Welcome to the Blue Ocean Advent devotional podcast. This is day eleven. I’m Emily, and I’ll be your guide.
Let’s start with a moment of gratitude. I’ll give you 15 seconds of silence to think about something you’re thankful for, and to thank God for it. Let’s begin now.
[15 seconds of silence]
Now we’ll move on to our petitionary prayer. Today we’ll pray that God’s peace will rest on … immigrants—documented and undocumented—who are petitioning our country for asylum. Let’s take 30 seconds of silence to pray.
[25 seconds of silence]
Our Scripture reading today comes from Psalm 139:1–18. It says:
You have searched me, Lord, 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, Lord, know it completely. 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. 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, 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.
We’ll close today by meditating on the phrase:
… darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being …
Take a few moments now to imagine God searching the most hidden parts of you (at your invitation, when you’re willing). … darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being …
Our Concluding Prayer:
Creator, almighty and everlasting, you have brought me in safety to this new day: Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus my Lord. Amen