“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.” Psalm 139:1-4
I love to sit out on the patio on these beautiful warm days. There are times when I just close my eyes and listen to the sounds around me. I hear the cars as they go down our street, the comforting sound of water flowing through our fountain, the clamor from neighboring yards, but most of all I hear the birds singing…always singing.
I sometimes wonder what they are saying to one another. I know that birds sing out to find one another, they warn one another of danger, they have mating calls, they call out to claim their territory and sometimes they just sing together. But just what they are saying with each chirp, I do not know. I can’t even recognize many birds by their sounds. However, there are those avid birdwatchers who have an acute ear and can tell what birds are nearby by the sounds that they hear. We put out a bird feeder this year so if I pay close enough attention, I may be able to identify a couple of new birds.
It’s amazing when I think about all the different types of birds with all their different calls that they can identify one another, but then again it is built into their nature by God. What is more amazing is not that the birds can identify each other, but that God who watches over the birds of the air, the God who gave each one their distinctive call, the God who watches over all creation knows each one of us and cares for us as individuals.
Imagine that! With all the noises going on in the world today, all the voices, God knows each one of us. The Psalmist realized God’s awareness of us and God’s ear is even more discerning than that of even the most avid bird watcher. God not only recognizes our voice but He knows what we are going to say. The Psalmist declared that God can “perceive my thoughts from afar” and He knows what we are going to say “before a word is on my tongue”. Which is perfect for me because my most melodious songs praise are sung in my head.
Are there times when you don’t know what to say to God, when your words seem so inadequate for the praise that you want to bestow upon Him? Or perhaps when your grief is so deep, or your struggles so wide that you cannot articulate the depth of your anguish to God? Then worry not my friend, God already knows. Even at times when you do not feel like He hears you, take comfort in the words of Scripture, they are truer than our feelings that betray us.
Again the Psalmist declares in Psalm 145:18 “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” When you close your eyes to listen to the sounds around you remember that God listening to you. So add your songs of praises to the noises around you.