“It Matters Too Him About You!”
Psalm 103:8-18
David P. Nolte
George Muller, in the 19th century, built many orphanages in England. Without a personal salary, he relied only on God to supply the money and food needed to support hundreds of homeless children.
He was a man of deep faith, and kept a motto on his desk for many years that brought him comfort, strength, and confidence. It read, "It matters to Him about you." Muller believed that and he rested his life on that truth. He testified at the end of his life that the Lord had never failed to supply all his needs.
Sometimes we lose sight of that fact. Something eclipses it and since we don’t see it, we think it isn’t true. Sometimes we think we are in it all alone. Often, perhaps, we are in a situation similar to that in the song by David Ingles:
When discouraged and depressed, God Loves You
And remember in the test, God Loves You
When it seems all hope is gone
And you feel so all alone
Look above behold the dawn, God Loves You
Tho you now are far away, God Loves You
Don't go on another day, God Loves You
Tho rebellious you have been
Put away the life of sin
He'll forgive and take you in, God Loves You
The discouragement, depression, and hopelessness can cause us to feel overwhelmed and to doubt that we matter – especially to God. But the Psalm assures us that, contrary to those trials, tribulations and tough times, we do matter to Him. Listen to the Psalm
“The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the Heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on His children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children's children -- with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.” Psalm 103:8-18 (NIV).
Wow! Isn’t that great? God, the creator of all that is, knows and cares about each of us no matter what others – or we, ourselves, think about us.
It matters to Him about you! So consider what that can mean to you.
1. You can know heaven-high love:
a. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him.”
i. The Bible refers to the heavens in three different levels. Consider this image
ii. The first heaven reaches from Earth to the Exosphere, with an altitude of about 249 miles.
iii. Then the second heaven, the place of the stars and planets, reaches at east 13.3 billion light years – that means that a ray of light would take 13.3 billion years traveling at the rate of 186,282 miles per second to reach earth. To calculate the miles, multiply 186,282 by the number of seconds in a year and multiply that by 13.3 billion. The number of miles is staggering.
iv. So, beyond the exosphere and the farthest galaxy is the third Heaven, mentioned by Paul, where God is enthroned.
b. His love is that high! But how low does it go?
i. As low as the lowest sinner.
ii. As low as our weakest moment.
iii. As low as our deepest depression.
iv. As low as the world and Satan can beat us.
v. As low as our heaviest burden can crush us.
c. No matter how high or how low you are, his love is higher and lower. It is above and beneath you!
d. Because of His love:
i. “He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”
(1) Sometimes, by sin, we anger Him – but He holds no grudge and when we confess our sins He immediately forgives us..
(2) He forgives us though our sins deserve His anger.
ii. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
e. His love is heaven high. It reminds me that when Travis was a little boy, he and I played a game with each other. Travis would say, “I love you clear up to the ceiling.” Then I’d say, “well I love you clear up to the roof.” He’d say, “well, I love you clear up to the top of the trees.” Then I would say, “well, I love you clear up to the clouds.” His comeback to me, “I love you clear up to the stars.” And my come-back was, “Well, I love you way beyond the stars.” And then he’d win the game by saying, “Well I love you clear up to Jesus.” That is how high God’s love for us is: His love is Heaven High. Because that is true:
2. You can know constant compassion:
a. “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. .... As a father has compassion on His children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.” Compassion is not greatly different from the love we have considered, but it is more emotional; a feeling of pity and a desire to alleviate suffering and a desire to help with needs, making things better..
i. He is slow to get angry and quick to get over it.
ii. He does not punish us in the way we deserve to be punished.
iii. He understands how weak we are and how strong the tempter is.
iv. He knows that our time on earth is brief.
v. He does not make unreasonable or impossible demands.
vi. He is always faithful to us.
b. The song said,
“Tho you now are far away, God Loves You
Don't go on another day, God Loves You
Tho rebellious you have been
Put away the life of sin
He'll forgive and take you in, God Loves You
c. Do you think you are alone in your struggles? Do you feel too weak to fight any more battles? Does the pain make you doubt or question His faithful love?
i. The fact is that feel it or not, He loves you.
ii. The truth is that you are too weak, but He is strong.
d. His compassion is constant, unwavering, changeless. That is a comforting fact because for good or ill, we live in a world of change and instability.
i. Things have changed so radically that I’m sure that, without a GPS, I could not find my house in Montclair, California.
ii. The aging process alters people animals, buildings, highways and many other things.
iii. Remodeling has changed the Albany Hospital 4 or 5 times in the past few years.
iv. Society’s moral perspective has taken a nose-dive in the past very few years.
v. International relationships change and reverse and are on and off.
e. We need something solid, unshifting, reliable. That is what God’s compassion is. Let me illustrate compassion. Dr.Heckard was my doctor in Molalla. He was a strange mix of sternness and compassion. For the sternness, I was visiting him in his office one day when a woman called him and said that she wasn’t going to take the pills he had prescribed. He asked why she had decided that. She said her aunt didn’t think they wee right for her. He said, “Well, then, from now on she can be your doctor because I’m no longer going to be.” Now on his compassionate side, a boy in Molalla was accidently shot while hunting and was critical. Dr. Heckard put a cot in the hall outside the boy’s hospital room and slept there for two weeks , giving personal care, and cried tears of sorrow when the boy succumbed.
This is what Jesus Christ did when He became a man – He moved into the hospital with us. He placed his bed near to ours. In our Christian lives, in times of difficulty, we just need compassion — and we need to be compassionate to others. God’s compassion is certain and constant. Because that is true:
In times of difficulty, we just need compassion — And God’s compassion is certain and constant. Because that is true:
3. You can know unlimited understanding:
a. “As a father has compassion on His children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.”
i. The Message Version puts it like this: “He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we're made of mud.” Psalm 103:14 (MSG).
ii. He understands not in a merely academic way but He understands experientially: The Bible says, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV).
b. We are often quick to judge others when we don’t know half of their story.
i. We see, or think we see, their actions and we judge.
ii. We hear something about them, and we draw some conclusion about them, right or wrong. For instance, When I was. called to the Molalla Christian Church, some other pastors warned me about a preacher eating, ex-preacher elder.
I had not been at the church for more than a month when some of the youth came by to get acquainted. I was filling the baptistery for Sunday and after awhile one of the girls came running into the office hollering, “The baptistery is overflowing and the kitchen is flooded.”
We all rushed downstairs and found about 2 inches of water. I turned on the sump pump, and we started bailing water into the sink and out the back door.
Just then I looked up and here was Royal, the preacher eater. Now I’m thinking, “This will be the shortest ministry in the history of this church.” Then I noticed Royal mopping up the floor. I said, “Royal, this is my problem and I know you came to get your daughters, so you can go and I’ll clean up.”
The preacher eater put his arm around my shoulder, winked and said, “You can help me with a problem someday,” and he kept mopping. To the day of his death he never took a single bite out of me. We came to understand one another and became fast fishing friends. He was far kinder and more understanding than I had been led to expect.
c. God understands us and nobody, not even Satan, can change His mind about us.
d. He understands us because He walked among us as one of us.
e. Bill Sullivan told this story about learning to be more understanding in a sermon and I want to tell it now. Bill needed to be a lot more understanding and patient. He told about a day when Bernie came to the church door. He showed up about five minutes before Bill had to leave for an appointment, and his first response to his arrival was, “Oh, no, not now.”
Bernie had been drinking. . He was sweating profusely and was a little bit shaky, though he spoke clearly without slurring. Bernie asked if Bill could help him, and Bill asked what he could do for him. He said he needed a ride to Hillcrest Hospital, because he’d been part of a 12 step alcohol program, and had “fallen off the wagon.”
Bill decided to take him to the hospital on the way to his appointment, inwardly irritated at the inconvenience. In the five-minute ride to the hospital, where Bill dropped him off at the emergency room, Bernie told him he really loved Jesus, but was having a hard time staying off the alcohol. Bill told him that admitting himself to this program at the hospital was a good step, and that the Lord would help him.
When they got to the ER, Bernie thanked Bill for helping him. He reached over across the seat and wanted a hug. Smell, sweat and all, Bill hugged Bernie, and Bernie hung on tightly for a moment as Bill assured him of God’s love and care for Him. As he stumbled away from the van, he called back for Bill to pray for him, and he assured him he would.
He watched as Bernie stumbled into the ER at Hillcrest. And was ashamed of his initial attitude, and the Lord said to him clearly: all Bernie needed from Bill was a little love, compassion and understanding. All he needed was to be treated with kindness.
God has perfect love, compassion and understanding for those who fear Him; “for He knows that we are weak.” He has compassion on those who fear Him; “for He knows that we are weak. “ And “from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear Him” Do you know His love, compassion and understanding and that it Matters To Him About You?
The sweetest story ever told, God Loves You
The brightest prospect to behold, God Loves You
When your way is dark as night
He will be your guiding light
By His hand He'll hold you tight, God Loves You
