One day when I was walking down a city street, it suddenly dawned on me that I was being watched. Not by anyone specifically, but I was being watched by security cameras. Now, I already knew that there are security cameras everywhere but for some reason, I was more aware in that moment that I was being watched.
My first thought was that I didn’t like knowing that I was being watched. But my second thought was more positive because those cameras can be used to solve a lot of crimes.
Security cameras are becoming more and more popular. We are a society where there aren’t too many places that we can go where somebody isn’t watching us.
As I started to put this sermon together on our Psalm for today, Psalm 139, I’ve been thinking about this change in our society.
Psalm 139 is the security camera psalm of the Bible. And as I read this Psalm, it’s not immediately clear if the Psalmist sees this as a good thing or as a not so good thing.
The Psalmist begins by saying, “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.” This sounds like a couple who have been married for a while!
The psalmist continues, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand up me.” And then goes on to say, “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, (the dark underground), you are there.”
The theological term for this understanding of how God is everywhere is the word, “omnipresent.” This is closely associated with the word, “omniscient” which is another theological term for God that means that God is all-knowing. God is everywhere and God is all-knowing. This is what this Psalmist emphasizes as he begins his prayer.
This can be a very positive and assuring thought about who God is, that is, unless you are wanting to distance yourself from God. Maybe you are angry with God or disappointed in God in some way. Now, in case you are wondering why I would say that, it is actually OK for you to be disappointed or even angry with God along your faith journey.
Theres another Psalm that gives us this permission. It’s Psalm 13. The Psalmist begins his psalm by demanding of God, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?”
I have this image of the psalmist shaking his or her fist at God. Usually when you begin a prayer, you build up to your frustration with God. The writer of Psalm 13 wastes no time in lodging a complaint with the almighty.
By the way, Jesus did something similar when he was on the cross. Quoting from Psalm 22, he called out, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”
This is one of the many reasons why I love the Psalms. They give us permission to be human. They allow for us to shake our fists at God if that is what we are feeling. Raw, honest, unfiltered. This is what we get with the psalms.
We’ve been sharing how there are five categories of Psalms which include psalms of praise, psalms of lament, psalms of thanksgiving, royal psalms, and wisdom psalms. Psalm 139 is traditionally known as a psalm of praise, but the 2nd half of the Psalm has a little lament to it.
This Psalm is used three different times during the three-year lectionary cycle of Sunday worship scripture readings, today being one of those Sundays.
Today it is paired with our Genesis scripture reading which is the story of Jacob who had tricked his father and his twin brother Esau in snatching away the family blessing. As Jacob is running away, he stops for the night. And while he is sleeping, God appears to him in a dream where he sees a ladder reaching to heaven and angels are ascending and descending on the ladder. And the Lord speaks to him in this dream, reassuring Jacob, “Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.”
You can see the connection between Psalm 139 and this story of Jacob especially where the Psalmist says, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?”
During this dream, the Lord reminded Jacob that he is the God of his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac and that he was to carry on this divine calling in his family to become a great nation in order to bless the world.
Psalm 139 and the story of God’s surprise visit with Jacob as he is running away from his problems reminds us that we can never outrun or escape God. We might reject God or turn our backs on God, but God is very stubborn and never stops pursuing us.
I’m always interested in people’s faith stories. A friend of mine who is now a retired United Methodist pastor shared his faith story with me one day which feels very much like a Jacob/Psalm 139 kind of story.
After High School, he went off to attend a college in Kentucky and he ended up dropping out during his Junior Year. He dropped out because he didn’t want anyone telling him what to do. And he wanted to get away from God and religion in general.
He decided to live life the way he wanted to live it. He ended up working at a car wash in Kentucky but didn’t make very much money. He could only afford to live in a broken-down apartment, and he had very little money for food.
He was also depressed since his life seemed like it was going nowhere. He hit rock bottom one day when it was raining and he went to the car wash to work. When he got to work, the owner yelled at him and said, “You don’t work at a car wash when it rains. Go home!” Dejected, he went back to his apartment feeling empty and without any sense of purpose for his life.
Little did he know that his pastor was looking for him that very day. His pastor had driven over three hours to find him because he knew that his parents who attended his church were worried about him. Not knowing where he lived, he stopped at the administrative office of the college he had attended and somehow was able to track him down at his apartment.
The young man was surprised when he saw his pastor standing in the rain at the door of his shabby apartment. The pastor told him that he drove all that way because he was concerned about him and he just wanted him to know that God loved him very much. He also told him that his parents were really worried about him and that it might be a good idea to give them a call and let them know that he was OK.
That pastoral visit became a turning point in his life. The fact that his pastor would drive over three hours to track him down just to let him know that God loved him, really had an impact on him. He had been lost but now was found.
My friend’s pastor who drove almost four hours just to tell this young man that God loved him is an example of how difficult it is to hide from God. God has a way of finding us and reminding us that we are loved and have a purpose in life.
My friend often shares his story with young people to remind them that God is with us, especially when we find ourselves in a run-down apartment with little to no hope. In our United Methodist understanding, we refer to this as God’s prevenient grace, a grace that is present in our lives even when we’re not aware of it. It’s the grace that goes before us, continually reaching out to us, beckoning us to receive all that God has in mind for us which is a life filled with joy, love, peace, and purpose.
God’s grace is not so much a security camera used to invade our privacy. It’s more like a shepherd who is willing to leave the 99 sheep in order to restore the one who is lost. It’s more like a father who is willing to run out and welcome home his wayward son. It’s more like a suffering Savior dying on a cross for the sins of the world. God’s prevenient grace always goes before us reminding us that we are loved, that we belong to God, and that God will never give up blessing us and calling us to be a blessing to others.
When our children were young, like around elementary age, my brother gave each of them a beautiful gift for their birthdays. They each received a really large glass framed picture that had their photo. He had their photos enlarged so it took up most of the space in the large glass frame. And around each of their pictures were several items that represented their interests and hobbies that made them unique.
And toward the bottom of each of these large, framed gifts was a verse that is from this Psalm, Psalm 139. He chose verse 14 in which the Psalmist says,“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works.”
This was their uncle’s creative way of reminding his niece and nephew every time they saw their pictures hanging in their bedrooms, that they were wonderfully made by God.
What’s funny about this, is that as they got older, like high school and college age, they thought those pictures were kind of weird and embarrassing. It wasn’t cool anymore to have a large, framed picture of yourself hanging in a college dorm with words saying how special you are.
Think of Psalm 139 as that weird and embarrassing Psalm where God is willing to follow you anywhere just to let you know that you are loved and that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. If you let that sink in, it is pretty amazing and life changing.
And all we can really do is join the psalmist and say, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.”
