In each of our lives, we could fill lists of all the afflictions those near us have endured, waking up each day to put their feet onto the ground and begin walking that heartache again. We love them, we are there for them, we listen to them. But there is, always, that fundamental alone. This is why Psalm 139 offers a comfort that I would characterize as mystical. The mystical is that which brings you right into the heart of God, and brings God right into the heart of you. Psalm 139 is, and always will be, a gorgeous piece of writing expressing the truth that not only does God know each of us, God has actually been alongside us, in ways no human being ever could, because it’s beyond what any person can ever do. It’s too much to ask. It’s impossible.
—from the book What Was Lost: Seeking Refuge in the Psalms
by Maureen O’Brien
