Yahweh, you have searched me and known me;
you understand everything I do;
you are closer to me than my thoughts.
You see through my selfishness and weakness,
into my inmost self.
There is not one corner of my mind
that you do not know completely.
You are present before me, behind me,
and you hold me in the palm of your hand.
Such knowledge is too awesome to grasp:
so deep that I cannot fathom it.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I take the wings of the morning
and fly to the ends of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me
and your spirit will give me strength.
If I rise to heaven I meet you;
if I lie down in hell, you are there:
you are there, in your infinite compassion,
and my heart rejoices in your joy.
You fashioned my inmost parts;
you knit me in my mother's womb.
My soul was not hidden from you
when I was being formed in secret,
woven in the depths of the world.
How can I keep from praising you?
I am fearfully and wonderfully made,
and all your works are marvelous.
Your eyes saw all my actions;
they were written down in your book;
all my days were created
before even one of them was.
How measureless your mind is, Yahweh;
it contains inconceivable worlds
and is vaster than space, than time.
If I ever try to fathom it,
I would be like a child counting
the grains of sand on a beach.
Search me, Yahweh; test me
to the depths of my inmost heart.
Root out all selfishness from me
and lead me in eternal life.
[All] For the wonder of myself,
for the wonder of your works,
I thank you. |