What the World Needs Now Is . . . You!

I remember the moment when I first stumbled upon Psalm 139. It was a time in my early life when I first started reading the Bible—REALLY reading the Bible. Not out of any sense of moral obligation or intellectual study but out of curiosity. I had many questions for God (and still do), not the least of which was who is God and who am I to speak for Him? What the world needs now is surely not me in all my faulty humanness.

But the Bible tells us otherwise. The words of King David in Psalm 139 hit me over the head like a sledgehammer. God does that sometimes to get my attention.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.

Psalm 139:1-4 NRSVUE

God knows me inside and out. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Yet He still loves me and chooses me as His own. And He surrounds me with His love and care.

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

verses 5-6

There is no place I can go where God doesn’t seek and find me. Like the Good Shepherd, He’s always vigilant and watchful.

Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.

verses 7-10

God created me as a unique person fashioned especially for this place and time. There is no one else made like me—in the past, present, or future. I am one of a kind.

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

verses 13-14

Even though I attempt to understand God, His ways are beyond my comprehension. He will never fully answer my questions this side of heaven, but this I know. The Lord is mine and I am His. He will never leave me alone no matter what circumstances befall me. His presence is with me always and forever.

How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.

verses 17-18

Psalm 139 says God loves me with an extravagant kind of love that defies logic. And it’s not just for me but for everyone in the whole world throughout the ages. This knowledge gladdens my heart and humbles me at the same time. We don’t deserve this overwhelming love. None of us.

King David penned this intimate description of his relationship with God nearly 3000 years ago. Yet the beauty and the truth of this psalm still apply to each one of us today. You are a child of God, fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. You may not see yourself as perfect, but He does. Even with all our flaws, we are just what the world needs now.

As Sister Peg Dolan once said, “each of us is a word of God spoken only once.” All of us possess a unique voice with a message for those around us. Our words and our lives speak volumes in crucial ways every day. Although, it matters little what titles precede our names or status we acquire. From the smallest to the greatest, our lives are meant to speak.

God loves us and creates each one for a special purpose.

What the world needs now is . . . you!

Each of us is a word of God spoken only once. We have a word to speak with our lives, and if we do not speak it, it may never be heard.

Sister Peg Dolan, RSHM (1934-2009), Former chaplain at Loyola Marymount University.