The Comfort Of God's Care

THE COMFORT OF GOD’S CARE

Text: Ps.36: 7; Ps.139: 17, 18

Intro: A verse of scripture that follows the thought of today’s text is I Peter 5: 7, which says, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

All of us like to be cared for. All of us like to know that someone finds us special, in spite of our faults. That’s what is so wonderful about good parents. Parents love and care about their children no matter what kind of eccentricities or deformities they might have.

This need to feel loved and cared for—this need to feel special to someone, is no doubt a big factor in people being drawn together in marriage. It’s nice to know that someone out there loves us just the way we are. But as nice as it is to know that other people care about us, it is even more wonderful to know that God cares for us. This is the thought that fills David’s mind in Psalm 139. King David marvels at God’s care throughout his whole life, and gives Him the praise for that care.

Dear friends, you may not feel very special today, but it is my hope that as we look into God’s Word that you will realize that you are special to God, and that He cares for you.

Theme: God’s care for His children is seen in the fact that…

I. WE ARE COMPREHENDED BY GOD

Ps.139: 5 “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”

NOTE: David is summing up the verses that have gone before in this psalm. In essence, he is saying, “God, you’ve got me covered no matter what direction I turn. You understand me so completely that I can’t comprehend the magnitude of your knowledge.”

A. God Understands The Workings Of Our Mind.

Ps.139: 1 “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.”

NOTE: I wonder how much difference it would make in our daily lives if we became constantly aware that God was reading our every thought? After all, we are, or become, what we think (Prov.23: 7). There is not one time during the course of a day that God is not aware of your every thought, motive, attitude, or situation. It’s worth thinking about isn’t it?

Mind Reader?

The Guardian, a British daily newspaper, reported on February 9, 2007 that a team of scientists has determined that reading brain waves can reveal a person’s intentions. Literally, if this report is true, science has determined a way to read the mind and determine what you intend to do or want to do before you even do it.

Of course, we knew this could be done. Jesus did it long ago, for the Bible states that he read the intentions of people or he knew what they were thinking. Read Luke 5:22; Luke 6:8; John 2:25; John 21:17. Read also Psalm 44:21. The Lord knows what we are thinking each moment of each day. And, He further knows that what we think about is what we will become. Our thoughts are the seeds of our actions.

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If God read our minds today, would he find wholesome thoughts there or thoughts engendered by the world. If you open your mind to the wrong things, you will become what you allow inside. It doesn’t take a mind reader to figure that out!(1)

B. God Understands Our Ways and Our Manner.

Ps.139: 3 “Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.”

NOTE: [1] The words “compassest my path” speaks figuratively of God’s extensive knowledge of a person’s “manner (‘path’),”(2) a person’s way of doing things, or their natural characteristics. The idea of the word “compassest” is that God “distinguishes actions; he discerns and separates the good from the bad.”(3) Another idea behind this word is that “…the Lord knows us as thoroughly as if he had examined us minutely, and had pried into the most secret corners of our being.”(4) Even if you squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle instead of at the bottom, God still loves you and understands why you do that.

[2] David also said that God fully understood his “ways.” That means that God understood his “…course of life or mode of action.”(5)

[3] God knows all about us. This is brought out in the following scriptures:

Ps.103: 14 “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”

John 2: 24 “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,

25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”