Text: Psalm 139
Title: The wonder of God in the life of the believer
We see the wonder of God in creation and in Christ and in the life of the believer.
1.God knows all about me (v1-4)
“O Lord, you have searched me 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 know it completely, O Lord.” (V1-4)
What does God know about me?
A.God always knows what I am doing
…you know when I sit and when I rise”
B.God always knows what I am thinking
…you perceive my thoughts from afar”
C.God always knows where I am
…You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways
D.God always knows what I am about to say before I say it.
…Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.”
Application: How do you feel about God knowing everything about you? Scared? Special?
If we see God as against us we will feel scared but if we see God as for us we will feel special.
Romans 8:31 God is for us because he did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all.
What is the benefit to God already knowing everything about me?
1. I can be free to be myself
2 I can be secure in God’s love for me
Quote: J.I. Packer writes this: There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself.”
2. God is always with me (v5-12)
“You hem me in –behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “surely the darkness will hide me and the light will become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (5-12)
What is the knowledge that is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain?
It is the knowledge that God is always with me.
Hebrews 13:5 b “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
A.There will be times when you will sense that God is with you.
David refers to these times as...
1.Being surrounded by the light.
2.Being up in the heavens
B.There will be times when you will not sense that God is with you.
David describes these times as...
1. Being surrounded by the darkness
2. Being down in the depths
od is with me just as much in the darkness as he is with me in the light.
God is with me just as much in the highs as he is in the lows.
The difference between an immature believer and a mature believer.An immature believer only sees God in the good times. A mature believer sees God in both the good and the bad times.
I can’t always see God but he can always see me
God is always with me : There is no place on the earth where the hand of God can’t reach me
V10 “your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast
God is always with me to guide me and hold me fast.
Where ever God guides me He can also keep me.
Whatever God guides me to do He can help me to succeed in.
Application: Of what practical help is there in knowing God is always with me?
I can move out from my comfort zone. I can try new things for God. I can go new places with God.
3.God is always working on me (v15-24)
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (V13-24)
When did God start working on me? In my mother’s womb!
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Before I was even born God started working on me.
He gave me my personality. He determined where and when I would be born.
Where in me is God working now? God is still working on my inmost being.
He conforms me to the image of Christ from the inside out by the power of the Holy Spirit.
How does God do this? One way God does it is by giving us His thoughts.
“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.”
The word of God is the thoughts of God written down.
When you have the thoughts of God you have God’s perspective on the subject.
If God is working on the inside how do you know you are changing into the image of Christ?
One way you know God is working on you is that you start hating evil.You might not go to the extreme that David went to but it is important to hate the things God hates.
In closing David prays a prayer (v23-24)
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
David prays a prayer inviting God to continue to work on him. God is not finished working on any of us
1.He wants God to continue to work on his heart.
2. He wants God to continue to work on his anxious thoughts.
3. He wants God to see if there is any offensive way in him.
4.He wants God to lead Him in the way everlasting
Conclusion.
Let us pray this prayer together.If you have never prayed a prayer like this before then you first need a savior. Every one of us has offensive ways in us. Only Jesus can set me free from the penalty for those offensive ways.
Pray this prayer.
Jesus you know my heart. You know my anxious thoughts. You see every offensive way in me. I confess my need for your salvation. I thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Come into my life today and lead me in the way everlasting. Help me to live for you. Amen.
