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O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in -- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

The wonderful and comforting point of this psalm of sovereignty is that God knows it all. A death may come as a surprise to us, but not to God. And not only does God know it all, but there is no place we can go where God cannot find us; where God does not accompany us. Verse 5 tells us, "You hem me in -- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me." The Message translates the passage this way, "I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there too -- your reassuring presence coming and going." Isn't that great? And then the psalmist says, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me...." Wonderful! Comforting. There is no where I can go that God does not know about; where God cannot be found.

This is a text to preach to those who have a living faith. This kind of exhortation may well fall on deaf ears if preached to those who do not know God. But, in preaching to the faithful we might focus on those left behind and assure them that this death is not a surprise to God. God knew all about this day from the beginning of time. God has been preparing for this day for eons. He is ready for it. He has taken every eventuality into account. We need not fear that our loved one is lost, or that God has left us defenseless against the world. God is prepared, we simply need to rest in him and we will be provided with the strength and courage we need to overcome.

We might also focus use of this text on the one who has died. It is a reminder that although our departed loved one has gone to a place unknown to us, it is not unknown to God. In fact, God is there waiting to receive all those who enter that place with hearts that anticipate the glory of going home. Verse 18 tells us that, "When I awake I am still with you." There is no greater comfort, no bigger triumph than this. Though I may fall asleep, [die] still, when I awake, God will be with me. Praise God. Amen.