In Psalm 139 we contemplate the Lord, who knows our innermost thoughts and from whom we cannot escape. This is a prayerful meditation to help you contemplate how intimately the Lord knows you. If you like this meditation you may want to view our mental prayer meditations.
Psalm 139, Our Innermost Thoughts
Opening Prayer
Lord, please send me your Holy Spirit to guide my heart and mind as I meditate on Psalm 139, and contemplate how you know my innermost thoughts.
Lord, are my innermost thoughts in union with the will of God, or do my thoughts contradict my words and actions? Do I have duplicity? Have I desired to comfort your Sacred Heart and tried to make my life an imitation of your perfect virtue?
In everything you descended. In everything you were made hidden, and you humbled yourself. You gave all and emptied Yourself. Your entire existence on earth was to atone for and to offer salvation for my sins. It is a gift freely given.
Give me the grace to have gratitude for what you have done for me. Search my heart and prune it. Give me the grace to love you so much that I am afraid to offend you and disappoint you with indifference.
AMEN.
Next, we will read Psalm 139. Read the passage slowly, pausing over any word or phrase that sticks out to you. Reread Psalm 139 again a second time, contemplating what the Lord might be telling your conscience.
Psalm 139: Lord You Know My Innermost Thoughts
LORD, you have probed me, you know me: you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.
You sift through my travels and my rest; with all my ways you are familiar. Even before a word is on my tongue, LORD, you know it all.
Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, far too lofty for me to reach.
Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence, where can I flee?
If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, there you are.
If I take the wings of dawn and dwell beyond the sea, Even there your hand guides me, your right hand holds me fast.
If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light”— Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day.
Darkness and light are but one.
You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works!
My very self you know. My bones are not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw me unformed; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be. How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sands; when I complete them, still you are with me.
When you would destroy the wicked, O God, the bloodthirsty depart from me! Your foes who conspire a plot against you are exalted in vain.
Do I not hate, LORD, those who hate you?
Those who rise against you, do I not loathe?
With fierce hatred I hate them, enemies I count as my own.
Probe me, God, know my heart; try me, know my thoughts.
See if there is a wicked path in me; lead me along an ancient path.
Reflection:
Let’s begin with a prayer of adoration before spending a few moments in contemplation with the Lord.
Prayer of Adoration
Heavenly Father, as I contemplate my innermost thoughts I wonder how many offend your holy charity. How many are full of ignorance and judgment? How many are filled with anger for an offense another has done against me? And I? Have I offended another? Or have I been unjustly judged and so I hold resentment against my brother?
You are all-knowing and all perfect. You saw me from timeless eternity and you longed to be in communion with me. You created me in my mother’s womb and you know everything about me. No other creature can know me like you.
I am in awe of your power, majesty, supreme intelligence, and your deep love for my soul and longing to be in union with me.
I am most unworthy of such a Heavenly Father. Thank you for loving me. Please correct my errors like a good Father and show me the path you would have me take. I offer my love and obedience to you. AMEN.
Prayer of Contemplation
Next, spend a few moments in silent reflection. Pause over a word or phrase that sticks out to you. Dialogue with the Lord. Ask him a few questions about his intimate knowledge of your innermost thoughts. Spend a few moments in silence with the Lord.
Next, let’s read the next passage from the Book of Revelation.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them [as their God]. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away.”
The one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then he said, “Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true.”
He said to me, “They are accomplished. I [am] the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water. The victor will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son. But as for cowards, the unfaithful, the depraved, murderers, the unchaste, sorcerers, idol-worshipers, and deceivers of every sort, their lot is in the burning pool of fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Offer up the love in your heart for God now. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He makes all things new. Ask him to make you new by helping you grow in virtue and holiness so that your innermost thoughts are pleasing to him and your words and actions are a blessing to those in your life you are called to love and serve.