Psalm 139

Psalm 139 &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; “Our Searching God”

Jan= . 18, 2009 &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; By R= ev. Kathy McDowell

There is a game that = I have played for years with children and youth

in every church IR= 17;ve ever been part of.

The game is called Sa= rdines and it’s kind of a reverse Hide and Seek game.

One person hides, whi= le all the other persons close their eyes and count to 100. When the counting is done, everyone begins to look for the hider.

Whenever someone find= s the hider,

she or he quietly joi= ns the hider in the hiding spot.

Slowly all the looker= s will start to disappear,

and the hiding spot w= ill become more and more cramped

as everyone crowds in= .

Which is why the game= is called Sardines. <= /span>

The game ends when th= e last of the lookers finds the hiders.

We love these kinds o= f hide and seek games. From a very e= arly age,

a baby will play peek= -a boo - which is a kind of hide and seek game.

Maybe it’s part= of who we are as human beings. &= nbsp;

There is something ab= out the human spirit that keeps us looking for something -

a better job, a happi= er marriage, more well-behaved children.

It translates to our spiritual lives too:

We want a deeper rela= tionship with God.

More of a prayer life= .

We long to know God.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

Augustine captured it= when he prayed in the fourth century:

our hearts our restle= ss until they find their rest in thee, O God.

But this knowing is n= ot just one-sided. God is also seeking us. <= /p>

There was an old poem= written at the beginning of the 20^th century

by a man named Francis Thomson.

It is a long poem, ne= arly 200 lines, an autobiographical poem,

written by a man who = died too young, sick with tuberculosis,

and addicted to opium= .

Yet in this poem, the= author expresses a deep truth,

God never abandons us= , but pursues even the most wayward soul.

The title of his poem= was The Hound of Heaven,

a title which express= ed this truth about God in a most compelling way.&= nbsp;

Today’s scriptu= re reading Psalm 139 is a beautiful psalm

which expresses that = same reassuring truth that God knows us,

seeks us, and is rele= ntlessly and faithfully present with us.

Although this Psalm c= an stand alone, it is helpful to have some background on the Book of psalms, which h= as played such an important

role in Jewish and Ch= ristian faith.

The book of psalms is= often called the prayer book of the bible.

It is also an ancient= hymn book, a book used by

the Hebrews in their = prayer and worship life. =

Within the 150 psalms= of this book,

there are laments, so= ngs of praise, songs of thanksgiving, prayers,

and words of wisdom.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

And although the book= of psalms is in the OT,

they show up often in= the NT, because they are quoted in the NT more often

than any of the other= Hebrew scriptures.

It’s no wonder = for the theology of the psalms - that God is faithfully with us -=

is the theology of Jesus’ teaching and preaching.

The psalms also have = been a source of strength and support

to Christians across = the centuries.

One of the most highly respected international leaders of the 20^th century was Sweden’s Dag Hammarskjold. As Secretary-General of the United Nations,

he devoted his life to pursuing the principles espoused in the United Nations Charter. - international cooperation and reconciliation towards a peaceful world.&n= bsp; But he viewed his work not only as a political role, but as a religi= ous calling.

When he was premature= ly killed in a plane crash in 1961,

rescuers recovered his briefcase which included

a copy of the U.N. ch= arter, a copy of the New Testament, and a copy of the Psalms.

He apparently underst= ood - quite correctly -

the importance of the= psalms in the life of faith,

and just how much they reinforce our

New Testament underst= anding of the nearness of God. [1]

If you’d like t= o learn more about the psalms, I invite you to consider signing up for the Bible St= udy on the Psalms that will begin in February.=

As we continue to foc= us on Psalm 139,

As we continue to foc= us on Psalm 139 there are two questions that the writer addresses in this psalm.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Who am I? and Where is God ? These questions and the answers ar= e not only for the ancient psalmist, but they are also for us. =

Questions of identity= are some of the most urgent of our time. And these questions aren’t just being asked by teenagers as th= ey consider careers or colleges. The unemployed job seeker asks who am I as he or she searches for meaningful work. The parent whose childr= en are away from home asks the question who am I as adult parents and adult childr= en figure out their new roles. T= he man or woman who faces a divorce or whose spouse has died, asks who am I, now t= hat I am not part of a couple? At one point or another in our lives we all ask: Who am I where do thte manding and value of my life come from?”<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

In the struggles of o= ur lives, the answers are not always clear.&n= bsp; Someone who understood this search for identity in the midst of stru= ggle was Dietrich Bonhoefer, a 20^th centu= ry German Lutheran pastor who was imprisoned in Nazi Germany and eventually executed for his involvement in plots to assassinate Hitler.

From prison he wrote = a poem titled “Who Am I?” In it he contrasted what others said and saw of him with what he kne= w of himself. [2]

Who am I? They . . = . tell me

I bore the days of misfortune

Equally, smilingly, proudly,

Like one accustomed= to win.

Am I then really al= l that which other men tell of?

Or am I only what I myself know of myself?

Restless and longin= g and sick, like a bird in a cage,

Struggling for brea= th, as though hands were

compressing my thro= at, . . .

Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,

Faint, and ready to= say farewell to it all? . . .

Who am I? This or t= he other? . . .

Am I one person tod= ay and tomorrow another?

Who am I? They mock= me, these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am, Thou = knowest, O God, I am Thine![3]

Even knowing that he faced certain death, Bonhoefer = ended his poem with the realization that the answer to his question “Who am I?” was in God’s gracious and loving hands. God knows us and knits us to= gether in the wombs of our mothers -- and that is the very core of our identity.

The other urgent question of this psalm is “Where is God?” And maybe especially where i= s God in the darkest moments of our lives?

Tomorrow we will be marking the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., whose courage a= nd conviction changed the face of segregated <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">America in the 1960s and in w= ays that continue to this day.

But people of faith, as Dr. King was, also experience times of despair and hopelessness, times where the question Where is God? haunts us.

He tells one of these= stories of finding God in a time of despair in his book called “The Strength = to Love.”

It occurred in the ea= rly years of his work, in 1955,

during the Montgomery bus boycott,

Almost immediately af= ter the boycott began, he recalled,

he began to receive threatening mail and phone calls.

At first, he was able= to ignore them, but as the weeks passed,

he felt himself falte= ring and growing in fear. <= /span>

One night, after fall= ing in bed exhausted, just about the time he was dozing off,

the phone rang. An angry voice threatened him,

and Dr. King writes t= hat he had finally reached the saturation point.&= nbsp;

In his book, he write= s: “I got out of bed and began = to walk the floor.

Finally, I went to the kitchen and heated a pot of coffee. I was ready to give up.

I tried to think of a= way to move out of the picture without appearing to be a coward.

In this state of exha= ustion, when my courage had almost gone,

I determined to take = my problem to God.

My head in my hands, = I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud.&n= bsp;

The words I spoke to = God that midnight are still= vivid in my memory. =

‘I am here taki= ng a stand for what I believe is right. <= /span>

But now I am afraid.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The people are looking to me for leadership , and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they = too will falter. I am at the end = of my powers. I have nothing left.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> I’ve come to the point where= I can’t face it alone.’”

And then he wrote,

“At that moment= I experienced the presence of the Divine

as I had never before experienced him. <= /span>

It seemed as though I= could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying,

‘Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth. God will be at your side forever.’”

He writes that he fel= t an inner calm and peace, a sense that he could face anything.

And then he continued= his story.

“Three nights l= ater, our home was bombed.

Strangely enough, I a= ccepted the word of the bomb calmly. =

My experience with Go= d had given me a new strength and trust. <= /span>

I knew now that God i= s able to give us the interior resources

to face the storms and problems of life.”[4]

Some years later in 1= 968, that faith and trust Dr. King had in God was revealed in a speech he delive= red the day before he was assassinated. In words that were almost prophetic he = said in his “ive been to the Mountaintop speec= h:

“Li= ke anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm= not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me= to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised lan= d. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worr= ied about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of t= he coming of the Lord.

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The next = day, April 4, 1968, M= artin Luther King was shot while standing on the second floor balcony of a motel in Memphis, surround= ed by friends and colleagues. As he= lay dying, he spoke to his friend and musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to play “Precious Lord, Ta= ke My hand” at the event that evening. King said, "Ben, = make sure you play 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty". [5]

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Later tha= t hymn was played at King’s funeral, held here in atlat= na at Ebenezer baptist church. The hymn which sums= up the way in which God is relentlessly faithful to us, even to eternity, has become known as MLK”s favorite hymn.

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It’= s an older hymn, and I hope you’ll join me in singing it, and taking these words as God’s assurance for us, too.