[0:00] As you know, several weeks ago I started preaching several sermons from Psalms and I fully intended to be out of the book of Psalms by now and on to something else. But you know, as we add the Callum's baby dedication this morning, I couldn't get out of Psalms without going to Psalms chapter 139.
[0:19] There are so many things in Psalms that remind us of God's love for us, that remind us of God's plans for us. And Psalms 139 is certainly one of those.
[0:30] So we're going to look at Psalms 139 this morning, so I'd encourage you to find it in your Bible and follow along. And I'm going to ask as we read from Psalms 139, if you're able, I'm going to ask if you would stand together as we read God's Word.
[0:49] Psalms 139, beginning in the first verse, and this is what God's Word shares. O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my down-sitting and my uprising.
[0:59] You understand my thoughts afar off. You compass my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, you know it altogether.
[1:12] You have beset me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high. I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit?
[1:23] Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
[1:41] If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hides not from you, but the night shines as the day.
[1:51] The darkness and the light are both alike to you. For you have possessed my reins. You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
[2:04] Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, and was curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
[2:16] Your eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect, and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
[2:27] How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.
[2:39] When I awake, I am still with you. Let's bow our heads as we pray together this morning. Lord God, once again, we thank you for this time that you've allowed us to have together in your house, in your presence, with our Christian spiritual body of believers that are gathered around us.
[2:55] We just thank you for this time. And Lord, just the amazing thing to be able to read from your word that we know is true. So many things in our lives we can read, we can listen to, and we can wonder whether it's true or whether it's something that's been made up.
[3:10] Lord, as we read your word, we can know it is the truth. And Lord, we understand that you have a message for each one of us this morning. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to remember it's not a message for our spouse, the person beside us, our child, our parent.
[3:24] It is for each one of us. So help us to have ears that are open, that are ready to listen, that are ready to accept your word as truth and ready to live it out in our lives. So Lord, we just pray that you would speak to our hearts on this day.
[3:37] And it's in the name of Jesus Christ that we pray. And all God's family said, Amen. You can be seated this morning. As we look at Psalms 139, to me, this is, I mean, all God's word is good.
[3:52] All God's word is inspired and is just full of good things for us. But what a wonderful chapter. Because this reminds us that there is someone who knows us best.
[4:04] If we start thinking in our lives, and if I were to just ask you the question, who knows you best, what would you say? Often, though, we think, well, our spouses maybe know us best, our children know us best, our best friend knows us best.
[4:22] And they may know a lot about us. But the reality is, as we look at this chapter, we are reminded that there is one and one alone that truly knows us best. And that's God.
[4:34] He knows us more than anyone else could ever possibly know us. And look at this first verse, what it shares. It says, O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
[4:49] Just that short verse is pretty powerful when you start thinking about it. How do you feel, or what do you think it means that God has searched you? What do you think?
[4:59] Any thoughts come to mind? What does that mean, that God has searched you? Annabelle, she's got her hand up back there. Okay, he's watching us all the time.
[5:11] Now, that could also be a little scary, right? What else when it says that he has searched you? What do you think that means? I mean, we search for a lot of things, right?
[5:23] You know, we think in our lives, we search for a lot of things that are very, very important. You know, one of the things we think about with family, we think about marriages, because that's the foundation or the beginning of a family.
[5:34] And in your life, you search for that person, don't you? You search for that person that you want to be linked to in your life. It's a search that you go on. And it's not always an easy search, is it?
[5:46] But in order for that search to happen, do you know what you need to do? You need to put in time and effort, don't you? Isn't that right?
[5:57] Or do you just wait for a person to just drop down out of heaven right in front of you, and, oh, there's my spouse. Is that the way it works? Is it? No, you have to put in effort.
[6:08] You have to go out, you meet people, you go through the whole process of getting to know them. It is an investment of your time and energy in your search for a spouse. But you know what?
[6:19] As we think about here, it says God has searched us. And I do believe that means that God has invested time and effort into every one of us. Do you understand that?
[6:31] God spends time thinking about you. Isn't that an amazing thought? The creator of the universe, the one who made everything we see and know around us, he spends time thinking about you.
[6:48] He spends time thinking about me. You know, I think that sometimes, and I'm just dumbfounded by that. You know, you think, does anyone know what is the current population on the earth?
[7:00] Anybody know? Eight billion? Something like that? Close to nine billion now. All right, I know it keeps going up and it goes up quickly.
[7:12] Think of that number nine billion. I don't even know how many zeros that is. I'm not a math guy. That's a lot of zeros, right? How many? Oh, that'd be nine zeros. I should probably know that, shouldn't I?
[7:25] Nine billion. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people. We couldn't even begin to count that high. If you started counting right now, do you know how long it'd take you to count to nine billion?
[7:35] Nine billion? I'm not even sure you could get there. That is a tremendous number of people. And you know what? In that nine billion people, God still spends time thinking about you.
[7:49] That is a pretty special thought, isn't it? It says He has searched us. He invests time and effort. And then it says because of that, He knows us.
[8:01] Well, think about what that means. People that you know, what does that mean? It means you're familiar with them, doesn't it? That you know them. You know something about them. You've had conversations with them.
[8:13] You know, when it says God has known us, it means He's familiar with us. He recognizes us for who we are. He's familiar with both the good in our lives and what else?
[8:25] Say the other part. And the bad. And the reality is, there's good and bad in all of us, isn't there? We don't like to admit that, do we?
[8:36] Is there good in all of us? Yep. Is there bad in all of us? Yeah, I'm not going to make you turn to your neighbor and say there's bad in you. But there is. But here's the thing.
[8:47] God knows it all. Because He knows us better than anyone else. And again, people that you spend a lot of time with, they tend to know the good and the bad. You know, I probably spend more time with Tammy than anybody else in my life.
[9:01] And Tammy, you know my good qualities, don't you? Okay. You know what else she knows? The bad, she said. We're not going to name them right now.
[9:12] We don't need to go into that. But the people that know us best are most familiar. They understand that there is good and bad, that there are struggles that we have, that there are weaknesses that we have. You know what God knows about that about each one of us?
[9:24] He knows the wonderful qualities that we have, but God also sees and He knows the shortcomings within us. So how does God know us so well? Well, these verses, they tell us pretty clearly.
[9:37] I want you to look back in verse 13 of Psalms 139. Look at what it says in 13 through 15. For you have possessed my reins, you have covered me in my mother's womb.
[9:50] I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
[10:06] What do those verses mean? It's not complicated. What do they mean? He knows you better than you know you, but why?
[10:19] He created you. It says that you were curiously wrought, intricately wrought, that God is the one that formed you, God is the one that put you all together. And it says because of that, and I like the way it puts it.
[10:32] I think it is great if you look in verse 14. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Do we understand we are wonderfully made?
[10:47] What does that mean? We're complicated? Well, that is very true. We are complicated. But we're wonderfully made. It means again when God makes people, He doesn't make mistakes.
[11:01] God forms you and creates you, and you are a beautiful creation of God, that God loves you. You know, it's easy to understand. And here's the thing. When we look at infants, when we look at babies, I think these are easier to understand.
[11:16] It's easier to look at a baby and say, Oh, they're just wonderful. Isn't that an easy thing to do? I mean, it's an easy thing for me to hold Callum, and he's smiling and just looking like a beautiful little baby, and I'm sure he always looks like that.
[11:30] But it's easy to look at a baby and just say, Oh, what a wonderful little baby. Isn't that an easy thing to do? Isn't it? What about an adult?
[11:42] Is it always as easy to look at them and say, Oh, what a wonderful person. Is that sometimes more of a challenge? Is it? I think it is.
[11:54] They're not always cute and smiley. But we have to remember, they're still a creation of God, aren't they? They are still, even if we have difficulty getting along with them, even if they rub us the wrong way, do you know what it says here?
[12:10] They are still wonderfully made. God still invested time and energy in creating that person. And you know what? That alone is what gives them worth.
[12:21] Whether they agree with us or not, whether they see things the same way that we do or not, whether they're, regardless of anything else, they're still valuable to God, aren't they?
[12:34] Everybody say yes. And if they're still valuable to God, do you know what they should be to us? Valuable. It says we're fearfully and wonderfully made, and look at what it says after that.
[12:48] Marvelous are your works. If every person that is on the earth, all nine billion, are all creations of God, they are all works of God, and it says marvelous are your works, what does that mean about each one of those people?
[13:03] Means they're marvelous, doesn't it? Doesn't it? Are you all awake this morning? Okay. It means they're marvelous. Think in your life, how many people would you have a hard time looking at it and say, you're marvelous.
[13:21] You are an amazing work of God. There are some people, let's be honest with each other, it would be much easier to say, you're a piece of work, all right. That's not the same meaning, is it?
[13:35] We can say somebody is a piece of work, and what do we mean? Yeah, not a good piece of work. But here, it's reminding us that they're God's creation, and they are a marvelous work.
[13:49] They might be a flawed work, but guess what? So are you. So am I. I have flaws. Flaws because we live in a sinful world.
[14:00] But we need reminded that God created us, that He created those people around us, and they are a marvelous work of God.
[14:11] They are valuable to Him, and therefore, they need to be valuable to us. That should make us easier to love those people that maybe rub us the wrong way, to love those, and to show love to people that don't always show love in return.
[14:26] We need to always remember that there's still a creation of God that we need to love. And then you look down in verse 16, and it continues on with just some amazing things.
[14:38] In verse 16, Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect, or not completed. And in your book, all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them.
[14:50] How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! You know what that means? Again, it means that God created us, and it means He's got a plan for us.
[15:07] Do you think God would create something without having a plan for it? I'm just going to create this one. I don't know. I've just got spare time, so I'm just going to create it. When God creates something, He has a plan for that, because God knows how things are supposed to fit together.
[15:23] You know, you think about in the beginning, in Genesis, when it talks about God creating the heavens and the earth, and then He created all the, separated the sea from the land, and He created all the animals, the birds, the fish.
[15:34] We know all that in Genesis. Isn't it amazing how it all fits together and works? Isn't that amazing? Do you think you could do that? I'd have it all mucked up.
[15:46] It would never work. It would be a disaster in the end. And yet, God has fit it all together just perfectly so it works. God put the planet we live on just in that right spot where we don't freeze to death and we don't boil.
[15:59] And it wouldn't take too many degrees either way to have one of those things happen. God put it in just the right spot. Mark talked about planting and about harvest and the seasons that God gives.
[16:10] Aren't they amazing when you think about it? That every year, there is a time when eventually, and you wonder sometimes, I'm sure, but eventually there's that time when it's fit to plant and you can get things in the ground.
[16:22] That's amazing, isn't it? And then it's amazing that God sends the amount of rain that's needed for things to grow. God sends the sunlight that things need to grow and to flourish and things grow and have that season.
[16:35] Then in the summer, they continue to grow and then in the fall, you harvest. Isn't it amazing the way that all fits together? Mark, do you have any doubt that there will be a harvest this year? Always has been and always will be.
[16:48] Why is that? Because God knows what He's doing. Because God is faithful. And if God can make these huge plans for our planet and for the seasons and all those things, can't we also have the confidence that God has a plan for our lives?
[17:05] That God knows exactly what He's doing. That if we put our trust in Him, He'll take care of it. Look back in verse 3. I know I'm jumping back and forth in this chapter, but look in verse 3.
[17:19] You compass my path and my lying down. It means you comprehend it and are acquainted with all my ways. There's not a word in my tongue, but O Lord, you know it altogether. You have beset me behind and before and you laid your hand upon me.
[17:35] That means God has a path for you to go down. He has a plan for your life. What an amazing thought. I look at Callum up here. How old is Callum now?
[17:46] Five and a half months old. Do you know that God knows all about Callum? Do you know that God knows the things Callum is going to go through in his life? Do you know that God has a plan and a purpose for Callum's life?
[18:03] Everybody say yes. God has that. He knows it. It says He knows our down-sitting and our uprising and He understands our thoughts. He has all these things planned out. He knows what He wants for us.
[18:15] And you know what God wants for us? He wants what is best. You know, sometimes I think back to, I was a juvenile probation officer for a while.
[18:30] And I had a lot of kids that I would have to talk to that had troubled lives, got in a lot of trouble, had a lot of difficulty. And you know what? Usually they didn't have a good relationship with their parents. Or I think to the years that I was a youth pastor and I'd talk with youth all the time and sometimes they would face a lot of challenges and they didn't always get along with their parents.
[18:50] Do teenagers always get along with their parents? No. It can be a rough time. But so often what I would remind them of is you know what?
[19:01] For most of them, not all, but most, they had parents who loved them. And I would tell them, do you know what? Your parents are the biggest cheerleader that you're ever going to have in life.
[19:12] Isn't that true of a good parent? They're the biggest cheerleader that you can have. Why? Because they want what's best for their child. They want them to make the best decisions.
[19:23] They want them to go down a good path in their life. As teenagers though, teenagers don't always understand that, do they? They just look at the rules and what they can and can't do and they kind of fail to see the big picture.
[19:35] But you know what? Sometimes that's us with God. Do you understand God not only knows you best, but there is nobody else that wants greater things for you than God.
[19:49] There is nobody else that has a better plan for you than God. God wants what's best for you. That doesn't mean God always wants you to be wealthy.
[20:02] It doesn't mean God always wants you to just have 100% good health and never any sicknesses or challenges. That's not what it means because sometimes, sometimes those things can be good for us, can't they?
[20:14] Can't they? No, we don't have a hard time agreeing with that. You know, I'm guessing that Callum, like most children in his life, is going to have to get some shots or some vaccinations or some things like that along the way.
[20:33] Are those fun for a child? The child gets a little older, but maybe, you know, three, they still don't understand all that. You take them in to get a shot. Do they like it?
[20:44] Why not? It hurts. It's uncomfortable. I have a granddaughter that would like to eat candy all the time. Do you think they let her eat candy all the time?
[20:58] No. A lot of times, but not all the time. Why not? It's not good for them, but that's what they want. Doesn't matter because they know that's not good for them.
[21:10] You know, God has us go through things in life sometimes that are part of His plan that we don't understand because maybe they hurt or maybe they make us uncomfortable and maybe we just don't like it. Guess what?
[21:20] God still wants what's best for us. Maybe you go through a financial challenge. Maybe you go through a health challenge and so many times that leads people to say, well, I just don't understand why God would have me go through this.
[21:31] Of course you don't because your thoughts are not as high as God thoughts. You don't understand all of His plans, but what you do need to understand is God wants what's best for you. If you're putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and you have a relationship with God, He has a plan for your life.
[21:48] But you know what we need to do? Trust. Trust that God has a plan. Know that He understands what is best for us, not us.
[22:01] These verses in Psalms are a reminder of God's love for us, of the fact that God knows us, and of the fact that God has a plan.
[22:12] God's got a plan for Callum. God's got a plan for Mailey, for Micah, for Ridge, for Sophia, for the other Sophia, for Oliver, I'm trying to name all, Penelope and Paisley back here, all the kids that are here.
[22:26] God has a plan for them. You understand that, right? What about the rest of you? All of us. Isn't that true? And you may think, well, I'm already whatever age.
[22:38] Does that mean God's plan for you is over? God's plan does not end. That's the thing. When you follow Him, God's plan does not end. It doesn't matter how old you are.
[22:51] God's plan for you continues. He still has things He wants you to do and wants you to accomplish. He still has good things for you. And what about when the end comes and you draw your last breath?
[23:01] Well, that's the end of the plan, right? Nope. Not if you're a follower of Jesus Christ. If you have that relationship with God, when you draw that last breath, God's plan doesn't end.
[23:12] It just continues. You go on to the next stage, the next step of that plan. That's how much God loves you. That His plans for your life, God wants them to be eternal plans.
[23:27] You know, I look at my life and I'm just grateful that I serve a God that loves me that much. I don't always understand the plans God has for my life. I know sometimes people ask me, well, this doesn't make sense.
[23:39] Explain it to me, Pastor. And you know what I sometimes tell them? I can't. I don't have all the answers. But if you are following Jesus Christ, what I can tell you is God does have a plan.
[23:53] What I can tell you is just trust in Him. Know that He loves you. Know that God always wants what's best for you. Even if it takes you through difficulty, God knows and wants what is best for you.
[24:07] Never forget that. Never forget that. And you know what else we need to do? We need to continually pray, God, help me to follow your plan for my life. Cody and Madison, pray for Callum often that he'll follow God's plan.
[24:24] That's true for the rest of us, too. We need to be praying that we follow God's plan, that our church body follows God's plans, that the people we care about follow God's plans. That needs to be our priority.
[24:37] God loves you. He's got a plan. Let's just make sure we're following. Let's bow our heads this morning. Lord God, thank you again for your word, and I thank you just for all the wisdom that it contains.
[24:49] And the reality is, Lord, from the beginning you had a plan, from creation on. You had a plan in sending your son, Jesus Christ, to this world to live and to die for our sins.
[25:00] You had a plan that he would overcome death and rise again, and he did. And that plan was so that we could have everlasting life, so our sins could be forgiven. Lord, that's part of your plan for us as well.
[25:12] And Lord, I just pray if there's anyone in here that has never accepted Jesus Christ that this morning that they would do that, that they'd put their trust in Jesus Christ. Lord, for those that have already done that, remind us that you have a plan for our lives, and it is so important that we desire to follow your plans.
[25:28] Remind us, Lord, that we have a God that created us, a God that knows us, a God that loves us, and a God that wants what's best for us. Help us never to forget that in times of good and in times of challenge.
[25:40] Help us to always remember your love for us. And we ask and pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.