O Lord...

... You have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

You understand my thought from afar.

You scrutinize my path and my lying down,

And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

Even before there is a word on my tongue,

Behold, O Lord, You know it all.

You have enclosed me behind and before,

And laid Your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

If I take the wings of the dawn,

If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

Even there Your hand will lead me,

And Your right hands will lay hold of me.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,

And the light around me will be night,"

Even the darkness is not dark to You,

And the night is as bright as the day.

Darkness and light are alike to You.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;

And in Your book were all written

The days that were ordained for me,

When as yet there was not one of them.

How precious also are Your thought to me, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.

When I awake, I am still with You.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

And lead me in the everlasting way.

~ Psalm 139: 1-6, 9-12, 16-18, 23-24

This is one of my favorite chapters of the Bible; the way it celebrates the greatness of our Lord and how, even though He is so powerful, He takes personal interest in each of His children. 

Then, after taking the whole chapter to revel in the love and light of God, it ends with a prayer.  A prayer for this powerful, caring God to look into the deepest part of the soul, to see all that is there, to remove those things that keep us from true intimacy with Him, and then to lead this penitent child on the path that leads to eternal life.  I wish I remembered to pray like this more often, instead of just listing all of my problems and what I think I need.  How much more meaningful to simply praise God for who He is and all He has done, then ask Him to examine me, see my struggles, remove the harmful from my life, and bring me ever-closer to Him.