Lent 2015 Day 8: Personal Twist

Good morning, fellow traveler!

Yesterday (day 7) came and went. In all honesty, from the moment I awoke (5:00 am) to the moment I collapsed in bed (midnight) time in the Word kept eluding me. Interruptions of all shapes and sizes blocked my path from the quiet season of meditation & prayer that I have come to cherish so dearly. My heart wept as I kept carving out little bits of time at home and at work (1 minute here and 2 minutes there) throughout the day to no avail -- every single time I was interrupted by a legitimate need.

To God, to myself, and to you, dear reader, I must confess something that surfaced as I finally put my head on the pillow in the darkness of my bedroom last night:

I felt like a failure and a fraud.

You need to understand I am an achiever, an over-achiever (those closest to me call my condition). I have set up my mind to read and meditate upon Scripture daily. To go an entire day without having that appointment in the quietness of my kitchen while sipping hot, delicious tea felt appalling to me.

I prayed and dozed off.
And woke up this morning.

And, perhaps, it is the perspective of this new day that is counseling my heart to what God wants me to see or learn through yesterday's experience:

Yes, Lou, I want you to hear/read and ponder my Word daily. But must it always look your way, dear son? Don't you think my Light was searching the inner recesses of your heart all throughout yesterday? Don't you know the interruptions that crowded your day -- the people, the phone calls, the near catastrophes -- were designed by me to draw you closer to the truths of my Word?

Indeed, Psalm 139 verse 1 re-entered my mind today:

1  O Lord, You have searched and known me.

My Lord has searched and known me.

David could have said it differently. He could have said, "O Lord, You search and know everything." That would have been a true statement. But that is not what the verse says.

The verse says something else, something with an unmistakably personal twist:

You have searched and known me.

Psalm 139:1 takes it home, my friend. It says to you and to me that we cannot keep God's truth at arms' length. There is intimacy to be had with the Lord of heaven and earth. 

He knows me personally.
He knows you personally.
He knows each human personally.

And in that intimate, personal knowledge, there is so much hope.

No wonder the blessed hope of glory, Jesus Himself, became flesh and dwelled among us.
To His name be glory and honor and majesty and praise!