What are you doing to combat the temptation to get all stressed out and worried about
some of the uncertainties in your life?
Or some of just the plain hard things you're having to go through?
Or maybe it's not you that you're tempted to worry about, it's somebody you love, somebody
in your family, one of your best friends.
Are you learning what God has given us in His Word as alternatives to worry?
Replacing worry with such things as we've seen over the last three weeks, like praying
instead of worrying.
That's what Paul told us in Philippians chapter 4.
Are you trying to live with the right priorities and focus on one day at a time as Jesus taught
us in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6?
Have you been reading Psalm 137, or 139 rather, that we started looking at last week?
Psalm 139 is one of the great passages of Scripture that call our attention to God and His just
greatness.
But also His personal involvement in our lives.
Psalm 139 is one of the best chapters you could ever read, think about, dwell on.
That would help us to trust God instead of worrying.
Trust Him in every situation, even when we don't know what the outcome's going to be, instead
of being anxious and fretting over it.
I want us to return to Psalm 139 this morning.
I want to begin like I did last week by giving you sort of an overview.
David tells us some things about God, listen, that He found comforting.
Everybody does not.
The first part, verses 1 through 6, God knows everything.
That's what we looked at last week.
Today we're going to look at just verses 7 through 12.
God is everywhere.
Now I said last week that I did not want to take four weeks to go through this because
there's four sections.
There's just no way that I could do justice to it and just go through all these 24 verses
today.
So we're going to do it in four weeks.
Last week, God knows everything.
Today, God is everywhere.
Next week, God can do anything.
Verses 13 through 18.
Then the last week, God will deal with everyone.
Verses 19 through 24.
Let's just read verses 7 through 12 today.
Psalm 139, 7 through 12.
Where shall I go from your spirit?
He's writing about the spirit of God.
He's talking about God.
He's referring here to the spirit of God.
Where shall I go from your spirit?
Where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you're 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 His light with you.
Last week, we looked at verses 1 through 6.
God's knowledge.
What David tells us in those first six verses is that God knows everything.
But we're going to make this personal.
As we go through this, Psalm 139, we are going to see what he says about how great, glorious,
awesome God is.
Because, for example, He knows everything.
But David is making this personal, so we're going to make it personal.
Don't just think God knows everything.
Think God knows me.
And we looked in detail last week how God knows everything about me.
Today, God's presence.
God is everywhere.
But don't just let that blow your mind about God being every place, fully, at the same time.
Think more personally.
God is with me.
God is always with me.
Now, David, the psalmist, he's describing how God is present in every part of the universe.
But what he really wants to emphasize is how God is always present with him.
And the readers of this, we need to think how God is always present with me.
This section begins with two rhetorical questions.
Look at verse 7.
Where shall I go from your spirit?
Where shall I flee from your presence?
David expects everyone who reads this or hears this to say, nowhere.
I cannot escape God.
He thinks that will be the automatic response of people who are hearing or reading this.
But just to make sure there's no misunderstanding, what he does in the rest of these verses that we've read,
he goes on to point out specific ways that God is present in every part of the universe.
Now, keep in mind as we read through this, the psalms are poems or songs.
So David is describing where God is, how he's everywhere in symbolic ways,
as you do when you're writing poetry.
But don't miss the point.
Look at it.
God is in heaven above and the grave below.
That's verse 8.
Look at it again.
If I ascend to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
Heaven is the place of the living.
Sheol is the place of the dead.
Sheol is not hell.
In the New Testament, the word would be Hades.
There is a word that refers to the fire of hell.
The place of punishment, Gehenna.
This is talking about the place of the dead.
That we can think of as until Jesus comes back,
and there's a new heaven and a new earth, and the final state takes place.
In the place of the dead now, there's a place like paradise.
Jesus told a parable about a rich man and a poor man.
The poor man was named Lazarus.
And they both died.
Lazarus was in what he called the bosom of Abraham.
He was in a good place.
A place of comfort.
But the rich man, because he had just been so selfish all of his life,
didn't care about God or other people,
he was in a place of torment.
But it was the place of the dead is what I want us to see here.
Heaven is the place of the dead.
Sheol is the place of the living.
Sheol is the place of the dead.
That's what David is trying to tell us.
But then he tells us in verses 9 and 10,
God is in the east and the west.
Look at what he says, how he says that.
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 eye hand shall hold me.
The phrase, the wings of the morning,
most likely is describing the rays of the sun
as the sun rises in the east,
and that uttermost parts of the sea.
David's riding from Israel.
And to the west is the Mediterranean Sea.
And so he's riding about the uttermost part of the Mediterranean Sea
on the west and the rising sun,
the rays of the sun on the east.
David is trying to let us know, poetically,
that wherever we go,
whether we be high or low, east or west,
God is there.
But then it's a little bit different here in verses 11 and 12.
He points out another way that God's present in our life.
God is present in the darkness.
Look at it again.
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.
You know, there's a lot of people
who think of darkness as scary.
Or maybe secretive.
I don't want to ask any boys and girls
to embarrass themselves by raising their hand,
but I bet there's a lot of boys and girls
in this room right now.
Truth is,
you're scared of the dark.
And truth is,
there's adults in this room,
you're scared of the dark too.
It's sort of a universal thing.
And then,
we as adults,
more likely,
and teenagers
fall into this category too,
darkness is sort of like a secret place, isn't it?
Darkness,
that's where you can go
and hide
or do things
that you hope nobody ever finds out about.
A lot of bad things,
evil things,
take place at night,
take place in the dark.
A lot of things we don't want anybody to do,
we slip around and do it
when we think no one will notice
or see us
at night.
Well,
David is trying to tell us,
listen to this,
David is telling us
that with God,
there's no such thing as darkness.
For God,
He's never in the dark.
God is light,
and so wherever He goes,
He lights up everything.
So,
think of this.
When we think we're doing something in secret,
when we think we're slipping around in the dark,
God is there.
And the,
His spotlight
is shining brightly.
No one else
may see us.
No one else may figure it out.
But God does.
It's sort of like
He's standing over our shoulders.
He's with us.
He's watching.
He knows what we're thinking.
He knows what we're doing.
David's telling us,
wherever you go,
whatever you do,
high, low, east, west,
dark,
whenever.
God's there.
He is there with you.
Now,
those are the verses.
Let's think about it.
Is the thought of God's constant presence
in your life like this.
Does it comfort you?
Is it a good thing to you?
Well, for David, it was.
It really was.
David was not a perfect man,
and most of you know here,
David had his own issues.
He did sinful things.
Sometimes he tried to cover up sinful things.
And the Bible tells us about that.
Very clear.
But at the same time,
overall,
David was thrilled to know
that God knew everything about him.
Look at verse 6 from last week.
Verses 1 through 5 talks about
how God knows everything about us,
and then he says,
such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is high.
I cannot attain it.
He loved the thought God knew,
even though there were some bad things.
He didn't want,
deep down,
he didn't want those bad things to continue.
He was glad God saw it,
knew it,
and brought him to a place of
owning up to it,
confessing it,
being forgiven.
Well, we see now in verse 10
that David finds comfort
in knowing that God is with him.
Look at it, verse 10.
Even there,
your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
David thought of God's hand
as comforting,
strength,
his strong hand.
What about you?
Do you find comfort
in knowing that God
is always with you?
Well, if we have a right relationship
with him,
we should.
If we really understand
who we are as Christians,
united to Christ
by faith,
if we really understand
that our sins are forgiven
because Jesus took our punishment,
we really are right before God
because Jesus lived that perfect,
right life,
and that's credited to us
when we trust him.
So if we really know
who we are in Christ,
we will know that
we are children of God
who are accepted by God.
You know, a lot of people,
even some Christians,
a lot of people think
God's always out to get them.
God can never be satisfied.
I can never be real sure
and comfortable
in my relationship with him
because I'm not perfect.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
Certainly, we are sinners.
We don't deserve his love,
his favor.
We don't deserve to be his children.
But God's God of grace.
He gives what we don't deserve.
God forgives us,
makes us his child
when we trust in Christ.
And that should be comforting to you
to know that God accepts you,
he loves you,
he's your heavenly father,
and he wants to take care of you.
You know, this is a reoccurring theme
in the Bible.
Even the Old Testament prophets,
they had a lot of things to say
to the people of Israel
about their sin,
their just rebellion.
They sometimes did preach
a strong, hard statement
about judgment.
Unless you repent,
you are going to perish.
And that happened.
But the prophets also
offered hope to the people.
The prophets talked about
God's love and God's mercy
and God's forgiveness.
The prophets, a lot of times,
were God's own spokesperson.
Spokesman.
Here's an example.
Isaiah chapter 41.
I'm going to read
from the New Living Translation.
Speaking for God, Isaiah says,
don't be afraid
for I am with you.
Listen, God's saying,
don't be afraid
for I am with you.
Don't be discouraged
for I am your God.
I will strengthen you
and help you.
I will hold you up
with my victorious right hand.
God wants you to understand this.
If you're his child,
he wants to help you this way.
You know, one of the last things
Jesus told his disciples
before he ascended into heaven,
he would always be with us.
Jesus told us,
we need to be in the world
sharing with people
what Christ has done for us,
sharing the gospel with people.
We need to be making disciples.
That's one of the things
we're called to do as Christians.
Well, Jesus didn't say,
go and do that
the best you can.
He says, go and do that
and I'll be with you always.
Look at it.
Matthew 28, 20.
Jesus said,
and behold.
In the New English,
in the ESV version,
English Standard Version,
when you say that word,
behold,
that means sit up
and take notice.
What's about to be said
is very important.
And it says,
and behold,
Jesus said,
I am with you always
to the end of the age.
Jesus said that
because it's supposed
to mean something to us
as his follower,
that he's with us.
It's supposed to help us,
comfort us,
strengthen us.
When or where
do you feel the most alone
or afraid?
When do you feel
the most insecure?
For a lot of us,
it happens during,
while you go through
a crisis at night.
I want you to think,
it happens a lot of times,
it can happen at any time,
but I want you to think
about some of the crises
you have gone through
and it was dark,
it was night.
It just felt like
it would never end.
Think about
when you had a child
who was sick
and you had to sit up
with that child
trying to take care of them.
Or for some of you,
you can,
you can understand this now
and you couldn't
in a time gone by,
sitting up with a parent
who's in bad shape
or even dying.
Sometimes you can be
at a hospital
or even at home.
You're waiting
for them to die.
And it's night.
And you feel so all alone.
You feel like it's going
to last forever.
Sometimes you've had
conflicts in your home
at night.
It may not have started
until 12 o'clock,
but it was going on
at 2 and at 3.
It was a long,
dark,
alone,
anxious night.
Well, the best ways
for us
as God's children
to deal with such times
is to first of all
acknowledge
that He is God
and that we
as His children
can trust Him.
I'm not being
simplistic here.
As we go through
these times,
these times of
anxiety,
loneliness,
isolation,
whatever you want
to call it,
well, the best ways
for us
to deal with it
is to acknowledge,
pray,
talk to someone
we're involved with
about the fact
God is with us
and we're going
to trust Him.
We're going to trust
His promises
that He will not
abandon us.
Look back at that
Isaiah 41.10
that we looked at
a while ago.
I'm going to look at it
now from the
English Standard
Translation.
He says,
Fear not,
for I am with you.
Be not dismayed,
for I am your God.
Look at this.
I will strengthen you.
I will help you.
I will uphold you
with my righteous
right hand.
God wants us
to trust us.
God wants us
to trust Him
that He is
for us,
that He is
with us.
He promises
to give to us,
His people,
His children,
what we need
when we need it.
Look at it again.
He says,
God says,
I will strengthen you.
I will help you.
I will uphold you
with my righteous
right hand.
Here's the question.
Do you trust God
automatically
in those times
of stress?
And just,
it's just natural
for you
as a child of God
to ask Him
to strengthen you
when you are weak.
To help you
when you're helpless.
To hold you up
or hold you together
when you're about
to fall apart
physically,
emotionally,
or even spiritually.
You know,
children do that.
Little children
in a home
where they know
their parents love them
and they know
they can trust
their parents.
When something
bad happens,
children just
automatically,
it's a knee-jerk reaction,
they go to their parents
because they know
their parents
will give them
the strength
or just be there
with them
to help them.
They know their parents
will try to
get them through it,
listen,
encourage,
comfort
in some kind of way.
Well,
God wants us
to reach out
to Him that way
because He is
our Heavenly Father
who loves us
and He enjoys
doing such things
for His people.
Boys and girls,
listen to me,
boys and girls,
wake up.
Wake up.
As I asked you
a while ago,
are you ever
afraid of the dark?
Are you ever
afraid to go
to sleep at night?
Well,
God wants you
to know
that He's always
with you,
that you're
never alone
in that house
or that room
or in that bed.
God promises
to help you.
And so the next time
you're alone,
you're afraid,
say this out loud,
God is with me.
God will strengthen me.
God will help me.
Think to yourself,
I can go to sleep
because God's
going to stay up
all night.
I can go to sleep
in this dark room
because God's here
and it's not even
dark to Him.
He's going to
watch over me.
He's going to
stay on guard.
He's going to
stay alert
so I can
let my guard down
and go to sleep.
You know,
one of the most
comforting statements
in the Bible
about this
is just a statement
found in Hebrews
chapter 13,
verse 5
that a lot of you
know.
I've referred to it
a lot over the years.
I want you to look at it.
For He has said,
talking about God,
I will never leave you
nor forsake you.
I like the way
the NIV translation
really emphasized
the fact that God
will never do this.
Look at it.
Never will I leave you.
Never will I forsake you.
Do you know the context
of that statement?
That's just part
of verse 5.
I want you to look
at the whole thing.
Look at all of verse 5.
Hebrews 13, 5.
The writer says,
Keep your life free
from love of money
and be content
with what you have
for He has said,
I will never leave you
nor forsake you.
The thought is,
our greatest source
of contentment
should be that
we know God
and we have a relationship
with Him
in which He promises
to never leave us
nor forsake us.
God is saying,
keep your life free
from the love of money
and if money's not
your problem,
put something else there.
The love of what?
Be content
with what you have.
In other words,
let God be enough.
Let knowing Him,
having a relationship
with Him,
having His promises
be enough
to make you content
where you are.
There are many reasons
why that's true,
but I want you to note
what's pointed out here,
what's obvious.
God will never leave us
nor forsake us
now or for all eternity.
Money will leave you
and forsake you
eventually.
The fact is,
we are not going to
take any of it
with us
into eternity.
You know,
what we're looking at here,
it's very similar
to what we saw
in Matthew chapter 6
two weeks ago
when Jesus told us
not to worry about
what we eat,
drink,
or wear.
Jesus was just
basically saying,
don't worry about
the necessities of life.
Your Heavenly Father
knows what you need
and He'll make sure
that your needs are met.
Now,
it does not say
that He'll do everything
you want Him to do.
He'll give you
everything you desire.
But Jesus is saying
the key to not worrying
is to trust
your Heavenly Father
knows you,
He loves you,
He's able to meet
your needs,
and He will.
Therefore,
you seek Him first.
You seek His priorities.
You seek His will.
You seek His rule
over your life
is what He actually said.
That's the key
to finding comfort
in the fact
that God is always
present in our lives.
That's the key,
having a close relationship
and trusting Him
this way.
Now,
is the thought
of God always
being with you
comforting
will thank Him?
but let me
switch gears
a little bit.
Is the thought
that God is always
with you
convicting
in the sense
that it makes you
feel guilty?
Or is it
frightening
you?
If it is,
it most likely
means one
of two things.
Either you're
not a Christian
or you are
a Christian
but you're not
living in a
close relationship,
having good
fellowship
with Him.
Let's look at both.
If you're not
a Christian,
you need to
understand that
one day
you're going
to stand
alone
before God
and give an account
for how you've
actually lived
your life
in this world.
That's going
to be a problem
for you
if you're not
a Christian.
Because the Bible
clearly says,
and I want you
to look at it,
Hebrews 4.13,
nothing in all
creation is
hidden from
God's sight.
Everything is
uncovered and
laid bare before
the eyes of
Him to whom
we must give
an account.
We're all
going to stand
before the Lord.
We're all
going to stand
before God
on Judgment
Day.
If we're
Christians,
we've got the
Lord Jesus
standing there
beside us.
And we're
still sinful
people.
We've got a
lot to be
ashamed of,
but Jesus
has paid the
penalty for our
sins.
We are
clean before
God because
of Jesus.
That's how we
get through the
judgment as
Christians.
But if you're
not a believer,
if you're not
one with Christ,
you're going to
stand there
alone.
A pastor by the
name of James
Boyce describes
how, let me
put it this
way, he
describes what
Judgment Day
could be like.
No one knows.
But look at what
he says.
What will you do
on the day when
all your sins
will be read
out?
His idea of
Judgment Day is
God's going to
read from his
book, Our
Life Story.
He says, on
that day, you
will be abased,
confounded,
speechless, and
overwhelmed as
God unfolds the
records of your
sinful past life,
paragraph after
paragraph, page
after page.
Stop, you will
cry.
But God will not
stop until every
sinful thought,
every evil deed,
every curse,
every theft,
every lie,
every neglect of
what you should
have done is
read out and
justly punished.
That's scary.
And it ought to
be if you're going
to stand there
alone.
But the good
news this morning
is you don't
have to wait
until Judgment
Day and be
there alone.
Jesus died on
the cross to
pay the penalty
for the sins
you have
committed.
Jesus died on
the cross to
take your
punishment so
that you could
be forgiven and
so that you
wouldn't have to
be in terror on
the day of
judgment.
But we have to
respond to what
Jesus has done.
Jesus' death on
the cross doesn't
automatically save
anyone.
We've got to
acknowledge we
need a Savior.
We've got to
admit to God our
sinfulness, our
selfishness and
change our mind
about it, repent,
turn from it,
grieve over it.
We've got to put
our faith in Jesus
that he died for
me and call upon
him to save us.
Scripture, one of
the clearest
statements about
this, for
whosoever will
call upon the
name of the Lord
will be saved.
that can be
you if you're
not a Christian
and it bothers
you and you
want to come to
him now.
You'll find
comfort then in
your relationship
with God, not
fear.
But let's think
about the other
scenario.
If you're not
getting any sense
of comfort and
encouragement with
the fact that God
is always with you,
it may be that
you're a Christian
but you've either
rebelled against
God or you've
drifted away from
him.
Either way, you're
not close to him.
If you know that
you've rebelled
against him, you
know there's
something between
you and God, I
want to encourage
you to admit that,
own up to it,
quit denying it,
repent of that,
turn from that,
and come back to
the Lord with a
renewed commitment
to him as the
Lord of your life.
It could be that
you've just drifted
away from the
Lord.
There's no one
thing you can point
to and say, I've
rebelled this way,
I don't care, I'm
never shaking my
fist at God.
It may be that
you've just let
things in your life
become a priority
that shouldn't be a
priority.
And you've just
sort of ignored
him to the point
that there's a
lot of distance
now.
Well, that in
itself is sin that
is separating you
from closeness with
God that needs to
be confessed and
repented of.
You need to come
back to him, if
that's the case
today, in a renewed
commitment yourself
to seeking to know
him better, love
him more, spend
time with him.
As we've seen on
several occasions,
God is ready and
willing to forgive
his returning
children, repentant
children, if we'll
come to him, as the
verse says in 1 John
1, 9, if we confess
our sins, he is
faithful and just to
forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
If you're away from
God, not enjoying
closeness with God, the
idea of him being
everywhere in your
life is not a
comfort to you.
draw to him in
confession that way.
Leave here.
In fact, let me ask
to say this in
closing.
God's presence in
our lives is intended
to comfort us.
I want to encourage you
to do whatever you
need to do so that you
can leave here thinking,
God is present in my
life and I like that.
I love that.
It comforts me.
Whatever God shows you
you need to do for that
to be true about you
when you leave, do that
now as we pray together.
Father, show us how to
respond.
Father, help us to see
from David's life, his
experience, what he's
written here, that the
thought of you knowing
us and always being
with us should comfort
and encourage us, even
though we aren't
perfect.
Dear God, if there's
people in this room who
are not Christians and
that's why they're afraid
and they're running from
you, call them to faith
in Jesus now.
Father, if there are
Christians in this room
who have rebelled, who've
backslidden or just let
too much of the things
of this world capture
their attention, wake
them up, draw them back
to you to that closeness
that you desire with them.
Show us all how to respond.
In an attitude of prayer,
you do what God tells
you to do.
I'll be here at the
front and we'd be happy,
love to pray with you
during this time.
You come.
God so leads you to do
that.
Let's just be still and
quiet, prayerful, and
respond as God speaks to
each one of us.