…you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:13

Psalm 139 is a well-known and favorite psalm among Christians. David wrote this. We know he was a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14). Acts 13:22 says the same thing and adds, because he will do everything I want him to do. David loved God with all of his being…even in the hard times. In this Psalm, he focuses on four attributes of God:

1) God knows everything…His omnicience (v.1-6). He knows everything about you and He knows everything about your precious prodigal. He knows when we sit down or stand up. He knows what we are thinking at all times. He knows where we go and when we are home resting. He knows what we are going to say before we say it.

God, You go before ______ and You stand behind him/her.

You hem ______ in—behind and before. You have

enclosed him/her. Your hand is on _______.

From Psalm 139:5 (NIV, NASB, NLT)

2) God is present everywhere…His omnipresence (v.7-12). We cannot escape His presence. He has complete access to His entire creation. This is true for our prodigals as well.

If _______ says, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light

around me will be night,” even the darkness is not dark to Thee, and the night is

as bright as day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee.

From Psalm 139:11-12 (NASB)

3) God as Creator…Elohim (v.13-18). God created each one of us. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We were created in the secret place...our mother’s womb…where He knit all the delicate, inner parts of our body together. God saw us before we were formed.

All the days You ordained for ________ were written in your book before one of them came to be.

From Psalm 139:16

4) God is holy (v.19-24). We cannot fully comprehend His holiness, but we can sense it and feel it in our spirits. It involves both the destruction of evil and searching our hearts. David wishes that God would destroy the wicked…all those who speak against God and rise up against Him. I think of our ultimate enemy that has risen up against our prodigals and threatens to do the same to us with discouragement and doubts. But we have this promise:

But in the coming day no weapon turned against ________ will succeed. I silence every voice raised up to accuse him/her.

These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; my vindication will come from You. You, the Lord, have spoken!

Isaiah 54:17 (NLT)

And like David, we can ask God to search us and search the hearts of our prodigals:

Search ________, O God, and know ________’s heart; try him/her and know his/her anxious

thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in ________, and lead him/her in the everlasting way.

Psalm 139:23-24

I am so glad that God knows. He knows what I am going through as I wait. He is close to me. He knows what it will take to bring them back. As I focus on this truth, I can rest! Let the words of this song remind you.

He Knows by Jeremy Camp

All the bitter weary ways Endless striving day by day You barely have the strength to pray In the valley low And how hard your fight has been How deep the pain within Wounds that no one else has seen Hurts too much to show All the doubt you're standing in between And all the weight that brings you to your knees He knows He knows Every hurt and every sting He has walked the suffering He knows He knows Let your burdens come undone Lift your eyes up to the one Who knows He knows He knows We may faint and we may sink Feel the pain and near the brink But the dark begins to shrink When you find the one who knows The chains of doubt that held you in between one by one are starting to break free Every time you feel forsaken Every time that you feel alone He is near to the brokenhearted Every tear He knows He knows