We Matter to God: An Exposition of the 139th Psalm.
There have been periods of relative peace and prosperity, but today is not to be included among them. 2020 may go down as one of the most tumultuous years in world history. We live in a time of the Coronavirus pandemic. China has also been hit by floods of biblical proportions as well as earthquakes. Hong Kong has lost its freedom. There seems to be crises everywhere. The economy has been shaken, and the prospects of world-wide bankruptcy is on the horizon. In America, we have been cursed with lockdowns and riots. People are very, very unhappy. Fear is everywhere, and there are many who wish to exploit it. Churches have been closed, and hostility to Christianity is becoming epidemic. The thought for today is whether anything or anyone matters, no less Black lives. In times of trouble, God’s word has always been available for consultation in times like these. It might be argued that these times might not have happened, had we consulted the Bible when times are better. Nevertheless, we are where we are. So let us not go and look for guidance and encouragement from the 139th Psalm.
When we examine the text, we are immediately confronted by a God who knows everything. More importantly, we are met by a God who knows is. When you see LORD in all caps, it is a translation of the name of God, Yahweh, whose name means “I AM.” Christians believe in a personal God who exists and communicates with us. For those who believe, God’s knowledge of everything we do, say, and speak is meant to bring us comfort. To those who have not yet believed, this knowledge is of sheer terror. We live in a world in which government and big tech routinely monitor our activity. Everything we say or do is being recorded and ready to be used against us if necessary. How much greater is the fear of God who does not need computers and phones to snoop on us. God cannot be hacked.
We know that our lives do not matter to the government. They cannot. Government officials, even if they had good motives, cannot personally deal with millions of people. And considering how evil society has become, your life only matters if it promotes some sort of political narrative. The life of George Floyd did not matter to many until he was killed by the four policemen. And despite a golden casket and four funeral services, George Floyd, the man, still does not matter. He is but a representation of a cause.
But the LORD knows us. He is constantly searching. He records when you lay down, and when you rise up. He does this for every person. The limits of human knowledge and government does not affect God. He knows both what you say, as well as what is in your heart. In fact, he knows much more about you than you even know about yourself. He knows us front to back, and it is His hand that is upon us. We can but kneel in awe before such a God.
The omnipresence of God even to the minutest detail of our lives can be troubling as well. This is because God knows our sin and hidden thoughts as well. Our natural tendency is to run from God. We try to hide ourselves even as Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves from the presence of God. But hiding is futile. The psalmist poetically tells us that even the ends of the earth cannot hide us from God. Not even hell (the grave) can hide is from God’s presence. Darkness cannot comprehend the light of God. We think of John’s gospel where it says that His Light shone into this darkness, and darkness retreated before the light. So if we cannot run and hide our sin, what do we then do?
The answer to this is to remember that we matter to God. The fact that the light exposes our sin is not meant that anyone should perish and be judged for their sin. This is not to say that many will unfortunately suffer from eternal judgment. But God’s motivation is to save and not to destroy. The real answer involves coming to the Light and not running from it. The reins God places on us are meant to steer us away from our evil inclinations and to lead us in the right path. We realize that even in the darkness, we are sill in God’s light. No matter what happens to us, God means this for good.
We are reminded that God was at work in our mother’s womb. Even then, we mattered to God. The fact that life in the womb does not matter to many who consider fetuses to be a parasite or a means to harvest organs and body parts does not change this. We have been fearfully and wonderfully made. For this, we should be awestruck even as the psalmist was. Life matters. All life matters because God is its author. We should remember that we matter to God. We would also be well served to recognize that every other person’s life equally matters to God. This should cause us to think that we need to properly care for others even as God cares for us. Yes, we are humanly limited from knowing and caring for those on the scale that God does, but we can at least start with those we live with, work with, worship with, and with those in our own community.
God also sees that humanity has damaged God’s beautiful creation of mankind. What God made “very good” has become very evil. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We were created to reflect this glory. God sees what is “unperfect” in us. Yet he has written perfection in us as well. We who believe in Jesus Christ groan for this perfection. But this is a groan in hope. We might not know what to say in prayer. But God turns this groanful prayer into something beautiful.
Like the psalmist, we hope for a better day. This day will not come from our feeble exertions. It will happen because the God who knows all is also all powerful. What God has promised, He is willing and able to perform. God will deal with evil. It says that He will slay the wicked. Those who refuse to come to Christ will be dealt with. There is coming a day in which we will be troubled no more. In the meanwhile, we are encouraged that these days will have an end. The lectionary skips over several verses because some of our theologians cannot deal with a God who judges the wicked. The psalmist pronounces a curse against evil people. He does not just hate evil in general, but He hates wicked people as well. The thought of the day allows for a God which hates sin, but not sinners. So is the psalmist wrong to feel that way? Should we pray like the writer of Psalm 137 who desires the heads of Babylonian children to be dashed against the rocks? These are certainly troubling as we believe that the Bible is God’s word.
We might also remember that the Book of Revelation has similar cries for justice. “How long O LORD!” is the cry of the slain. When is justice coming? When is the evil done against God’s people going to be repaid? So one can’t simply dismiss this as Old Testament thinking. We are forced to deal with these attitudes in our heart. To not do so and wash them over will never bring true healing. God’s word brings everything is us to the light. Some would like to erase history and tear down monuments rather than to face their history, for good or ill. This brings out the “unperfect” in us. We realize that we once stood under the wrath of God. Yet God showed mercy to us in Jesus Christ. The people who trouble us are certainly worthy of the outpouring of God’s wrath. Unless they repent, they will certainly be condemned in the Judgment. God is perfectly righteous when he takes vengeance. This is why it belongs to Him alone. The Bible, for this reason, teaches us not to avenge ourselves. We do not see perfectly as God does. All kinds of evil has been perpetrated in the name of social justice. We wrong wrongs, or even worse, wrong rights. We cannot repay evil for evil, but leave it in the hands of God who knows all.
So after we breathe out our curses against those who wrong us, we are to call upon the LORD to search our own hearts. Are these desires for vengeance justified? Do we have wicked ways in ourselves? Are there others who are cursing us? Do they have cause to curse us? Then we call upon God to cleanse us from our thoughts. This is the way to everlasting life. The psalmists prayer should be our prayer.
So I am not a prophet. I cannot tell you how or even if our troubles will resolve. Will we work things out and come back to a period of relative prosperity or peace? Whatever it is, it will be “relative.” This is not the peace and prosperity which God has promised us. That day awaits. We shall be perfect in all of our parts. There will still be social injustice. People will still not feel that they matter. They will cry out in desperation. And they will still not receive and answer. But we invite others to come to Jesus who cares about us. We matter to Him And they will too. He loved us so much that He came to live among us. He knows what rejection feels like. He paid for our sin on the cross that we might escape wrath and live with Him forever. Why try to find relevance among important people in this world when it is freely available to the most important person in the universe. Let us encourage one another that we matter to God. Our lives matter. Jesus proved this by laying down His own life. Amen.
