YOU HAVE LAID YOUR HAND UPON ME - I CAN NEVER ESCAPE FROM YOUR LOVE
“O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
You understand my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down;
You are aware of all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
You know all about it, 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 to escape Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to the heavens, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
If I settle by the farthest 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 is not dark to You,
but the night shines like the day,
for darkness is as light to You.
For You formed my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Marvellous are Your works,
and I know this very well.
My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was woven together
in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all my days were written in Your book
and ordained for me
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God,
how vast is their sum!
I were to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand;
and when I awake,
I am still with You.
SEARCH ME O GOD AND KNOW MY HEART.
”
Murray and Larry, L’Arche Belfast
‘Ubuntu’ - The Essence of Being Human
Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation.
It speaks about our interconnectedness.
You can't be human all by yourself.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“[Friendship] ... the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words.”
We need friends. A friend is at the heart of our life - someone with whom we can be ourselves, with whom we can share our feelings, experiences and deepest thoughts. Our friends, like ourselves, are imperfect human beings but their love and companionship bring us strength. How often do we think of God as our friend? As someone who is totally involved in our lives? As someone who wants to give us the best there is, a share in eternal happiness?
“You regard in me, the man, simply - if I differ from you, far from injuring you, I augment you.
I am grateful to you for accepting me as you find me. What do I want with a friend who judges me?
My friend, I need you as one needs a height on which to breathe!”
God comes to us in the Person of Jesus, to speak to us of friendship. God invites us into a intimate relationship. In God’s presence as enjoy the company of a friend. This friend knows how in our humanity we struggle, make mistakes, become discouraged and how much we need forgiveness, comfort, strength, how we need help to grow in spirit. God gives us all we need through many sources. One is human friendship.
“God
Why is it so hard to get close to people, to let people get close to me, to make friends?
Is it because I’ve been hurt before and am afraid to be vulnerable again?
Is it because I think others will take advantage of my openness?
Your Son had twelve close friends.
One sold Him for thirty pieces of silver.
Another denied that he ever knew him.
The rest ran away when He needed them most.
Jesus even predicted these things – yet he didn’t shut himself off from friendship.
Make me willing to take the risk too.
Help me to realise that, ultimately, in opening to another human being,
we are opening ourselves to You.
Amen.”
Credit: Christopher News Notes, New York