Almost two years ago to this day, on August 24, 2008 I sat in my small country church in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains and listened to Chris Riser preach on Psalm 139. Though this has always been one of my favorite psalms, I don't remember ever having heard a sermon on it before that particular Sunday, and so it was with great anticipation and growing excitement that I listened to Chris delve into the text.
O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
God knows me. Intimately. Deeply. Better than I even know myself. He knows me, and He loves me [even still]. In a way, it's incredibly frightening that anyone - let alone God - would know me so entirely; no matter how hard I may try to hide my fears and failures from the outside world, I can never hide them from God (He, in fact, sees and understands them even more than I do). Yet at the same time, how amazingly comforting it is to know that He does know and understand; He doesn't leave me to try and figure things out or make my way through life alone but rather is here, with His hand on me, guiding me and protecting me each step of the way. No matter what happens, He is with me (and little did I know when I first heard this sermon how real this truth would become to me less than two weeks later, and how desperately I would cling to it as my world came crashing down around me). How reassuring it is to know that "my help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth . . . He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:2, 4).
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
There is nowhere I can go where God is not; no physical place, and no mental place where I can ever get beyond His reach. Even in the darkest moments of my life - the "dark nights of my soul" - God has been and will be there. Ironically, it has been in some of these darkest times that I have felt God's presence the most, perhaps because it is then that I am so aware of my utter need for Him and my inability to control my life. Thank God for this promise: "It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed" (Deuteronomy 31:8).
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
Man is God's crowning creation, and He formed each one of us, individually and exactly. God makes no mistakes. He put this mess of red curls on my head that for years was the bane of my existence (not to be dramatic or anything); He gave me this "peach" skin that so very clearly labels me as a foreigner in a Haitian marketplace. He made me exactly the way He wanted, and who am I to argue with Him or complain about that? (Though, admittedly, I've done just that on many occasions.) The point is, though, that no matter what I look like, no matter what I am or am not able to do, I am fearfully and wonderfully made by the Creator of the Universe. What's more, He's written the very days of my life in His book, every.single.one of them. How then can I justify worrying about my future, when God's already got it all planned out? Silly me for thinking that over-thinking is going to get me anywhere; my times are in His hands (Psalm 31:15)!
O that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain! Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
The title of Chris's sermon on this psalm is "Celebrating the Power and Presence of God". He made the statement that when we do this (celebrate), we are able to deepen in God's love and reflect His holiness. And as this happens, we become increasingly uncomfortable with the sin in our lives (which God reveals to us in order that we may repent); we also grow to hate the evil in the world around us and to desire that those who have not yet been saved would come to "know Christ and the power of His resurrection" (Philippians 3:10). Our desire is that Christ would be exalted and God thereby glorified.
2 comments:
I haven't listened to the sermon yet, but this was a wonderful post, Beth. I really enjoyed reading it and it was full of good reminders for myself. I am very glad to be able to read your thoughts. :)
I liked that about your red hair and peach skin, because I'm always wanting to convince you of how lovely they really are!
Everly
This was a lovely post, Dear. Very good reminders as Everly said. The things you pointed out from the passage are definitely things that I should try more often to remember. Thank you and I love you.
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