“O LORD, you have searched me and known me” begins the familiar words of Psalm 139. The New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE) titles this psalm, “An Inescapable God.” To me the word “inescapable” has negative connotations. We’ve been taught to value freedom and privacy. Being known, really known, is a scary notion. There is a part of each of us that is afraid of being known because we fear the anticipated rejection, certain we aren’t good enough. But yet, God knows us. All of us. Parts of us that we ourselves don’t even want to acknowledge. God knows us. All of us. Even the parts that we manage to hide from others.
It can be a scary thought—an inescapable God—or it can be the most comforting notion. Children take great comfort from knowing that a loving parent is nearby. Teens draw strength from having a parent who can tell when things are not quite right and don’t let them shrug off concerns. And, oh, to have a beloved friend with whom you can share space and not say a single word—their presence is enough. God is all of that and more. God is better than the safest person we know, more comforting than that feeling we get when we return home. God knows us fully, but instead of running from us, God sticks by us. Why? Because God made us and delights in us. God loves us.
To underscore the reality that God is with us and loves us, I have added a refrain to the text of the psalm. It should be read at a fairly slow pace to allow the words a moment to sink in.
As I read this psalm, its vivid imagery leads me to visualize large portions. I would encourage worship leaders to ask members of their congregation to reflect on the psalm and then send in pictures that illustrate the text. Accompany the reading of this litany with these images. If you do project images, please make sure not to place the words on the images as it makes it difficult for those with visual challenges to read.
[The litany makes use of the NRSVUE translation]
O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
And still you are with me and love me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
And still you are with me and love me.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
And still you are with me and love me.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O LORD, you know it completely.
And still you are with me and love me.
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.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.
I am still with you.
And you are with me and love me.
—Joyce Borger © 2025 Reformed Worship, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Used by permission.