Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

   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.
   You hem me in, behind and before,
          and lay your hand upon me.
   Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
          it is so high that I cannot attain it.

   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, you are there.
   If I take the wings of the morning
          and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
  even there your hand shall lead me,
          and your right hand shall hold me fast.
  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
          and the light around me become night,”
  even the darkness is not dark to you;
          the night is as bright as the day,
          for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

  Search me, O God, and know my heart;
          test me and know my thoughts.
  See if there is any wicked way in me,
          and lead me in the way everlasting.

                     Psalm 139:1-14, 23-24

I can be hit and miss with my daily scripture readings, using the common lectionary as my guide. Just the same, I often come upon passages that are not only quite familiar, they are akin to old friends and sources of comfort going back decades. Sometimes they evoke powerful memories. 

The past few days the Psalm selection, including today's, has been a portion of Psalm 139 which I used in many funerals, including one at the beginning of this year. I have largely left the "hatch, match, and dispatch" world of ministry but a sad circumstance with neighbours led me back into this role. A few days before Christmas the mother of the household found her unconscious son in his basement bedroom due to a drug overdoes. While the paramedics responded quickly the doctors soon ascertained that his brain function was gone. 

I offered to go to the hospital to support the family as they said farewell and organs were harvested. Then I led the service in a packed chapel, many of the people there young and likely searching for meaning. This passage seemed so appropriate. His mother summoned the courage to speak and did so with honesty and tenderness.

All of this came to mind vividly as I made my way through the verses.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.