“The Swan”
Psalm 139:1-24
PS 139:1 O LORD, you have searched me 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 know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 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. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 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. 15 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, 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. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. 19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! 20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? 22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O 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.
INTRODUCTION
• Have you all seen this show on Fox? It’s amazing but disturbing at the same time. Likewise, there is a show on MTV called “I Want a Famous Face”
• What is sad is the fact that these people seem to place their entire self-worth on what they look like and how OTHERS perceive them.
• Friend, let me make a statement. There is a correlation between how you see yourself and how you see God.
• This morning, I want to show you how I think we should find our self-worth. I’m not trying to make you cocky or set you on an ego trip this morning.
• I can find my worth and my value by looking at these attributes of God:
I. His AWARENESS of me {vs 1-5}
1 O LORD, you have searched me 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 know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
• We are not mere statistics to God. Look again at these verses:
He is my Supervisor (vs 1-3)
He knows my Secrets (vs 4)
He is my Security (vs 5)
• There are things God cares about that we cannot even imagine…even the very hairs on our heads are numbered!
II. His AVAILABILITY to me {vs 7-10}
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.
• There is no where I can go and find Him unavailable…He is always with me and there for 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.
Matthew 28:20 …And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
• In every situation and circumstance, He is always there!
In times of difficulty In times of victory
In times of rebellion In times of faithfulness
In times of questioning In times of certainty
In times of insecurity In times of confidence
III. His AWESOMENESS in making me {vs 13-14}
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.
• Friend, God took incredible care in making and creating you!
ILLUSTATION...The Miraculous Human Body, Citation: Jeff Arthurs; references Dr. John Medina, genetic engineer, University of Washington, in 1995 lecture at Multnomah Bible College, Portland, Oregon
The average human heart pumps over 1,000 gallons a day, over 55 million gallons in a lifetime. This is enough to fill 13 super tankers. It never sleeps, beating 2.5 billion times in a lifetime.
The lungs contain 1,000 miles of capillaries. The process of exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide is so complicated that "it is more difficult to exchange O2 for CO2 than for a man shot out of a cannon to carve the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin as he passes by."
DNA contains about 2,000 genes per chromosome—1.8 meters of DNA are folded into each cell nucleus. A nucleus is 6 microns long. This is like putting 30 miles of fishing line into a cherry pit. And it isn’t simply stuffed in. It is folded in. If folded one way, the cell becomes a skin cell. If another way, a liver cell, and so forth.
To write out the information in one cell would take 300 volumes, each volume 500 pages thick. The human body contains enough DNA that if it were stretched out, it would circle the sun 260 times.
The body uses energy efficiently. If an average adult rides a bike for 1 hour at 10 mph, it uses the amount of energy contained in 3 ounces of carbohydrate. If a car were this efficient with gasoline, it would get 900 miles to the gallon....
IV. His AGENDA for me {vs 16}
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.
• You are not on the earth by accident…You have a purpose in this life!
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
ILLUSTRATION...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 Bracas 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.
V. His ACCEPTANCE of me {vs 19-24}
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! 20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? 22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O 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.
• I am constantly amazed at the mercy and the grace that He bestows to me
ILLUSTRATION...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 the project, 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.
• He is so incredibly patient with me
RESPONSE
• How do you see yourself? Do you see things the same way God sees them?
• Where do you find your self worth? In what you can do or in what God’s Word says about you?
