“O my Beloved, You have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my innermost thoughts.
You find me on the journey and guide my steps; You know my strengths and weaknesses.
Even before words rise up in prayer, Lo, You have already heard my heart call.
You encompass me with love where’er I go, and your strength is my shield.
Such sensitivity is too wonderful for me; it is high;
boundless gratitude is my soul’s response.
Where could I go from your Spirit?
Or how could I flee from your Presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there!
If I make my bed in darkness, You are there!
If I soar on the wings of the morning or dwell in the deepest parts of the sea,
Even there your Hand will lead me, and your Love will embrace me.
If I say, “Let only darkness cover me, and the light about me be night,”
Even the darkness is not dark to You, the night dazzles as with the sun;
the darkness is as light with You.
For You formed my inward being, You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for You and are to be reverenced and adored.
Your mysteries fill me with wonder!
More than I know myself do You know me; my essence was not hidden for You,
When I was being formed in secret, intricately fashioned from the elements of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance; in your records were written every one of them,
The days that were numbered for me, when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your creations, O Blessed One!
How vast is the sum of them!
Who could count your innumerable gifts and blessings?
At all times, You are with me.
O that You would vanquish my fears, Beloved;
O that ignorance and suffering would depart from me –
My ego separates me from true abandonment, to surrendering myself into your Hands!
Yet are these not the very thorns that focus my thoughts upon You?
Will I always need reminders to turn my face to You?
I yearn to come to You in love, to learn of your mercy and wisdom!
Search me, O my Beloved, and know my heart!
Try me and discern my thoughts!
Help me to face the darkness within me;
enlighten me, that I might radiate your Love and Light!
Psalm 139 from Psalms for Praying by Nan C. Merrill
Wings of the Morning by Edward Robert Hughes
Chorlton Unitarians 