by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Sieged by God’s Mercy

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

Even if we have never ridden a horse, many of us who live in the western United States live by the motto expressed in the Cole Porter song, “Don’t Fence Me In.” We want to be turned loose. We want to straddle our imaginary saddles. We want land, and lots of it, underneath the starry skies.

Whereas the wide-open spaces of the high desert might frighten people from the big city, I love the journey through the desert. And in my almost twenty-five years of living in Colorado Springs, I have taken many trips through these empty and desolate lands.

However, those of us living out west, along with people on the 57th floor of a high-rise, might not like what the psalmist declares in Psalm 139.

“You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”
Psalm 139:5-6 New International Version

Our English translations might not go far enough in using the word, “hem.” The Hebrew word was used of nations laying siege to another city, an army surrounding people so that nothing gets in, and nothing gets out. There is no wiggle room with God. God has fenced us in. UGH!

In our humanity, this psalm suggests to us that God wants to dominate us by his rules, his laws, and his commandments. What we miss is that much of Psalm 139 speaks of God’s grace toward us, his intimate knowledge of us as if he is still stirring dust and creating a unique individual. The psalmist is not decrying God’s omnipresence, but relishing the fact that God chooses to be intimate with him.

God chooses to fence you in with his mercy in your Lord and Savior Jesus, the Christ, the anointed One. Today you can rest in the mercy of God’s forgiveness. Yes, he knows you intimately, so intimately that he passionately forgives you.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado