I can still picture the three of us sitting in the living room: me, my brother, and Mom. Every morning, near a canopy of pine trees out the window, we read a chapter of Scripture together, and this morning our mission was to memorize Psalm 139. To be honest, one of the reasons this memory stands out is because memorizing Scripture wasn\u2019t a big part of my life growing up. But for some reason, Mom got it into her head that this psalm was going to be the one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From what we know about wisdom literature in the Bible, Psalm 139 appears to be, in part, a wisdom psalm. This means it\u2019s meant to encourage us to reflect and meditate on God and his Word. Woven throughout each stanza, we notice themes of worshipping God and His creation, including the smallest details that make up our human bodies. \u201cI will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made,\u201d wrote the psalmist. \u201cYour works are wondrous, and I know this very well (Psalm 139:14)\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can\u2019t help but make a connection between this verse and our brain\u2019s remarkable ability to memorize and recall things like songs, stories, and Scripture. This alone is worthy of awe and praise. Because I struggle to memorize verses, I\u2019m grateful to have gotten this one psalm inside of me so many years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I relied on this last summer during an MRI when my nerves got the better of me and I began to panic. God kindly brought this passage to mind, along with other relaxation strategies, and it was such a powerful comfort to recite each familiar verse like it was an old friend. Even in the MRI machine, I was under God\u2019s care and protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lent is a time when we willingly reflect on our sin and mortality. I find this a little easier to do after reading Psalm 139, which assures us that God knows our inner thoughts already. If Lent unearths feelings of shame, this is a great psalm to read as a comfort. God is not surprised by our brokenness or the limitations of our love. \u201cEven the darkness is not dark to you,\u201d the passage says (v.12). When we remember how God formed us from dirt\u2014which some do by marking their foreheads with ash on Ash Wednesday\u2014it humbles us. But we\u2019re also told just how beautifully crafted we are and that God delights to show us the path out of our temptation to sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We receive so many daily messages challenging God\u2019s truth that we are well-made and well-loved. But reading Psalm 139 can help us reflect on our truest identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So today, even as we confess our sins, let\u2019s also thankfully remember the hope we have in Jesus: \u201cThe Lord will fulfill his purpose for me,\u201d writes the psalmist. \u201cLORD, your faithful love endures forever; do not abandon the work of your hands\u201d (Psalm 138:8).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I can still picture the three of us sitting in the living room: me, my brother, and Mom. Every morning, near a canopy of pine trees out the window, we read a chapter of Scripture together, and this morning our mission was to memorize Psalm 139. To be honest, one of the reasons this memory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":72971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[311],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lent2026"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[73254],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"PSALMS 135\u2013139<\/b>
\r\nby Bailey Gillespie<\/i>
\r\n
I can still picture the three of us sitting in the living room: me, my brother, and Mom. Every morning, near a canopy of pine trees out the window, we read a chapter of Scripture together, and this morning our mission was to memorize Psalm 139. To be honest, one of the reasons this memory stands out is because memorizing Scripture wasn\u2019t a big part of my life growing up. But for some reason, Mom got it into her head that this psalm was going to be the one.<\/p>
\r\n
From what we know about wisdom literature in the Bible, Psalm 139 appears to be, in part, a wisdom psalm. This means it\u2019s meant to encourage us to reflect and meditate on God and his Word. Woven throughout each stanza, we notice themes of worshipping God and His creation, including the smallest details that make up our human bodies. \u201cI will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made,\u201d wrote the psalmist. \u201cYour works are wondrous, and I know this very well (Psalm 139:14)\u201d<\/p>
\r\n
I can\u2019t help but make a connection between this verse and our brain\u2019s remarkable ability to memorize and recall things like songs, stories, and Scripture. This alone is worthy of awe and praise. Because I struggle to memorize verses, I\u2019m grateful to have gotten this one psalm inside of me so many years ago.<\/p>
\r\n
I relied on this last summer during an MRI when my nerves got the better of me and I began to panic. God kindly brought this passage to mind, along with other relaxation strategies, and it was such a powerful comfort to recite each familiar verse like it was an old friend. Even in the MRI machine, I was under God\u2019s care and protection.<\/p>
\r\n
Lent is a time when we willingly reflect on our sin and mortality. I find this a little easier to do after reading Psalm 139, which assures us that God knows our inner thoughts already. If Lent unearths feelings of shame, this is a great psalm to read as a comfort. God is not surprised by our brokenness or the limitations of our love. \u201cEven the darkness is not dark to you,\u201d the passage says (v.12). When we remember how God formed us from dirt\u2014which some do by marking their foreheads with ash on Ash Wednesday\u2014it humbles us. But we\u2019re also told just how beautifully crafted we are and that God delights to show us the path out of our temptation to sin.<\/p>
\r\n
We receive so many daily messages challenging God\u2019s truth that we are well-made and well-loved. But reading Psalm 139 can help us reflect on our truest identity.<\/p>
\r\n
So today, even as we confess our sins, let\u2019s also thankfully remember the hope we have in Jesus: \u201cThe Lord will fulfill his purpose for me,\u201d writes the psalmist. \u201cLORD, your faithful love endures forever; do not abandon the work of your hands\u201d (Psalm 138:8).<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"40","scripture":"Psalm 135:1-21, Psalm 136:1-26, Psalm 137:1-9, Psalm 138:1-8, Psalm 139:1-24","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}