In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity, as reported in Jeremiah 31:31-34, every human being can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
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The Inescapable God
To the leader. Of
David. A Psalm.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my
thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted
with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand
upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I
cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from
your spirit?
Or where can I flee
from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in
Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest
limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand
shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around
me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as
bright as the day,
for darkness is as
light to you.
13 For it was you who
formed my inward parts;
you knit me together
in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made.
Wonderful are your
works;
that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in
the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that
were formed for me,
when none of them as
yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum
of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.
23 Search me, O God, and
know my heart;
test me and know my
thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the
way everlasting.
Commentary on verses 19-22 omitted for this prayer exercise
(For our purpose in this "Introduction to Prayer" Workshop Seminar, we have skipped verses 19 to 22, which show the Psalmist expressing to God his zeal and enthusiasm for the glory of God, and that he stands against those who are "bloodthirsty", who "speak of God maliciously", who "lift themselves up against God for evil", and "who hate God". The Psalmist "counts such people as his enemies", since they make themselves enemies of God. He "hates them with a perfect hatred", meaning that he pushes them away from himself to reject their contempt for God and protect himself from being seduced by them; lest he run the risk of falling away from his faith in God and love for God. This is one example of hatred which is perfect or an act of faith and love.)
In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity, as reported in Jeremiah 31:31-34, every human being can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
© 2006-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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