Rest for Weary Souls: Psalm 139

It was August of 73, my first day at the Citadel. Do you remember the 70s?

Forget the 70s? Yeah.

Don totally said Don was four years old. Well, I wasn't. I was 18. Long hair. You remember the long hair?

I showed up at the Citadel with long hair. A mistake. A mistake. I remember the first words of the junior cadet, third-year cadet who met me. I mean, I knew it was a military school, I figured at least the first day they'd be nice to.

My mama was standing just 20 yards behind me. I walk into the quadrangle at the Citadel. I go up to this guy in this uniform. I stick out my hand and I say, Hi, I'm David Rogers from Greer.

He didn't shake my hand. He didn't say a word. He walked around, got his mouth about two inches from my ear, said to me, if you ever look at me again, I'll kill you.

I said, Mama, what have I gotten into?

It wasn't long that I realized I was stupid, because they told me I was stupid every day. I didn't look too good. In fact, I was downright ugly. I didn't walk right. think right. I couldn't do anything right. They told me day in and day out. They even when I went to eat meals in the mess hall because I just didn't do what I was supposed to. You know, the underclassmen serve the upperclassmen and you're supposed to do it fast and you don't ever let their water get below half. They would throw things at me and I would leave meals with food on my uniform. And after about a month of being told how worthless and sorry and pathetic I was, which was part of the game to make you function in difficult circumstances. But after about a month of that, I was low. And I was lonely. And I was beginning to wonder really could do anything right. I remember mom came to visit me on a Saturday. They would let us out of prison for about two hours on Saturday and I was at a low point. To her credit mom never encouraged me to just come on home because if she had said son you don't have to do this I would have said okay Thank you, Jesus.

But you know, the problem in life is that many, maybe some of you, feel low. Don't feel like you can do anything right. Feel like you're worthless. Don't measure up. Maybe it started when, maybe it was a parent who said some unkind things to you when you were a small child.

Maybe it was friends growing up. But we struggle with this sense of self-worth even into our adult years. Well, I'm here today to tell you that you're special.

and there are three reasons I submit to you why you should feel special so that's our lesson for today three reasons why I should feel special and we're going to go to a passage of scripture in Psalm 139 so if you have your Bibles turn there with me we're going to read the first 17 verses

and then we're going to move through it Psalm 139 the crown of the psalms some commentators have said because it's such a great psalm psalm 139 oh lord you have searched me and you know me you know when i sit and when i rise you perceive my thoughts from afar you discern my going out and my lying down you are familiar with all my ways before a word is on my tongue you know it completely oh lord you hand me in behind and Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there.

If I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you the night will shine like the day for darkness is as light to you for you created my inmost being you knit me together in my mother's womb i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made your works are wonderful i know that full well 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 your eyes saw my unformed body all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be how precious to me are your thoughts oh god how vast is the sum of them were i to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand when i awake i am still with you these are words of rest and comfort for tired and wounded souls let's pray This day, Lord, I pray for those who are alone, for those who are tired, for those who are struggling with a sense of self-worth, I pray that these words will resonate deep in their souls. We praise you and honor you because of how you treat us and care for us. Help us this day to appreciate that more fully.

For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Three reasons I should feel special. These reasons were so important to the psalmist David that he wrote these down to be sung. If you see in Psalm 139, you probably have a little note right before the verse 1.

For the director of music of David, a psalm. David was so impressed with God's care for him, to write a little song and this is his song it was to be sung in worship and i hope when we're done today our hearts will worship our lord for his care for us three reasons why i should feel special reason number one because god knows me and cares for me god knows me and cares for me this is the first six verses that we read and as we read these six verses we see one aspect of god's greatness as a God. He is omniscient. He is omniscient, which means he is all-knowing. The verbs in this passage emphasize God's intimate knowledge of and concern for me.

Look at your Bibles and just look at the verbs. He searched me. He knows me. He perceives. He discerns.

he is familiar when the text says he searched me oh Lord you have searched me it's the idea of exploration it's a word that is used in mining operations when you would mine the earth to find gold or silver and the sense is that God explores us down to the depth of our core the core of our being and because he has explored us he knows us That word know is the word that has the sense of intimate knowledge. You know me. It's even the word that was used in the Hebrew for the intimate relations between a husband and wife. The sexual relationships, that intimate knowledge. And the psalmist is saying, Lord, you know me.

You have this intimate knowledge of who I am. You perceive my thoughts. God understands what we are thinking. he discerns our going out and our lying down that idea of discerning is he scrutinizes our every action it was a word used in the harvest when they harvested wheat they would separate the wheat from the chaff have you ever seen that happening in real life they actually take the wheat and they throw it up in the air and the lighter chaff gets blown away and the heavier your wheat falls back to the ground. Well, God knows what in our lives is valuable, the wheat.

He knows that which is chaff and needs to be blown away. Because he can scrutinize and know us so well, he can help shape us as we grow each day under his guiding hand. He is familiar with all our ways. This intimate knowledge of God extends to every thought we have, every action that we take every word that enters our mind even before we speak the word he knows it he knows our characters he knows everything about us even as Matthew says he knows the very hairs on our head God's thoughts toward us outnumber the grains of sand that exist in the world the psalmist says in verses 17 and 18. You go to the seashore, you see all the sand, all the grains of sand. The psalmist is saying God thinks about you more than all the grains of sand that exist in the world. He knows you thoroughly and completely. Those of us who are parents, we have an intimate knowledge of our children, don't we? I can tell you that when Kate Rogers orders a hamburger she's not going to put mustard on it she doesn't like mustard I can tell you in the morning it's going to be hard to get Caleb Rogers up out of bed the boy loves his early morning sleep I can tell when the footsteps are coming down the stairs of my home I can tell you if it's Caleb or I can tell you if it's Kate because I know the rhythm, the cadence, the sound of the football.

God knows us even better than we know our own children.

With this intimate knowledge comes his protection and his care. The text says he hems us in behind and before.

God is in front of us. He's behind us. He's all around us. He's laid his hand upon us, the text says. And the sense is that God, wherever we are, wherever we go, he is in front of us, behind us.

He's all around us. Because he loves us. And he wants to protect us and to care for us. He is the loving father. Father, those of you who are parents, if your child were in danger, you would go into the face of death itself to protect your child.

God loves us that much. In fact, he loved us so much, he did go into the face of death for us. Did he not? In his son, Jesus Christ.

So we should feel special because we know God knows us and he cares for us. We should secondly feel special because God is always with us and guides us. God is always with me and guides me. This is verses 7 to 12. And what the psalmist is telling us is wherever we find ourselves, no matter where it is, God is there.

And he uses this very graphic language to help us understand this. If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, literally it's in Sheol, the place of the dead, you are there. So from the highest place in the universe to the lowest place in the universe, wherever we are there, God is with us. If we go to the east or if we go to the west, he's with us.

if I rise on the wings of the dawn or if I settle on the far side of the sea, that's east to west. So you go up, you go down, you go east, you go west, no matter, he's there. You can try to escape from him by traveling at the speed of light, but you can't because he's there. He even sees you in the dark. the psalmist marvels that even the dark is as light to God and in the darkness he's with us that's great imagery he sees us and is with us when we're literally in the dark but he sees us and is with us when we're walking through the dark places in our lives the dark valleys the difficult valleys not here saying how can where can I go from your spirit where can I flee from your presence he's not trying to escape from God he's marveling that no matter where he goes God is with him and with his presence comes his guidance the text says your hand will guide me your right hand will hold me fast wherever you are folks, God is with you to guide you in the path that you should go. And his hand, if you are his child, his hand will always hold you. He will never let you go. He will never let you go. He will always be holding on to you.

so I'm special because God knows me and cares for me I'm special because God is always with me and guides me and thirdly I should feel special because God made me for his purposes

the text says that God created our inmost being literally it says God created our kidneys That's the literal Hebrew word for inmost being. But it's the sense that he created our inmost being, our kidneys. He created that which makes us who we are. I think we would probably say he created our spirits. He made us spiritual beings.

It's not just the way you look that makes you who you are. It's the way you are. There's a quality about you, an inward quality. The way you talk, the way you think, the way you act arises out of something about you inwardly. And God even created that inward spirit.

But then he created the physical part of you. The text says he knit us together while we were even in the womb. And that idea of knitting is the picture of a great weaver embroidering a beautiful tapestry. When God was knitting you together in the womb, he was the great weaver. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Paul would say in the book of Ephesians we are God's poiema the translation is workmanship but poiema we get the word poem from it literally we are God's craftsmanship we are God's artwork

we are special because he has made us and knit us together. He saw us and was with us even as we were being formed in the womb. He saw our unformed substance. And the psalmist just can't get over how wonderfully made we are as human beings. Let me give you a little bit of an illustration about God's great artwork, his great workmanship when he knit us together.

itself in the womb is amazing. You see God's wonderful craftsmanship. At conception, did you know you have 46 genes, 23 from each parent. Within two to four weeks, go to the next picture. Yes, sir. I'm sorry, chromosomes.

Thank you. I need a doctor. I should have gotten Dr. Tully. 46 chromosomes.

Millions of genes, 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent correct okay all right how about this at two to four weeks we have a discernible heartbeat and are circulating our own blood

at six weeks six weeks we have fingers on our hands and we have detectable brain waves this is six weeks in the womb at six and a half weeks already moving at nine weeks we have a unique set of fingerprints

and our kidneys are functioning at 10 weeks our gall battery is functioning and by 12 weeks all organs of the body of the baby in the womb are functioning that's within the first trimester folks within the first trimester. The human eye.

The cornea is the front window that bends the light rays into an orderly pattern. The pupil is the adjustable gateway for light that opens and closes depending on the amount of light. The lens of the eye is the envelope of fluid the size and shape of a tiny oval pill that is surrounded by muscles that help focus the lens. The retina is the screen at the back of the eye. In less than one square inch on that retina, there are 137 million light-sensitive receptor cells called rods and cones.

Do you know when the image hits your retina, the image is upside down? But then the optic nerve sends a signal to the brain in two one-thousandths of a second, and then the brain sees the image right side up. that steadily form in your eyes to flush away dust. And there's a micro-killing agent in those tears called lysozyme to help make sure your eyes don't get infected. The eyelids form a protective cover that blink three to six times every minute.

You don't even think about it. They just happen. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. You can touch things with your fingertips. And the sensitivity of the nerves in your fingers can tell you if it's hot, if it's cold, and hurts are gentle and smooth.

There's nothing like the fingertips of Louise running across the sensitive skin of my face. The sweet touch of her lips upon mine.

Okay, we'll stop there.

But isn't it amazing how we are made

and they say there's no God come on well not only are we fearfully and wonderfully made but we're made for a purpose the text says God ordained all of our days before one of them came to be it's literally all of our days were written in his book before one of them came to be And the sense is, folks, not just that God ordained the length of our lives, He created us for a purpose, for His own purposes. He works all things after the counsel of His will, and the counsel of His will was to create you for His purposes.

So three reasons we should feel special. did you get all those god knows me and cares for me god is always with me and guides me and he has made me for his purposes now what are the implications of this and this is where we go to our lessons for life you're special but now what are the implications here's the first lesson for life that I think we learn from this passage God is watching he knows what we are up to this may not always be a comforting thought but it's reality. Sometimes we think no one is watching. Sometimes when we're away from home or family or friends, we think maybe nobody is watching. God is always watching. We tell our children that from the earliest age to help them in their conduct, don't we? No matter where you are, God's watching.

we adults need to remember that too the omniscient God the all knowing God knows so let's live in his presence and behave in his presence as if he is watching second lesson you are never alone no matter where you are no matter what you're going through God knows and is with you you may be in the hospital emergency room and feel all alone You may be in the cancer treatment center. You may be in the family courtroom. You may be in the room at the Citadel. But God is there with you. As Peter Kreeft said, Jesus is there sitting beside us in the lowest places of our lives.

Does he descend into all of our hells? Yes, he does. depths of a Nazi death camp, Kari Ten Boom wrote, no matter how deep our darkness, he is deeper still. God is with you. I know some of you have been and may still be going through places in your lives where you feel no one is with you.

God is always with you. Trust Him. Cling to Him. let's not be proud of who we are but grateful for what God has given us let's not be proud of who we are but grateful for what God has given us in other words whatever skills or gifts we have they are at root from the hand of the one who made us this is how we have proper self-esteem yet avoid pride. To be proud is to strut like a peacock that believes that he made himself so colorful.

To have proper self-esteem is to enjoy the color but to know that we were not the artist.

So whatever gifts you have, don't act like you don't have them. Relish the gifts. Enjoy the gifts. but don't pretend that at root you gave yourself these gifts recognize they came from the hand of god our children need to hear this they need to hear how wonderfully made they are and that god has given them talents and gifts but they need to always recognize that what they have comes from above fourthly god made you for a purpose let's live like it you were not some accident

even if mom and dad told you they didn't intend from their perspective to have you you weren't an accident god opens and closes the womb he made you for a reason but because god made you you owe him a duty the creature owes to the creator a duty we have a responsibility to god he created us but for those of us who are in christ we have a double duty to god because not only did he make us but he died for us so let's live for his purposes let's live to honor and glorify him fifthly quit running from god you cannot in an ultimate sense escape from him anyway or from his call on your life. In scripture we know that there was a point after Adam and Eve sinned that they tried to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord. How do you hide from the presence of the Lord? You can't. Jonah, when God told him to go preach to the city of Nineveh, took off running and his hope was to flee, as the text says, from the presence of the Lord.

God is the hound of heaven. You cannot hide from his presence. So I say to some of you, to some of you, quit running from God. You can't run from his presence.

He's called you for a purpose.

So just acknowledge his presence and begin to live for his purposes. I don't know how many adults I've talked to who have said to me, you know, I feel like God wants me to do this or that, but I just don't feel like I can do that now for whatever reason. He's made you for His purposes. Quit running from Him and start to live for Him and to do His purposes in your lives. I don't know what that purpose is specifically for you.

We're all here to glorify God by whatever we do, but he has a specific plan and purpose for your life. You need to find it and go for it and not seek to avoid it. Sixth lesson.

Abortion is a horrible tragedy that destroys a unique creation.

As God said to Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. the earliest christian writing outside of the new testament is called the didache it means the teaching and in the didache they explicitly say do not murder a child by abortion or kill a newborn infant do you know that one reason the christian faith was so attractive to women in the first century AD it was attractive because Christians did not permit infanticide or abortion and women found this uplifting number one because typically in infanticide it was the little girls that got killed and secondly the fruit of the womb was viewed as valuable in the Christian faith and because they were the bearers of the fruit of the womb. Isn't it interesting how cultures have changed, perspectives have changed?

Now those who would say I'm pro-life sometimes are viewed as anti-woman. Hogwash. A lie from the pit of hell. Those who would say the fruit of the womb of the woman is not worthy of protection demean the woman who bears the fruit.

Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey, a Democrat, said this in 1994. He died in the year 2000. The fundamental question, he said, posed by abortion is this. Once a child has been conceived, what is the proper response of a good society, of America at her best? If pregnancy presents a challenge, do we as a society rise to that challenge or do we steal away dispensing with the challenge by dispensing with the child? And when a pregnancy comes at a difficult time, what is the worthier response? Do we surround mother and child with protection and love or do we hold out to her the cold comfort of a trip to an abortionist? Where is our true character to be seen? In an or at the abortion clinic?

Since when does America abandon in despair an entire class of people, the most defenseless, innocent, and vulnerable members of the human family? How can we justify writing off the unborn child in a country which prides itself on leaving no one out and no one behind?

Last lesson. nothing can separate us from the love of God nothing I am convinced that neither death nor life neither angels nor demons

neither what's next

neither life nor death nor future nor any powers neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation shall be able to separate us from the love of God you are special God loves you some of you need to hear that afresh today because you are tired and you're wounded but God says

Let's pray. Lord, for your grace and your mercy, for your care and your protection, for your gentle touch, we are indeed grateful. I pray for hurting souls this morning,

those who've been touched by rejection, those who've been touched by sickness

those who have straying family members those who have lost loved ones Lord whatever the circumstance it's tough down here God it's tough

but we pray in the middle of the difficulty for your healing presence And I pray for each person here, Lord, that when they are down, they will look up and see who sits on the throne and who loves them and who cares for them. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.