When I was in college I found myself doubting my faith. I wondered if it was my own personal faith or just the result of being brought up in a Christian home. To help resolve some of the questions and doubts I had, I decided to read the entire Bible through, cover to cover, before drawing final conclusions.

Reading the scriptures both encouraged me and challenged me greatly, and I’m glad to say it wasn’t long before the Bible confirmed for me that I was a genuine born-again believer. I’ve been reading the Bible ever since and I want to share with you today one passage that stopped me in my tracks when I first read it. It still does. Psalm 139:1-4 says:

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.”

I wrote two things in my Bible that day. First, I wrote “Good” because I was greatly comforted that God really knew me. He loved and understood me even when others didn’t. But then I wrote “Oh no” because God really knows me. I knew I couldn’t fake it with God, for he knows exactly what I’m really thinking and feeling even when others don’t.

That passage for me was both a comfort and a wakeup call. Since that time I’ve found many passages that both encourage me with God’s love, and also challenge me to live a life worthy of the calling that all believers have from God—to be his faithful ambassadors to the world around us.

I hope you’re reading your Bible, seeking both its comfort and its calling. May you be encouraged and challenged by God’s word today.