me. I think about the closeness of a friend or somebody in your life, a spouse or a sister or who knows. You know a person where you get together and it's like you don't even have to say a word, and that person knows. They just know something's up, or you know you're excited, or you know there's something going on that doesn't feel right, they just know, and I think about that with the Lord. It's like he knows, he just knows, and I love that there's such an intimacy there.

Speaker 1: 6:50

Yes, you know it's interesting. As you were talking, it made me think about conversations that I've had with a number of people over the years who were coming to Thin Within now Revelation Within for a diet alternative. And when asked have you asked God into this? Have you invited him into this? Some people have responded with I never thought, he cared about it, Never occurred to me.

Speaker 1: 7:15

And so, when you think about what this song teaches about, he knows all of it already. He knows the tears I've cried when I've gone into my closet and haven't been able to fit into clothes that fit just a month ago. Or he knows the heartache of feeling a sense of rejection from people based on something they said that I internalize as being about my size or my shape or whatever it might be. He knows how, how grieved I am over this issue of body image, food, eating all of it he knows. And so this section of scripture reminds me that, yes, he wants to be invited in. He knows the thoughts, he knows the heartache, anything that has caused me this much heartache. He wants to be invited in. He knows it already. I might as well open wide the door and say Lord, what would you say to me? What would you have me do or think or be? I don't know. I love that.

Speaker 2: 8:14

Yeah, I love that too. I mean anything in our lives that have caused us grief and hopelessness and frustration. I know I felt the same way for a long time. I thought why am I bothering God with this kind of stuff? You know? Shouldn't I be able to just figure it out on my own? I mean, I'm such a mess. He's got bigger fish to fry, you know.

Speaker 2: 8:35

He's dealing with all these huge issues in the world and I always minimized my own struggle with food and eating and body image, but then, when it came down to it, it was the one thing that I was up crying about in the middle of the night, right, right, you know, I was so frustrated and hopeless and I really felt like, you know, this is just it, this is just what I have to deal with. Anyway, I just love that. I love thinking. Of course God wants to know what I'm thinking about, he wants to be in there with me, and of course we talk about, you know, renewing our minds all the time with God's thoughts, and so that idea of mixing his thoughts in with mine and how important that is. It's amazing to think about really.

Speaker 1: 9:19

Well, and for the person who thinks God has bigger fish to fry, I love that. Verse three says you search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. You know even people with who struggle with eating disorder, behavior like binging or bulimic behaviors. You know even if you're trying to throw up, god is right there and he knows your way and he's loving you right now, wherever you might be in this journey or struggling or not. I love that that he is acquainted with all my ways and loves me anyway.

Speaker 2: 9:57

Yes, absolutely. It's so true, that's yeah, I love it. It's so personal, it's so sweet, it's so kind, you know, and of course he made us. We know that and he made us in his own image, so he planned it all in. It's not like there's a mistake there, like well, all of this about me is okay, but then there's this and this, and that must have been just a huge mistake. But he knew, and he knew that we would be struggling in this very imperfect world.

Speaker 2: 10:28

And yet he's with us, he's loving us, he's celebrating us just as we are. That is a beautiful truth.

Speaker 1: 10:37

And I love that in the next few verses which we'll go ahead and read, well, let me go ahead and read those, even before a word is on my tongue. Behold, oh Lord, you know it all together. You hem me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain it. In these verses we see God is intimate and he's right there, he's imminent in the moment with us, and yet verse six says whoa, this blows my mind. You are so high and lofty and lifted up. I love that. It shows us as kind of juxtaposes this way, that God is he's close and intimate with us and yet he's so high, above it all as well. Wow, I love that.

Speaker 2: 11:22

Yeah Well, and so we talked about how he mentions thoughts, and now we've got words and words on my tongue, whether they come out or not, he's interested in that and he knows what they are. And then this idea of being hemmed in before and behind doesn't that just feel cozy? I mean, I feel like there's a sense of safety there. That's beautiful, you know, coziness, safety protection as well. It's like he's not just ahead of me and I'm trying to run to catch up, and he's not just behind me. In my past, when I had a great experience with him, he's all around me at once. Somehow he's hemming me in behind and before, and then we know that he's close enough that he can lay his hand upon us, and that's so personal and so sweet. I just love the way that's written.

Speaker 1: 12:21

You know, if I were to God list through these verses, it may not say an attribute of God that's in these verses, but I can extrapolate, based on the picture that's painted by the psalm by David of what God is like, some beautiful ideas of what God is like. And this is who he is to us is kind and gentle, just like you were saying a moment ago. It just blows my mind that this is the God that we serve. So many of us feel like we have to hide or try to hide. We can't really hide and we'll get to that in a moment, yeah, but it's like he's kind.

Speaker 1: 12:59

It's his kindness that leads us to repentance and his gentleness that breathes healing into our souls. I just love that about him.

Speaker 2: 13:08

You know one of my favorite ways right now of renewing my mind. I mean using it a lot this week. It's a praise fest, which we've done a million times, which we love, but it's you are the God who.

Speaker 1: 13:20

Let's do that right now, just through those first six verses yeah, so let's do it.

Speaker 2: 13:24

Okay, you want to?

Speaker 1: 13:25

start. Okay, god, you are the God who searches me. Thank you that your eyes are on me, your thoughts are on me. That's amazing. You are the God who thinks of me and searches me.

Speaker 2: 13:39

Lord, you are the God who knows me. You know me inside and out. I am known by you. I love that Lord. Thank you.

Speaker 1: 13:50

And I may get my shorts in a bunch about what you want me to do with my day, but you are there. You know. You're the God who knows when I sit down and when I get up and when I'm lazy and when I am overactive. You know all of those things. You see me when I sit down. You're the God who watches me and sees me and loves me.

Speaker 2: 14:12

Oh, I love that. That's beautiful. You are the God who discerns my thoughts from afar. You know my thoughts, you discern them, you know what's behind them, you know where they came from. You have figured me out. You get me. I love that, lord. Yeah, you get me, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 14:33

The God who gets me, I love it. And you are the God who searches out my path, and by lying down, for that matter, you certainly see me when I'm sleepless. You hear my praise fests in the middle of the night and you also see the path that I'm on. You are the God who sees the intimate details of my life.

Speaker 2: 14:53

Lord, you are the God who is acquainted with all my ways. You know what I like to do. You know kind of my quirkiness. You know my rhythms and my routines. You kind of know what's unique about me, whether it's good or bad. You are acquainted with all my ways. Thank you, God. I love that Beautiful.

Speaker 1: 15:16

You are the God who knows what I'm going to say before. I even know what I'm going to say before it comes out. You know it's coming. You are the God who knows what I'm going to say.

Speaker 2: 15:28

You are the God who hems me in behind and before. You are all around me, you are protecting me, you are to my right, to my left front, back, future, present, past. You are there, always, all around me. I love that Lord. What a sense of security that gives me.

Speaker 1: 15:50

And you are the God who touches me, who lays your hand upon me, who lays your hand on me for healing. Sometimes it might be for reproof, but even that is gentle. You are the God who lays your hand upon me to guide me to adjust my focus.

Speaker 2: 16:39

You are the God who blows me away. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. I love this verse because it's true. God, you are the one who surprises me, who swoops in and saves the day. You are the God who creatively problem solves in my crazy, messy life. You are the God that takes care of things behind the scenes, even when I think nothing is going on. You are the God that has all the power and all the strength, and all the strength and all the wisdom. You blow me away.

Speaker 1: 17:22

Okay, so that's kind of how we might use that mind-renewal tool that was fun. It was fun, but we've only gotten through six verses so far. I know.

Speaker 2: 17:32

I know.

Speaker 1: 17:32

And it's into the podcast.

Speaker 2: 17:34

Well, we're going to do Psalm 139 for 10 podcasts. I know, I know.

Speaker 1: 17:40

All right. So here are the verses written just for me, I think, verses 7 to 12. Where shall I go from your spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in shale, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me in the light. About me, be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

Speaker 1: 18:16

Oh, my goodness, there's so much in these verses. Obviously, no matter where I go, he is like the mother in the runaway bunny. I cannot run away from him. He is there. He is there, like you said, he hems me in behind him before his hand is on me. So how could I possibly flee from him? He is right there in the midst of all of it, before it even happens, and me running is not going to accomplish anything but make me feel distant from the Lord. I love that.

Speaker 2: 18:47

You know, my daughter, kat, is home from college and she and I love to watch movies together, and recently we've watched, we've started watching all these kind of adventure movies, and when you read this it kind of reminds me of these movies where you're just going from one impossible thing to the next. You know, and it's like, oh no, now this has happened. This is crazy. Well, this is impossible. And then you know, somehow it gets figured out and there's something so like it draws me. Those kinds of movies draw me, and I think it's because of that sense of protection and security and every problem is solved.

Speaker 2: 19:30

Mission impossible movies are like that, right, every problem is soft, and then there's 10 more and they're more impossible than the 10 that you just did. But there's this sense of it's going to be okay, because nothing is impossible, right, which is why it's called mission impossible. And so I think, okay, lord, you are my mission impossible. God, I love that. You know, it's like there's nothing that he can't do, and of course he says that in his word there's nothing that he can't do, Nothing is impossible for him. And so when I think about this verse, you know where shall I go from your spirit? I'm also thinking but what if this happens in my life, lord? Or what if this thing? I wouldn't survive it? I know I wouldn't. And he says nothing is impossible for me. No matter where you go, no matter what happens, no matter what doesn't happen, I've got you, I'm with you, it's going to be okay. That's beautiful.

Speaker 1: 20:32

Well, would you like to read the next section? Versus 13 to 16 for us, sure.

Speaker 2: 20:38

I would love to love this part, for you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth when I 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. Wow.

Speaker 1: 21:18

Love that. You know, one of the things I love about this section is the Psalmist's response to his awareness that God is fearfully and wonderfully made him is praise. The beginning of 14 says I praise you for. So that's like a because Right, and it's like if we could keep an awareness at the forefront of our minds that God has chosen and made us and created us and formed us, and he says it is good. Of course our hearts will be moved to praise. I mean, it's just such a wonderful truth, it's so awesome?

Speaker 2: 21:57

Yeah, it is, it's beautiful, and this, of course, as I mentioned in the beginning, this, especially these four verses, speak to me so deeply and have for many years about you know who I am, about my body, about all the things that I've struggled with. You know, food and eating and dieting, all those years of absolutely hating my body, and then and I know so many of our listeners struggle with this, and both you and I do and have Heidi, yeah, and so we do, our hearts certainly. So I just love. I love going back to this verse 14. I praise you for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.

Speaker 2: 22:39

That is a verse that I try to well, it's a truth that I try to keep in my mind as often as possible, and when my mind starts going sideways and I am self-condemning and I am frustrated with the way I look or the way I feel or whatever it is. I go back to these verses because it reminds me that my response to being made fearfully and wonderfully is praise and gratitude. God, you made me this way, you gave me this shape, you gave me this form, my frame. You made my frame. It was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret. I love that. God is everywhere. He knows he's in the middle of all of it.

Speaker 2: 23:25

What this is bringing up in me right now is the struggles that I have with having a chronic illness. I really struggle with that because it's like, okay, this is something that I didn't, it just happened. It just happened. It was something that happened. I have chronic Lyme disease. It was dormant in my body for years, since I was a teenager. I now know, but God knew that, yeah he knew that, he knew your body.

Speaker 2: 23:54

He knew that. He knew that I would have 17, 18 years where there wasn't anything like that going on, and then I would get bit by a tick in Southern California. I mean, he knew that and he knew that I wouldn't know about it till I was in my 40s, my mid 40s, and then he knew how it would change my life being sick every day.

Speaker 1: 24:16

He knew how does that affect your relationship with God, though?

Speaker 2: 24:20

Well, I mean, I feel like he's taken me through all these stages and seasons, kind of this whole thing, cause now it's been what? Nine years. Nine years since I've had this and I've had all these ups and downs. In the very beginning, when I first was second, of course, heidi has prayed me through every single day, every single day. I cannot imagine a more dedicated prayer partner. It's just been amazing, oh my gosh, amazing. I'm so grateful. Anyway, at the very beginning, I had a mindset that was like this oh, this is gonna be over soon.

Speaker 1: 25:00

Yep.

Speaker 2: 25:01

It's gonna be over soon.

Speaker 1: 25:03

I remember we both kind of thought that, and I was, of course, recovering from my own infection. Yes, that's infection that has impacted my life dramatically.

Speaker 2: 25:12

Yes.

Speaker 1: 25:13

But is now kind of at bay. And I remember when we talked about what happens if you get healed and I don't, and I think you and I both assumed it was gonna be you that would be healed and me that wouldn't. Yeah, and while I'm not healed healed it's all dormant in me what my infection has gone stasis.

Speaker 2: 25:30

So it's hard.

Speaker 2: 25:33

I know Well, and I remember thinking, yeah, I remember that we both struggled with that idea of one of us not being sick and the other one yeah, and either way, it was hard to think of it. I didn't like either scenario. I know we wanted us both to be totally okay, but I mean that was the same year that we met, which is so interesting how the timing was. We met that year. You started coaching me that year and then, within a couple months, you were in this horrible pain and you were so sick and facing this huge surgery and asked me to be your prayer partner. And then, just a few months later, it was my turn to be so sick and not know what. It was all in the same year.

Speaker 2: 26:18

I mean God knew, right here we are reading all of this about you know, about God, so intimately involved in our lives. I mean he knew he put all of that together and I'm just so grateful that he gave me you. I'm grateful he gave me you. Wow, I can't even imagine doing that year any other way, me too. So anyway, you had asked well, how does that affect my relationship with the Lord? So it has affected it in all kinds of ways. You know, I have been very angry with him, I've been very upset, I've been very hopeless and frustrated and very just like where are you? What are you doing? Why can't you fix this? Why wouldn't I be one of the ones that you heal All of that? I have struggled for years with all of that. And then I feel like I kind of got to a place of acceptance, like okay, you have a reason for this. But then I also felt like I had kind of stopped hoping for healing and I don't think he wants that either.

Speaker 1: 27:22

That's so tricky to find that balance yeah.

Speaker 2: 27:25

And so how do I love my body, how do I celebrate what God has fearfully and wonderfully made? If I'm struggling with symptoms of feeling like I have the flu every day? It's like, how does that work? Or, you know, some of us experience chronic pain. Or you know the things that you have gone through, heidi. It's like you know it's tough but at the same time, this world is so broken. There's so much brokenness, there's so much suffering. Why wouldn't I have suffering as well? It's a part of living in this world.

Speaker 1: 28:00

It is. You know, it's interesting. Somebody has asked me why do I say, though he slay me yet will I trust him?

Speaker 1: 28:09

She says that that's not what the believer's lot in life is now, and I don't agree with that. I believe that Jesus Christ suffered a gruesome end of his life, of course, and then he was resurrected. Praise God. But anything that he was willing to endure, why should I have any better than what Jesus did? I mean, that sounds so weird, but it's presumptuous of me to think that I won't have to suffer and God will meet me in an amazing way, his way in the midst of it. Sometimes it feels like I'm Mary or Martha when Lazarus was sick and died waiting for Jesus to come, like there's silence. Why isn't he here? Why isn't he coming and healing? I've felt that way at times.

Speaker 1: 28:55

And like it's not just four days, but like it's four centuries or something, and that makes it challenging, but I nevertheless I think that what is true is, I mean and Paul even said he had experienced all of these challenging things being bit by a snake, being shipwrecked, being this, being all of that, being beaten almost to death, just within micrometers of death yeah, and yet he said yet all of this, all of the things I have done that have been awesome, I count as lost compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, and sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings. What, what? That is a new testament perspective on suffering. It isn't that we aren't going to have suffering, and so when I have said though he slay me yet I will praise him. What I have meant by that is a statement of faith and trust. I want to be the one who says you can do whatever you need to to me, god, to accomplish your will, to accomplish your way. I want to be okay with that. Ooh, that's hard.

Speaker 2: 29:59

I know it's crazy, isn't it? So there's nothing that increases intimacy with the Lord more than desperation and suffering. Right, I mean, we both know that. We've both been in those places where it's like I can't do this, this is impossible, I'm too afraid, I'm desperate, I have nowhere to go, I'm at the end of myself. So I have to say yeah. I mean, my relationship with the Lord has become something that I don't think it could have been without this challenge in my life. I'm afraid, and he and I were really tight.

Speaker 1: 30:38

That's obvious. Anybody who?

Speaker 2: 30:40

knows you, oh, and I love it. It's not that it's easy. You know there's timing. I mean he gets me, he knows my thoughts, he knows everything. So he knows when I'm upset and when I'm saying OK, come on, Lord, give me a break. I need a break. He knows he gets it. But we're really, really close and that is amazing. That's the best thing.

Speaker 1: 31:05

Yay. Verse 17 of Psalm 139 says how precious to me are your thoughts, O God, how vast is the sum of them. If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I am still with you. I love that he's continuing to celebrate God's attributes, his thoughts, his character, just his presence in his life. You know, I love that. That's just a beautiful, beautiful place to be.

Speaker 2: 31:35

Well, and I love it too, because at the beginning we were talking about our thoughts and here we are talking about God's thoughts, and here it is. And I mean, isn't that where we want to be, that we are looking to God for his thoughts and saying your thoughts are precious. Whatever you're thinking about this, that's where the treasure is, that's the reward. It's precious. I don't want to miss it because I'm so busy being distracted or looking at this or going to this or whatever. I want to go to you, lord, and ask you what your thoughts are. They're precious, they're vast. There's a bazillion of them. They're like endless. You know your wisdom, your insight. I don't want to miss it.

Speaker 1: 32:23

Beautiful. All right, then we turn to some interesting. There's an abrupt change of tone.

Speaker 2: 32:29

Yes, there is 22.

Speaker 1: 32:32

And Kristina and I talked about maybe not mentioning these verses because they could be a podcast all their own. Yeah, they could, they could. Ok. So, after all the celebration of the creation that God has done of my body and my frame, and your body and your frame, and God knows me and searches me, and how awesome you are, god, you're with me, I can't run from you Suddenly we have verse 19,. Oh, that you would slay the wicked. Oh God, oh, men of blood, depart from me. They speak against you with malicious intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, oh Lord, and do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred. I count them as my enemies. Now, I mean, there's a lot of challenging things to kind of swallow with this. What I have to wonder is if, in celebrating who God is and all of the things that he's done and his thoughts I mean we were in verse 17 talking about how precious are God's thoughts.

Speaker 1: 33:30

It's almost like David, now identifies with God's own thoughts, which, is where we want to be.

Speaker 1: 33:36

We want to think God's thoughts, and if you were to think God's thoughts, perhaps that's exactly what God is thinking. You know, men of blood, depart Wicked, should be gone from the earth. You know, if they can't come to Christ, then get lost, and all of these things. In verses 20 through 23 too. I feel like David was embracing the thoughts of God there For a moment. He was saying I don't want anything to come between you and me, God. I want nothing, no distractions. And we know that he had all kinds of people who were his enemies, and so it makes sense that he would want let's clear the way, Lord for me to just have this unfettered, unhindered relationship with you that I can just enjoy praising you and worshiping you and enjoying thinking your thoughts.

Speaker 2: 34:25

I value the passion that comes up here, where he's just like. You know what. This is driving me crazy. There's so much in the world that's so bad right now, and isn't that how so many of us are feeling. We look at the world, we look at the news and it's like, oh Lord, how can this be? How can things be so bad? So I appreciate that. I appreciate his passion and, as you said, heidi, he wants nothing to get in the way of him and the Lord. Hearing God's thoughts, knowing them, he wants nothing to get in the way, and I love that. It's beautiful really.

Speaker 1: 35:06

How about you wrap us up with those last couple verses?

Speaker 2: 35:09

OK. Verse 23 and 24, search me, oh God, and know my heart. That's a courageous request, but try me and know my thoughts. Back to thoughts again. We're back to thoughts again. And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. There is so much in these two verses we can actually go back to. You are the God who Lord, you are the God who searches me, you are the God who knows my heart.

Speaker 2: 35:48

I think about. What does that mean? God is searching me. He's searching, he's looking, he wants to know, he's there with me, he gets me, he's searching me and then try me. You are the God who tries me and you know my thoughts and you love me anyway, yeah. And then go ahead and see he's opening the door. He's saying, ok, you have access. Go ahead and see what a beautiful invitation that is. It is. It is an invitation. And then, of course, lead me in the way everlasting. Show me, lead me, guide me, teach me, direct me, be the one to help me find my way. It's just amazing to me how that comes out. At the end he goes back to himself humbly, very humbly, yeah. And says, ok, god, have your way with me.

Speaker 1: 36:44

Yeah, I just looked at the word thoughts, because you were mentioning that, and it starts the psalm. So we're talking about how God knows my thoughts and then in the midst of the psalm, right in the middle of it, how precious to me are your thoughts, god's own thought. And then we come back to OK, god, have at it, know my thoughts, know what's going on in my heart. I love that.

Speaker 2: 37:06

Well, isn't that so much what we talk about in Revelation within?

Speaker 1: 37:10

Yes, it is. It's all right here, Yay so so good.

Speaker 2: 37:14

It's beautiful, thank you, god. So we are just so so glad that you've been with us for this podcast episode. We hope that something that we shared resonated with your heart, and we hope that you'll join us for our next episode of Revelation within on the go Go. Next time. So much for being here. Bye for now, bye you.