Psalm 139 takes us all the way back to when we first became. It reveres the beauty of our very beginnings and returns us to the miracle of our mothers. Even being carried within a womb, as each and every one of us was, God met us there. How many times have we heard, “You’re born alone and you die alone”? Psalm 139 dispels this, assuring us that even before our birth, when we were being woven, kneaded, and knitted, we had a holy spirit paralleling us. Could there be anything more comforting than this belief, that we had this connection to God way back, starting within the cocoon of our own creation? 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
