When the 1960s ended, and San Francisco became very expensive to live, many of the hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. They had children and got married, but in no particular sequence.
They didn’t name their children Melissa or Brett. People in the mountains around Santa Cruz grew accustomed to their children playing Frisbee with kids named Time Warp or Spring Fever, Moonbeam, Earth, Love and Precious Promise all ended up in public school.
That’s when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit Stand. Every fall, according to tradition, parents bravely apply name tags to their children, kiss them good-bye and send them off to school on the bus. So it was for Fruit Stand. The teachers thought the boy’s name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.
"Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?" they offered. And later… "Fruit Stand, how about a snack?" He accepted hesitantly. By the end of the day, his name didn’t seem odder than the other names. At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out to the buses. "Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?" He didn’t answer. That wasn’t strange. He hadn’t answered them all day. Lots of children are shy on the first day of school. It didn’t matter. The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stops on the reverse side of their name tags. The teacher simply turned over the tag. There, neatly printed, was the word "Anthony."
As we were on vacation God led me back to a familiar Psalm, Psalm 139. Psalm 139 starts out with a beautiful picture of how God knows us. He knows everything about us and He does not mistake our name for Fruit Stand or anything else.
I know I was to preach on 2 Corinthians this morning, but as I worked on my sermon God kept bringing me back to this passage and the beauty, wonder and the assurance of it. I hope it speaks to you as it did to me even though I have heard and read it so many times.
Pastor Lindsay read this passage before and I just want to highlight a few parts of it again.
I. All knowing 139:1-6 ¬
You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
First I want to note that God is All-Knowing. He knows everything about us, what we are doing, where we are doing it. He knows our thoughts. Now other person thing can know your thoughts unless we say them out loud. Not even the devil can know your thought. Only God can know you’re your thoughts. That means that God has the attribute of Omniscience. This means He has complete knowledge or that He is all-knowing.
Only the God we serve has this power… that gives us something to think about. Not only does He know what you’re thinking, but He knows before you even think it. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. The all–knowing power of God should be a comfort for those who follow Him, but in retrospect also caused fear in those who do not follow Him.
Not only is God all-knowing, but He wants to know about us and our every move and every thought. He cares that much about us. In verses 1-4 we see that God is our Lord, the One that watches over us, He is our supervisor and He knows our secrets.
And then in verse 5 we see a transition: The Message puts verse 5 and 6 this way: I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going.
Not only does God know everything about us, but He is watching over us; He is our security! That is why the Psalmist says: This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!
Can you say that today? When you read these words and if they truly sink in we should feel like dancing and shouting the words: This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!
Like my friend Pastor Doug Webb use to say: “That is hanky waving, pew jumping good news for you”. If you want to do some pew jumping, we are going to need to see a doctor’s note first.
II. He is there for me 139:7-10
Well verses 7-10 go on to say: 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
God is here for me, He is here for you, He is here for all of us. This speaks to what theologians call His omnipresence. In other words, God can be and is everywhere at the same time. That is hard for us to wrap our minds around. Only God can be all places with all of us at one time. There is no where I can go and find Him unavailable…He is always with me and there for you and me.
Joshua 1:5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
And Matthew 28:20 states: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
In every situation and circumstance, God is always there! There will be tough times; times of victory; times of frustration; times of certainty; times of questioning; times of faithlessness; times of faithfulness. There may be times of depression; mountain top experiences; times of insecurity; times of hope and so on…
Sometimes I have thought that God is far away and does not care about me, but that simply is not true. He is there in every circumstance and in every situation. Does that not get you excited?
A man offered a little boy, who was returning from a Bible class, a dollar if he would show him where God is. The little boy responded, "Mister, I’ll give you a dollar if you will show me where God ain’t!"
III. He is my creator 139:13-14
Next verses 13 and 14 state: 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
I think this became more meaningful to me as Lindsay and I got to hear Noah’s heart beat weeks after conception and then know that little life was growing in her. God creates us right from the start when the two become one and knits a little life together inside the womb. David the Psalmist, even though he is most-likely an adult when he writes this realizes the complexity of life and we see it in His words.
I came to wonder am I really praising God for his creation and knowledge of me or am I constantly pointing out the problems I am having. We have some tough things we go through, but I am realizing we have much more we need to be praising God for.
IV. He has a plan for me 139:16
Well in verse 16 I see one of the key verses of this passage. David says: 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
God has a plan for our lives and that plan begins way before we are ever conceived. Al Braca worked as a corporate bond trader. His office was on the 105th floor of Tower One in the World Trade Center. A week after the tower was hit and collapsed, Al’s body was found in the rubble.
According to his wife, Jeannie, Al hated his job; he couldn’t stand the environment. It was a world completely out of sync with his Christian values.
But he wouldn’t quit. He was convinced that God wanted him to stay there, to be a light in the darkness.…
The Family learned that Al had indeed been ministering to people during the attack. Reports trickled in from friends and acquaintances. Some people on the 105th floor had made a last call or sent e-mails to a loved one saying that "a man" was leading people in prayer. A few referred to Al by name. When Al realized that they were trapped in the building and would not be able to escape, he shared the gospel with a group of 50 co-workers and led them in prayer.
God knew Al and had a plan for his life from the very beginning. God knew that Al did not like his job, hated the environment and would rather be somewhere else, but God had a plan. In the end Al had the greatest opportunity to speak to a very captive audience. They were ready to hear the Gospel.
God has a plan for each of us. I think back to the first funeral I had for a man named Larry. Larry’s favourite bible verse was John 3:16 For God so loved the world that “whosoever” believeth in him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Larry had been a missionary in northern Canada with Northern Canada Evangelical Mission. He was born in New York State, but he and his wife felt a call to northern Alberta and they remained there for all of their adult lives before the M.S. caused him to be unable to work any longer.
There were many people from the aboriginal community at his funeral and the service went on for a while as many got up and talked how this man was their spiritual father. You see Larry had one drive. His main mission in life was to bring the Gospel to the whosoevers of this world and that was everyone that he came in contact with.
The day before he passed away in the hospital he was sharing the gospel with the hospital attendants and he had an impact on one young orderly. God had a plan for Larry’s life and that was to share the love of Jesus with the “whosoevers” of this world.
V. Do we accept his love 139: 19-24
I have a final few questions I want to ask in conclusion. I have been asking these questions of myself; Do we accept that God knows us inside and out; that He is always with us; that He created us out of His good and perfect plan and that he has a plan for our lives? Do we truly believe and accept these truths in our lives today? And do our lives look like we have accepted those truths?
I hear the Psalmist’s words in verses 17-24 and I believe as David became more in tune with God he could say with confidence these words
Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
all the men and women who belittle you, God,
infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, GOD,
see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!
23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life.
David was giving his all to God and laying it all on the altar. He hated what was evil and wanted to cling to what was good. He was letting go and letting God have full rein in his life.
Ignace Jan Paderewski, the famous composer-pianist, was scheduled to perform at a great concert hall in America. It was an evening to remember—black tuxedos and long evening dresses, a high-society extravaganza. Present in the audience that evening was a mother with her fidgety nine-year-old son. Weary of waiting, he squirmed constantly in his seat. His mother was in hopes that her son would be encouraged to practice the piano if he could just hear the immortal Paderewski at the keyboard. So—against his wishes—he had come.
As she turned to talk with friends, her son could stay seated no longer. He slipped away from her side, strangely drawn to the ebony concert grand Steinway and its leather tufted stool on the huge stage flooded with blinding lights. Without much notice from the sophisticated audience, the boy sat down at the stool, staring wide-eyed at the black and white keys. He placed his small, trembling fingers in the right location and began to play “Chopsticks.” The roar of the crowd was hushed as hundreds of frowning faces pointed roar of the crowd was hushed as hundreds of frowning faces pointed in his direction. Irritated and embarrassed, they began to shout:
“Get that boy away from there!” “Who’d bring a kid that young here?”
“Where’s his mother?” “Somebody stop him!”
Backstage, the master overheard the sounds out front and quickly put together in his mind what was happening. Hurriedly, he grabbed his coat and rushed toward the stage. Without one word of announcement he stooped over behind the boy, reached around both sides, and began to improvise a countermelody to harmonize with and enhance “Chopsticks.” As the two of them played together, Paderewski kept whispering in the boy’s ear: “Keep going. Don’t quit. Keep on playing…don’t stop…don’t quit.”
And that is how God would respond. We hammer away on earth, which seems about as significant as “Chopsticks” in a concert hall. And about the time we are ready to give up, along comes the Master who leans over and whispers: Keep going. Don’t quit. Keep on playing…don’t stop…don’t quit. As He improvises on our behalf, providing just the right touch as just the right moment.
Are we willing to come to that point when we say to God: 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Or do we want to continue playing chopsticks through our lives and not yield ourselves to His will for our lives? He is the master allow… Him to have his will and way in your life today.
