WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.200 but I don't think that's the direction that David has taken us here. I think for David, 00:00:06.740 --> 00:00:12.000 the fact that there is nowhere that he can be hidden from God is actually a source of comfort 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:19.420 to him, because this is a God he trusts in. This is the Lord who knows him and who loves him. As he 00:00:19.420 --> 00:00:26.280 says in verse 10, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand, God's hand of power, as it 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:33.280 were, will hold me fast. And so it's good news for him that wherever he's going to turn, 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:41.140 wherever he's going to go, the God who loves and cares and protects him will be there in all of his 00:00:41.140 --> 00:00:48.760 wisdom. When I was growing up in Skye, we used to hear stories, I'm from the northwest of the island, 00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:54.219 we used to hear stories from the south about the leopard man of Skye. He was quite a famous guy who 00:00:54.219 --> 00:01:00.820 had a leopard print tattoo all over himself, and he grew up kind of off-grid. He lived in the wild. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:07.340 Occasionally, people would sight him coming to the shops. It was this kind of elusive figure. As a 00:01:07.340 --> 00:01:14.659 child, you kind of wanted to see him, then you really didn't want to. God saw him, and God knew him. 00:01:15.539 --> 00:01:19.120 There is nowhere that we can go or anyone can go from the presence of our God. 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:28.359 Look at David's compass with me in verses 8 to 10. I'm imagining here there's a north and a south and 00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:35.180 an east and a west. If we go north, this is proper far north. If I go up to the heavens, 00:01:36.880 --> 00:01:45.719 you are there. Go south, as low as you can think of. If I make my bed in the depths, 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:53.459 if I go to the place of the dead, you are there. Go east, if I rise on the wings of the dawn. 00:01:54.459 --> 00:02:00.560 If I fly to the far side of the sea, if I go as far west as possible, even there your hand will guide 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:11.159 me. Your right hand will hold me fast. Images to show there is nowhere we can hide from this 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:17.900 all-knowing God, and that's a good thing for the people of God. From the compass, he moves to 00:02:17.900 --> 00:02:26.019 darkness. Verse 11, if I say, surely the darkness will hide me. Verse 12, even the darkness will not 00:02:26.019 --> 00:02:33.979 be dark to you. That thick darkness that we read about in the book of Egypt, so that they couldn't 00:02:33.979 --> 00:02:41.780 move because they couldn't see anywhere. If you've ever been in a cave, and the guide has switched off 00:02:41.780 --> 00:02:48.479 all the lights, and there's a darkness so thick you can almost feel it. Perhaps we think of the 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:58.159 darkness when we're lying awake, consumed by fears and worries. Here's comfort. Even the darkness will not 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:03.659 be dark to you. The night will shine like the day. There is no darkness so thick that God can't and 00:03:03.659 --> 00:03:10.060 doesn't see perfectly. Dark and light, day or night, doesn't affect God's total knowledge. 00:03:13.259 --> 00:03:16.800 One more aspect of God's knowledge of us. Verse 16, 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:24.939 In your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before 00:03:24.939 --> 00:03:34.460 one of them came to be. The Lord knows all the days of our life, past, present, future. Before we were 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:42.200 born or conceived, God knew all the days of our lives. They were written in God's book. God has the plan. 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:48.919 We don't know what today will turn out like in the next few hours. We don't know what tomorrow will 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:55.619 bring. We don't know what our circumstances will be in five years' time, but God does. 00:03:57.560 --> 00:04:06.500 And David's intention here, as he outlines God's knowledge and control and plan of our lives, 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:14.900 is to give glory to God, not to do damage to human responsibility. That's not his intention. There is, 00:04:14.900 --> 00:04:20.779 of course, that tension in Scripture. God is totally sovereign, and we are responsible human 00:04:20.779 --> 00:04:30.019 agents. But David's intention here is not to ask that question. It's to praise the God who knows 00:04:30.019 --> 00:04:38.680 everything about us from beginning to end, inside and outside. 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:47.599 And to recognize that what was true for David then is true for you and me now, 00:04:48.359 --> 00:04:52.339 and at the same time is true for the other eight billion or so people living 00:04:52.339 --> 00:04:59.639 on the planet at this particular moment in time. And when we begin to move out to that kind of range, 00:04:59.719 --> 00:05:05.039 it's no wonder, like David, you know, there is that sense of, wow, such knowledge is too wonderful. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:12.719 Compared to our ignorance, compared to our limits, we are confronted here with a God of perfect and 00:05:12.719 --> 00:05:19.539 infinite wisdom who has no need to learn. There is nothing that can be taught to him. 00:05:22.339 --> 00:05:25.779 I was thinking about this this morning before coming out to church. 00:05:27.879 --> 00:05:36.179 I'm thinking about this as an encouragement. God is the only person who sees us and knows us 00:05:36.179 --> 00:05:45.139 completely. And yet, this is the God who invites us into fellowship with him. 00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:53.459 I guess a lot of the time we're really afraid to show what we are really like. We really would not 00:05:53.459 --> 00:05:59.680 like all of the worst of our thoughts and intentions to be made publicly available. 00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:08.039 Remarkably, God knows them, and God still chooses to love. And God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus, to save. 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:15.500 We're going to think about, at the end, three practical applications of what it means for us 00:06:15.500 --> 00:06:22.700 that God knows everything. But let's move to the next question to ask, how does God know everything? 00:06:23.860 --> 00:06:31.379 It takes us to this middle section, verses 13 to 18. Verse 13 really gives us the answer. How does God 00:06:31.379 --> 00:06:40.519 know everything? God knows us as the Creator. For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:48.399 mother's room. So, David lives long before ultrasound. David lives long before those scanned photos similar 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:57.600 to the one up on the screen. But he knows in his day that God knows our origins because God is the Creator 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:04.379 of life. And so, we get this wonderful picture in verses 13 and 15. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:15.480 You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's room. And in verse 15, my frame was not 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:21.980 hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 00:07:21.980 --> 00:07:30.200 It's a picture of an unborn child of an embryo in the womb, skillfully knitted and woven together by God. 00:07:31.420 --> 00:07:36.720 It's one of the many reasons I think we can be so grateful and thankful to science for giving us an 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:45.759 insight into the wonder of what's happening before a baby is born. I was having a little read through 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:54.839 some of the early stages of development. So, in week five of an unborn baby's development, their skin 00:07:54.839 --> 00:08:04.120 has formed, their central nervous system is beginning to develop, their eyes are beginning to take form. 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:11.920 In week six, the brain begins to work, the spinal cord is there, the heart is developing. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:21.240 By week seven, you can identify the head, the arms and the legs begin to form. Week eight, you see a nose 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:29.639 and fingers. By week 12, there are fingernails. And all of that, well, the embryo is still half the size of 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:41.700 one pp. No wonder we find David exclaiming, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:50.379 Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. Praise to God, the master craftsman who knows, 00:08:50.500 --> 00:08:59.759 who controls, who shapes, who weaves every aspect of a baby's development, who then knows all the days 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:10.559 of our lives. And as David begins to consider that reality, and notice again what happens to him in 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:18.859 verse 17. There's a sense of worship and joy and gladness. How precious to me are your thoughts, 00:09:19.199 --> 00:09:27.559 God. How vast is the sum of them. Not I love to think about you, God, but I am amazed, God, 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:34.159 that you think of me and you have so many thoughts of me. This is precious. This is solid gold truth for 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:43.059 David, that God, his creator, the awesome, the infinite God, thinks of us, created us, guides, 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:53.339 and cares for us. So many thoughts. Verse 18, were I to count them? They would outnumber the grains of sand. 00:09:53.340 --> 00:10:01.519 I didn't bring any grains of sand, but I did go into the kitchen for some grains of sugar. Boys and 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:08.080 girls, I wonder, let me try this after, if you were to tip this out into a teaspoon, I would take us a 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:14.879 long time. I don't know if you get any idea how many grains of sugar you find in one little bag. 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:20.740 Well, think about that as a teaspoon of sugar, and then change it to a teaspoon of sand, and then think 00:10:20.740 --> 00:10:27.960 about all the teaspoons of sand on all the beaches in all the world. And that's the kind of picture 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:34.899 that David is trying to paint for us of, this is how much, this is how many thoughts, loving thoughts, 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:43.000 guiding thoughts, caring thoughts that God has towards his children. God knows us as a wonderful 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:49.399 creator. We still have one last question, and it's a question that takes us to, I don't know if you 00:10:49.399 --> 00:10:56.720 find this when reading Psalm 139. Often, when we hit verse 19, it can seem as a really surprising turn, 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:01.980 can't there? The tone seems to change really quickly. But we need to ask the question, what do 00:11:01.980 --> 00:11:10.019 all these reflections, what effect do they have on David? So, we've heard notes of wonder, 00:11:10.019 --> 00:11:17.879 verse 6, such knowledge is too wonderful. Verse 14, I praise you. Verse 17, how precious to me are your 00:11:17.879 --> 00:11:25.539 thoughts. So, David is clearly worshiping the God who cannot learn, who has complete knowledge. He's 00:11:25.539 --> 00:11:33.299 being led to see the supreme worth and glory of God, to recognize the honor that this God deserves, 00:11:33.299 --> 00:11:41.159 the glory he ought to be given, the rightful place he deserves. Therefore, and this is where the turn 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:48.259 comes, this is why the turn comes, I think. Therefore, because this is true of God, David then turns in his 00:11:48.259 --> 00:11:54.459 thoughts to oppose the sin that he sees out there in the world. If only you, God, would slay the wicked, 00:11:54.460 --> 00:12:01.440 those who speak of you with evil intent. Your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:10.400 who hate you? The higher his sense of the glory of God, the more love he feels for his God, 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:17.780 the greater his sense of pain and hatred when God is dishonored in his world. 00:12:17.779 --> 00:12:29.480 Now, that might jar with us, but think about it in our context. Someone we love is bullied. Someone we 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:40.039 care about is treated badly. Doesn't love move us in that moment to a form of righteous anger? 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:47.079 It is right for us to care about injustice. It is right for us to care about those whom we love the most. 00:12:47.080 --> 00:12:53.320 Therefore, as David loves his God, he feels this profound sadness and grief when God is being 00:12:53.320 --> 00:13:02.120 dishonored. As he is committed to God's glory, he finds himself hating that idea of those who would 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:08.940 speak badly of God, those who would refuse to worship God. Rather, they would mock God and misuse his name. 00:13:08.940 --> 00:13:18.240 This idea of love and hate has that idea of what's my fundamental preference, what's the side that I'm 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:26.580 going to choose? And because David chooses God and God's honor, he hates those who stand on the other 00:13:26.580 --> 00:13:34.100 side who dishonor God. So, he opposes the sin out there in the world because he worships. 00:13:34.100 --> 00:13:40.580 Again, I don't know if we've thought about this, but when we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done. 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:45.759 One thing that we are praying for, one way that God is going to answer that, 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:52.220 is that in the end, all those who oppose God will be defeated. 00:13:52.220 --> 00:14:01.540 That God will act so that true worship will be all that is found in his creation. 00:14:04.100 --> 00:14:09.700 And so, because he worships the God of glory, he is opposed to that which opposes God. 00:14:10.340 --> 00:14:15.279 And that then leads him to verses 23 and 24, to oppose the sin not out there, but the sin 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:23.000 in here, the sin that he identifies or wants God to identify in his own heart. He doesn't just stay 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:33.339 with those out there. Verse 23, search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious 00:14:33.339 --> 00:14:40.179 thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. The God who sees 00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:45.559 and knows everything is the God who is able to root out in David any corruption and sin, who is able to 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:52.419 shine his light on it to expose it so that David might put it to death, that he might walk in the 00:14:52.419 --> 00:14:58.439 way of faith, that he might walk in the way of eternal life. And so, you have this sense in David 00:14:58.439 --> 00:15:04.039 that he has this high view of the majesty of God. And the more that he thinks about God, the more he 00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:09.500 becomes aware of how serious sin is. But as he recognizes sin isn't just a problem out there, 00:15:09.500 --> 00:15:15.340 it's in here. He also has a high view of the Lord's greatest covenant love of him. 00:15:17.139 --> 00:15:22.779 And isn't it such good news that there is a God, the God of the Bible, who loves his people despite 00:15:22.779 --> 00:15:31.120 knowing us at our worst? He chooses to send his Son to save us. Well, I said we'd think about some 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:39.200 applications to finish of this truth that God can't learn. Let me suggest three for your further 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:46.320 reflection. One, let me suggest that this has implications for our work. The first six verses, 00:15:47.060 --> 00:15:51.940 you know, David has been saying in various ways, God sees and knows everything about all of our daily 00:15:51.940 --> 00:15:59.720 activity. And that reminds us that all of our daily activities, including our work, they matter to him. 00:15:59.720 --> 00:16:10.220 You know, part of our dignity as image bearers is that we have work to do from Genesis 1 to steward 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:17.600 the earth. So, whether we work in school or university, whether we're working in a workplace or at home, 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:27.500 we have the chance to give God glory. As we remember, moment by moment, we live before the face of God, 00:16:27.500 --> 00:16:37.580 who sees what we do, who hears what we say, and knows our intentions as we do. 00:16:39.019 --> 00:16:47.320 So, we're invited here to remember wherever we go with our work, God is there, that we might ask that God's hand 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:56.420 would guide us, that as we're in our workplace or we're in our school or our university, we can talk to our God, 00:16:57.660 --> 00:17:01.860 and we have an invitation to work hard for Jesus' sake. 00:17:03.460 --> 00:17:06.360 The truth that God can't learn should influence how we work. 00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:13.080 It should also influence what we do with our worries and how we think about them. 00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:19.339 In verses 7 to 12, we're reminded that wherever we find ourselves, whatever our circumstances, 00:17:19.579 --> 00:17:22.819 wherever God places us, again, God is there. 00:17:24.379 --> 00:17:26.460 God is there in the hospital ward. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:30.240 God is there in the quietness of our home. 00:17:31.919 --> 00:17:34.899 God is there if he calls us to the mission field. 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:39.559 God is there when we're called to meet with a difficult person. 00:17:39.559 --> 00:18:09.539 God is there. 00:18:09.539 --> 00:18:13.559 His complete knowledge of all of God's days, all of David's days. 00:18:14.940 --> 00:18:23.139 He is able to sleep, and he is able to awake and know that waking or sleeping, God is with us. 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:28.659 This God, he knows us completely. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:31.740 Our God, he knows what we need. 00:18:32.579 --> 00:18:36.619 He knows how to care for us all the days of our lives. 00:18:36.619 --> 00:18:42.419 And so we are invited to trust him and to rest and to sleep. 00:18:44.519 --> 00:18:52.199 Lastly, with David, this reality that God can't learn has implications for our worship. 00:18:53.019 --> 00:19:00.419 We see it so clearly that as David gives himself time to ponder and to reflect on God's precious thoughts, 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:01.079 what happens? 00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:03.079 It leads him to praise. 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:03.720 It leads him to praise. 00:19:06.659 --> 00:19:11.039 Thinking about how majestic and wonderful God is. 00:19:11.539 --> 00:19:14.599 It's actually such a wonderful antidote to our worries. 00:19:15.299 --> 00:19:19.079 As we remind ourselves how great the God who cares for us is. 00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:27.759 David loves and finds it precious that God has so many thoughts about him. 00:19:28.879 --> 00:19:34.740 Well, let's finish with one supremely precious thought that God has towards us. 00:19:34.980 --> 00:19:36.199 Let's think about the gospel. 00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:47.480 Let's think about the reality that the God of infinite, perfect, complete wisdom sent his Son into our world, 00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:51.059 knowing it was the only way to save sinners. 00:19:51.180 --> 00:19:55.559 That the perfect, eternal Son of God became one of us, 00:19:56.500 --> 00:19:58.620 became fully and truly human. 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:02.140 That Jesus, the Son of God, he had to learn. 00:20:02.140 --> 00:20:05.800 And he had to learn obedience through suffering. 00:20:07.420 --> 00:20:15.360 Jesus suffered and died for our sin, for our spiritual ignorance, 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:21.820 to bring us to know this God as our Lord, 00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:31.180 that we might know that all of our lives God is with us and God is for us. 00:20:32.140 --> 00:20:36.860 And there is nothing that can separate us from this God. 00:20:37.660 --> 00:20:40.759 Let's pray for a moment to give him thanks. 00:20:45.700 --> 00:20:54.040 Lord, our God, we thank you for a moment to stop and to reflect with David the Psalmist 00:20:54.040 --> 00:20:57.620 about how great you are. 00:20:57.619 --> 00:20:58.619 Lord, that you are. 00:20:58.619 --> 00:21:17.379 Lord, that you have thoughts of any kind towards us is amazing when we think about how great you are. 00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:20.799 When we think about how many people there are in this world, 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:27.839 that you are able to have complete and perfect knowledge of all of our lives is beyond our ability to process. 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:37.839 But Lord, as we reflect, we do pray that with David we would be drawn into increased worship. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:43.439 As we recognize that you are the God who sees and knows everything, 00:21:43.539 --> 00:21:48.179 may that transform our daily lives, including our daily work. 00:21:49.539 --> 00:21:54.439 And as we recognize there is nowhere where we can be hidden from you, 00:21:55.220 --> 00:21:57.919 that there is no darkness that's not light to you, 00:21:58.699 --> 00:22:02.639 may that give us comfort in our worries and our fears. 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:06.420 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:22:07.259 --> 00:22:07.520 Amen.