Wings of the Dawn

     This is a very special Psalm to me. I remember being five years old and my father singing it to me -- guitar in hand -- and I singing along. Would it not be wonderful to bring back singing -- what I call "real singing" -- with real phrases and words to express our beliefs and devotion to God?

Psalm 139 (NIV)

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 13

     I don't think I've ever shared any of my personal favorites when it comes to Bible verses. Here is my absolute favorite Psalm. I remember memorizing it for a contest at youth group. The pastor challenged the youth to memorize an entire chapter of the Bible -- pointing specifically to the Psalms. I was one of only five people out of the fifty to seventy-five member youth group who took on the challenge (I wish I could say I participated out of noble motives, but the pastor had promised food as a reward). I chose this Psalm because it seemed an appropriate length -- not too short and not too long.

     I think it was four years (or so) later that this Psalm really began to impact my life. I had been going through some dark spiritual struggles. Everything in the world seemed stacked against me; people I trusted were betraying me; I felt trapped by life. What made it worse? Whenever I prayed, it felt like God wasn't listening to me. I remember crying out and feeling like there was no point to praying other than God commanding it. But, I remembered this Psalm:

Psalm 13

¹ How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?

How long will You hide Your face from me?

² How long shall I take counsel in my soul,

Having sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

  

³ Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
⁴ And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

⁵ But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;

My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

⁶ I will sing to the Lord,

Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

     No matter how dark and attacked I felt, I knew God was faithful. I didn't FEEL it emotionally, but I KNEW it technically. Coupling this knowledge with the facts that God cannot lie, and God cannot forsake His children meant that God saw my pain and was with me the whole time. It certainly didn't feel like that was what was going on, but I knew God was putting me in that position for a reason. My job was to simply trust that God was (and is) bigger and smarter than me and to trust that He knew what was best for me.

     Now, several years later, I can look back and see how that was a period of growth for me. I would not be the woman I am now if it was not for that time of testing. I learned how to trust God no matter what my emotions are telling me. I learned how to pray -- and I mean really pray! -- to God about what is going on around me. I also learned how to have a personal devotion with God -- up until that point I had never spent time reading the Bible for myself. These are priceless traits that God taught me through those bleak times.

     May this be an encouragement to you in your dark hours. There are many other Psalms like this and many more that have completely different feels and purposes. What's your favorite Psalm? Share it in the comments below!