I recently got a brochure in the mail from a computer dating service. The company boldly advertised in big, flowery letters, "Let us help you find your soul mate." Most people long for a soul mate, someone with whom they can share all the intimate details of their lives. Finding such a person is difficult. Those who reveal their deepest thoughts and emotions to another person do so at the risk of ridicule, rejection and betrayal.

Psalm 139 is a beautiful psalm in which David describes his soul mate. He begins, "O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether" (verses 1-4).

So often you hear people say, "He just doesn't understand me." Wouldn't it be great to have a friend who really understands you, someone who knows what you are going to say, even before you say it? God does.

David continued, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell ["Sheol" ASV; "Hades or the world of the dead" (Biblesoft's)], behold, You are there" (verses 7-8). Maybe you have been hurt by someone who abandoned you or disappointed you in some way. God is always there. Whether everything is coming up roses or you are going through hell on earth, God will be there with you. He will never leave you or forsake you.

David continued in verse 16, "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." Some people don't like to talk about their past because it is too painful. God knows all about your past because he was there. He saw you even before you were born. You have no secrets from God. He knows things about you that you don't even know yourself! He knows about your past and your future. He knows where you came from, and he also knows where you are going.

David ends this psalm with a challenge. "Search me, O Lord, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties, and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (verses 23-24). Could you make yourself that vulnerable with just anybody? You can be vulnerable with God. He understands you; he knows everything about you, and he is always there to listen. You can tell him all your hopes and dreams, as well as all your fears and anxieties. First Peter 5:7 says, "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

Are you looking for a soul mate? Try looking up. God is the perfect soul mate.

Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, 1994.