The Challenge to Know Yourself
Psalm Reading Reflection by Faith Taylor: mom / textile-artist / author / pastor / and much more
Dear Josephine, Rory, and Wesley,
Someday when you’re older, you’ll have a moment when you open your mouth and feel like I came out. I’ve had those moments with my mother, your Grammy. Fortunately, they’ve usually been funny little moments where I’ve been able to reflect on some of her quirkiness when I was growing up.
As much as I want you to grow into your own person, I also pray that when you have your “I sound like my mom” moment, it’s a good thing.
-Mama
Inside Out Lectionary Letters
Year A Proper 11 - (Texts, Art, Hymns)
Readings for Sunday, July 12, 2026
Genesis 28:10-19a / Psalm 139:1-12,23-24 / Romans 8:12-25 / Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Summary of Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
The psalmist praises God because of how intimately God has known the psalmist. Not only has God known him more than he’s even known himself, but there is nowhere the psalmist can go that’s beyond God’s Spirit.
The psalm closes with a prayer, asking God to know the psalmist’s heart and to lead him in the way everlasting.
Scripture as a Mirror of the Soul
Am I allowed to poke a little fun at Dee on his own blog? If you know Dee, you know he’s passionate about dreams. However, it doesn’t take long into exploring dreams with him before you discover a secondary passion within that: Internal Family Systems (IFS).
For those who are unfamiliar with IFS, it is an evidence-based psychological framework developed by Richard C. Schwartz. Instead of viewing a person’s mind as “one” voice, it acknowledges that each person is a system of many different voices (“parts”) that are being led by one “Self” at the core.
Looking at today’s psalm, I cannot help but think about the intimate knowledge of myself that I’ve gained through this framework. In verse 4, the psalmist prays, “Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.”
Have you ever said something and immediately wondered where those words came from? As an avid talker, that happens to me all the time. Sometimes the things I say feel like they’re coming from somewhere else entirely, especially when those words don’t line up with the core of who I am and what I believe.
Just as God knows the psalmist so intimately in this psalm, using that knowledge to protect and direct him, we’re able to use our own deeper knowledge of ourselves to shape our words and actions into those that align with who we want to be.
That’s all really abstract, so let me give a real example. I recently had a disagreement with a friend where things got emotionally charged far beyond the scope of the actual disagreement itself. I was extremely defensive and couldn’t even explain to myself, let alone him, why I was feeling and acting that way.
Part of knowing myself has meant taking the time to figure out what I’m actually upset about when a situation triggers me like that. By doing so, I am able to see that my words and actions were a response to a completely different event in my past. Knowing myself allows me to acknowledge how I feel, then take the time to respond to the situation at hand (lest I have another “where did those words come from?” moment).
Just as God shapes and leads the psalmist, we can shape and lead ourselves when we take the time to truly, intimately know ourselves.