“You understand my thoughts from afar” (Ps 139:2b).
Our Father’s loving omniscience is not only a comforting certainty for us; it becomes a spiritual lesson for us, if we allow His words to permeate us deeply.
Indeed, our Father’s love also has a formative character; that is, it wants to mould us into the image according to which we were created (Gen 1:27). We are to become what we were called to be and to correspond to the vocation that the Lord has given us and entrusted to us. That is why God cares so much for us and accompanies us on all our paths, which are unveiled before Him. If we are on the right path, He strengthens and encourages us; if we stray, He calls us to conversion (cf. Ps 139:24).
The words of Psalm 139, which we meditate on today (“You understand my thoughts from afar”), exhort us to examine our thoughts in the light of the Lord. The awareness that none of our thoughts is unknown to God serves to counteract that lightness with which we often allow ourselves to be carried away by our thoughts. When love for the Lord has awakened in us, we never want to offend Him, not even with our thoughts.
Then, when we are beset by thoughts that cannot stand before God, we will identify them and not let ourselves be carried away by them; rather, we will make an act of renunciation and no longer give them our attention, let alone our consent.
This struggle is important, because in this way we give our Father to understand that with our will we adhere to Him, even when evil thoughts want to separate us from Him. Our Father will be pleased and will turn this struggle into merit for us.
At the same time, He will always be ready to help us to overcome oppressive, useless or evil thoughts. In this way, He will purify our heart and strengthen our soul.