Dear Faith Family,
Psalm 139 has been a favorite of ours for some time. Especially the concluding verses,
"Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my cares.
And see if there be any grievous way
in me,
and lead me in the ancient way,
everlasting."
We refer back to this psalm and these words over and over again in a variety of the practices we employ to help us develop the "skills in faith" in our apprenticeship to Jesus. It is for us an entrance into silence and solitude, refreshing reflection amid our fasting, and, most centrally, an examen to ground and grow us in our core identity as God's children. Psalm 139 is truly a tremendous gift to our life of faith, aiding us in our relation to God, and his relationship to us, allowing us to rest in being completely known, utterly cherished, secure on our way to being more than we are today. And yet, there is more Psalm 139 has to offer!
As much as this psalm reveals about me, it reveals the same about you. As intimate, active, and gracious God has been in my life, he has been just as intimate, active, and gracious in your life as well. Think about what that means for our life together. How we interact with one another, serve one another, love another. Even what we can expect from one another.
In the words of one of my favorite pastors, Psalm 139 reminds us that "God has been at work with you since birth. Everything that has taken place in your life has in some way or another taken place in the context of a good creation and an intended salvation. Everything."
So when we talk, pray, study, celebrate, eat, worship, etc., with one another, we are doing so amid God's gracious operations and persistent will unfolding in the spectacular drama of redemption called your life. A drama the details of which we know little or nothing about!
Aren't we aware of this limited knowledge in our own lives? Don't we have a hard time recognizing the intimacy, activity, and graciousness of God in our story's past? Much less sure are we in the details of how God is working in our lives at any given moment! That's why we enter into Psalm 139 in the first place, isn't it?!
So, if Psalm 139 speaks to the truth of our self-knowledge, why would we assume something different for our understanding of one another?
Our shared awe at the marvelous mystery of God with us and God for us does not mean, however, that we do not play a part in His-story emerging in each others' daily experiences. It just means that "My words and gestures and actions," if they are to honor the reality revealed in Psalm 139, are meant to join in with what God is already doing in your life.
This means that we love and serve one another in this life of faith by listening to see. Listening to one another to see how God's intimacy, action, and graciousness are being worked out, how he is leading them "in the way everlasting." Listening to God on behalf of one another, to see for what role we might play in his spectacular drama unfolding--what prayer to pray, what word to speak, what act to offer...or none at all.
Our role in one another's lives of faith is not to mold each other into some prefabricated image, nor fix one another or our problems, or even primarily to guide or comfort one another. If we are to help one another in this life of faith, truly, we have to listen to see what God is up to and listen to see how we can join with him.
Admittedly, our first reaction is usually to speak or act rather than wait with open ears. Good thing Julian of Norwich, the 14th-century anchoress, provided a helpful eye exercise to keep us listening to see. She commented that when interacting with her fellow apprentices and pilgrims,
“I look at God, I look at you, and I keep looking at God.”
I wonder if we might employ her exercise with Psalm 139 as a simple prayer for our interactions with one another.
"look at God," praying; Father, let me see you with us and for us, in our past and in your presence.
"look at you," praying; Holy Spirit, let me see your searching and leading in my friend's life.
"keep looking at God," praying; Jesus, let me see how I can join your way for their good.
I encourage you to start building the skill in faith of listening with your eyes this week. Perhaps over coffee with a friend, during a DNA or GC get-together, or at the dinner table with your spouse, child, or roommate. They don't even have to know your practicing, though it can be helpful for you both if they do!
My prayer is that listening to see will become second nature for our faith family. That we will enter into the marvelous reality of Psalm 139, seeing that God has and is with you, listening to see in what particular ways God's gracious operations and persistent will are unfolding, and listening to see if and what we should speak or do.
Love you, faith family. God bless!