I'm going to guess that in this room there's a lot of you that have something in common with me when I was a kid.
As a little child, and I'm not going to tell you how long it took me to get over it, I was afraid of the dark.
And sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night because I thought I heard something.
And we lived out in the country and we didn't have air conditioning, so in the summer, really late spring, summer, this time of year, we always slept with the windows up.
And when you're sleeping with the windows up and you hear something outside, you're a little kid, you get scared.
A lot of nights I can remember getting scared.
But then I would hear a sound, a familiar sound coming from the next room that I really liked.
That was my dad snoring.
Snoring loud.
But you know, as a little kid, hearing my dad snore in the next room did not keep me awake.
That helped me to sleep.
Because it really did make me feel secure.
It was comforting.
Wasn't any booger going to get me with my dad in the next room.
In Psalm 139, David had a better source of comfort, knowing he was not just in the next room, but that he was with him everywhere he went.
David talks about the comfort he found in knowing God, knowing that he was always with him, that he knew everything about him.
And as we're going to see this morning, that God made him.
Psalm 139 is one of the most comforting chapters in all the Bible.
It teaches us a lot about just who God is, how he is.
What I want us to see is, as a part of this series, why we're focusing on Psalm 139.
It's really written in four different sections, four different thoughts.
Thoughts.
We're in the third one today.
It teaches us why we can and should trust God instead of worrying about life's uncertainties, life's hardships.
You know, life's that way.
There's times in our lives when we just have sort of a, we're anxious because we don't know what's going to, about to take place.
We're anxious about some people or situations.
And sometimes we're stressed out because we're going through a hard time personally or because of somebody we are close to, we love, who's going through that hard time.
Well, David found great comfort in all such situations in knowing who God was, how he was, how he was so involved in his life.
I want you to look at the first two things we have seen in Psalm 139.
Show you what I'm talking about.
We're not going to go through any of this.
I just want to show you the statements.
In verses 1 through 6, David tells us about God's knowledge, about how God knows everything.
But as you read that, David made it personal, so we're going to make it personal.
God doesn't just know everything.
God knows me.
That's how we need to think.
God knows me and everything about me.
Then in the next section, 7 through 12, David writes about God's presence.
God is everywhere.
As we looked at last week, we need to make this personal.
God is with me.
Always.
We can always count on him.
No matter where we go.
Even if we want to escape him, we cannot.
God is always with me.
Well, the third section, verses 13 through 18, really tells us how God knows us so well
and can always be wherever we are.
Let's read it together.
Psalm 139, verse 13.
For you formed my inward parts.
David is writing, writing a poem, writing a song about how God is so involved in his life.
For you formed my inward parts.
You knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works.
My soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance.
In your book were written every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God.
How vast is the sum of them.
If I would count them, they are more than sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
The source of David's comfort and praise in these verses is God's power.
God can do anything.
And the way he makes it personal,
and the way that we need to make it personal is to think this.
God made me.
God made you.
We're going to look at what that means.
The description of how God made us is comprehensive here in these verses.
God created each of us according to who he wanted us to be.
God made you according to who he wanted you to be,
and according to the life he had planned out for you.
Let's look at it.
First, think this way.
Think about this.
God made us.
David describes that in verses 13 and 15.
Let's look at verse 13 again.
For you formed my inward parts.
You knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I want you to look at how Chuck Swindoll describes God's work of forming and knitting us together
in his paraphrase of that verse.
Look at it.
For God alone, none other, originated my vital organs.
You knitted my inner being together in the womb of my mother.
David is trying to tell us.
God made us from the inside out.
And then in verse 15, look at it.
My frame was not hidden from you.
When I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Now that last phrase, don't let it throw you off, in the depths of the earth,
that's a poetic description of a child being formed in secret,
as he just said, in the mother's womb.
Poetic expression.
He uses a lot of imagination to try to help us understand the work of God.
The mother's womb is a dark, hidden, secret place.
Look again at Swindoll's paraphrase of this verse.
My skeleton and bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in that concealed place of protection.
When my veins and arteries were skillfully embroidered together
in variegated colors like fine needlepoint.
Now let's think about what we've read, verses 13 and 15 together.
David is describing how God carefully, and like an artist,
skillfully created each individual human being.
God created our inner parts and our outward form.
This includes your physical features and your psychological makeup.
In other words, think like this.
God made your basic personality.
And God made you, your form, your structure,
how you are, high, you know, tall, short, whatever.
God made your physical appearance to be as it is.
Now, let's make some quick corrections or adjustments here.
The fact that God made us this way does not mean that we should not try
to look as good as we can.
For the benefit of some people, let me say that again.
Just because God made us a certain way
does not mean we should not try to look a little bit better
in every way, to act a little bit better.
But here's the real point.
You are who you are by God's design, personality, overall structure,
and you can't change who you really are.
You can't change the way God made you in this kind of specific way.
If you're six feet five, you cannot be five feet five.
If you are wired in such a way that, you know,
you're just the kind of person who's always alert,
you're sort of a type A, you know, everything matters,
you can work on it,
but you're never going to be just a laid-back,
K, Sera, Sera kind of guy or girl.
If you ever do the Myers-Briggs type indicator,
you can go online and do that.
That's a great personality test,
sort of figure out who you are, why you are the way you are,
and that's just you.
Every couple ought to do that.
Understand who you are by God's design,
who it is you've married.
You can't change who you married.
It's not your job to change who you married.
Just like it's not who you married,
it's not their job to change you.
God made us.
Now, along this line,
every person should have a healthy sense of self-worth
or self-esteem for at least three reasons.
Number one, God created us in His own image.
Out of all the creation,
only human beings were created in God's image.
I want you to look at a verse of Scripture
that I know you're familiar with.
We've looked at it in days gone by.
I've done studies about this.
But just look at Genesis 127.
So God created man in His own image.
In the image of God, He created him.
Male and female, He created them.
Men and women equally are created in the image of God.
And for if no other reason,
you ought to think,
I am of worth and value as a human being in this world
because I am created in the image of Almighty God.
Number two, God created us as the person we are.
That's what we just read in verses 13 and 15.
You are not an accident.
You are not a mistake.
Every single one of us in here,
we can think, we can look around and think to ourselves,
I wish I was like that person.
I wish I was built like that person.
I wish I had the personality of that person.
I wish I could be more laid back.
Or I wish I could be more assertive.
See, there's always somebody
that you think, I'd like to be like them.
And a lot of times they're your opposite.
God has a reason for you being you.
So be you.
Be your best you.
But be you.
Number three,
God sent His Son to save us
in spite of all of our sins,
our flaws,
and our failures.
In case I don't say it at the proper time later on,
I hope I do.
Nobody has it all together.
We all are messed up in some way.
A lot of times we want to do our way
instead of God's way.
Life's all about me
and my glory,
not God and His will and His glory.
We need to understand
that we are sinful people.
We've come short,
far short,
of God's standards,
God's expectations,
God's commands,
God's glory.
And the penalty for sin is death.
We don't deserve anything from God
except death,
separation from Him.
We should reap what we sow.
But the good news,
look at Romans 5, 8.
But God shows His love for us
in that while we were still sinners,
rebels,
selfish,
arrogant,
while we were still sinners
of whatever kind,
Christ died for us.
God did something we did not deserve.
He provided a way for us
to be forgiven of our sins,
made right with Him,
made children of Him
through the actual merits
of what Jesus did,
living His righteous life
and dying on the cross
to pay the penalty for our sins.
All of us,
we should accept who we are
by God's design
and then seek to be
the best that we can possibly be,
living according to
God's owner's manual.
God made us as we are
and He's given us
an instruction book,
His Word,
the Bible,
to guide us
in everything
of importance in life
in terms of what we should believe
and how we should live.
How we should live
in a relationship to God
and how we should live
in a relationship
with other people,
people we go to school with,
work with,
and especially we live with.
Now,
God's not only given us
instructions
on how He wants us to live
as the person He created us,
but if we're Christians,
if you truly are
trusting in Christ
as your Savior and Lord,
when that took place,
when you first believed,
when you were born again,
God put His Spirit in you,
and the Holy Spirit
living in every Christian,
every Christian,
He will enable us
to better understand
God's owner's manual.
He will help us
to believe it.
He will help us
to put it into practice.
Because we still have
this sinful nature,
we're not going to put it
into practice perfectly,
but He's going to help us,
He's going to give us
the desire
and the ability
to grow
and actually make progress
in living like God's people.
God not only made us,
but I want you to look
further in verse 16,
God planned our life.
Look at it.
Your eyes saw
my unformed body.
All the days ordained
for me were written
in your book
before one of them
came to be.
That's out of the NIV translation.
David's telling us,
listen to what he's saying,
before God formed us,
he planned out our life.
God made us for a purpose.
That's another way
to look at it.
The prophet Jeremiah
understood that.
Prophet Jeremiah understood
that God didn't just make him,
but God made him
for a specific purpose,
a reason.
One big one.
Probably a lot of little ones,
but one big one.
Look at how he describes it
in Jeremiah chapter one.
He said,
the Lord gave me this message.
I knew you
before I formed you
in your mother's womb.
Before you were born,
I set you apart
and appointed you
as my prophet
to the nations.
Jeremiah is saying,
before I was ever a thought
in my father's mind,
before my mother and father
even knew one another,
God knew me.
He knew that I was going
to come to be
at a certain place
at a certain time
and God planned
what I was to do
in terms of serving
his purpose
in this world.
He understood that.
Here's what I want us
to think.
God has a plan
for every person
he creates.
God has a plan
for all of us.
He works in all
the details
of our life
to bring it about.
Now, I don't want you
to get the wrong
impression here.
Everybody's not called
to be a great prophet
of God
like Jeremiah.
Everybody's not called
to do something
that the world
will sit up
and take notice.
But everybody
has been made
by God
the way they are
to fulfill
the purpose
God has for them.
And that purpose
includes being
a certain kind
of father
and mother
and husband
and wife,
child,
employer,
employee,
student,
whatever.
God has a purpose
for our lives
really at various
stages.
sometimes it takes
a lot of time
for us to figure
some things out,
doesn't it?
Sometimes it takes
a lot of us
trial and error.
Sometimes we have
to learn things
the hard way.
I've learned
a whole lot of
lessons in my life
the hard way.
There's been a lot
of things in my life
that I needed
to be there
but I went
around this way
to get there.
Can you identify?
Some more
than others.
God,
let's give you
an example.
God planned
for the Apostle Paul
as we know him today.
If you read
through the book
of Acts
and a lot
of the New Testament,
it's his letters.
God planned
for Paul
to be the world's
greatest missionary.
He planned
for Paul
to plant
churches
throughout the
Roman world
in the first century.
God planned
for Paul.
Part of his purpose
was to
so,
do these things,
be a missionary,
plant churches
and later on
write letters
to these churches
that became
a large part
of our New Testament.
God planned
to use Paul
to write
Scripture.
But how did
Paul begin
his life?
A lot of you know.
Most of you know.
Paul didn't begin
as the great
believer and follower
of Jesus.
Paul began,
at least what we
learned of him,
he was a religious
man,
very devout,
but he didn't
believe anything
about Jesus.
He hated
followers of Jesus.
He was the
world's leading
persecutor
of Christians
before he became
the world's
greatest
preacher,
establisher
of churches.
How did
that change
come about?
Well,
for Paul,
God had to
literally
knock him
down one day
and blind
him
to wake him
up,
to get his
attention,
to do what
God intended
to do
with his life.
For Paul,
it was a painful
lesson,
but he learned
the lesson
and he got
on board
and he fulfilled
God's purpose.
God has a way
of just working
in people's
lives and
if we took
the time,
I bet there's
a lot of people
in this room,
you could stand
up and tell us
about your
story,
about how you
started out one
way or you
started out in a
way so unlikely
to be where you
are today.
Let me give you
another example.
I know everybody
here doesn't like
Clemson University,
everybody doesn't
like football,
everybody doesn't
like Davos
Swinney,
but I'm going
to guess that
most people in
this room,
you know the
story of Davos
Swinney.
You know his
childhood,
teen years,
even college
years,
nothing desirable,
had nothing,
family had
nothing,
took care of
his own mother
in his dorm
or in his
college place.
As a coach,
he was never
a defensive
coordinator,
never an
offensive
coordinator.
As a coach,
he was a
receiver's coach.
He was down
to pecking
order on any
college level
coaching staff.
And before he
came to Clemson
as the receiver's
coach,
he'd quit coaching.
Out of it all together.
But God so
worked in his life,
and I'm not
saying Davos was
running from God
or rebelling,
anything like that.
I'm just saying
the circumstances
were such.
But God worked
in his life
in a tremendous
way
to elevate him
to a position
where now
he's one of this
nation's most
popular coaches.
he is one of
the best
paid coaches
in this country.
And like it
or not,
non-Clemson
fans,
he is one of
the most
successful coaches
in this country.
Head coaches.
what I want us
to see is
it may not
be ever
on the news
or in the paper
or anybody
talk about it
in a sermon
illustration,
but God has
a plan for our
lives.
And where you
are now
is important,
but it's not
where you're going
to be
later.
Truth is,
all of us
are still
in process.
We're all
still on that
journey.
There's a lot
of young people
in here.
You're just
getting started
in your life.
And there's
just a lot
of,
it's like life
is,
you need to
think of what
we're talking
about here.
Life is an
adventure.
You don't know
what God's
planned for you.
If you're a
Christian,
you're his
child.
He has some
good things
planned for you.
It may not be
to be wealthy
or famous.
He's got a
good plan for
you if you'll
be faithful to
seek it,
to follow it,
to put it
into practice.
A lot of
people here,
let's say it
this way,
a lot of
people here
are old.
I see a
woman back
there,
old as I
don't know
what.
But if
we're alive,
life is not
over.
And we
don't know
what tomorrow
holds for any
of us.
At any age.
But if
God is our
heavenly father,
we can trust
him.
That he is
still at work
in our lives,
working out
that plan,
the good
plan that he
prepared for
you.
And he made
you like you
are so that
you will be
successful at
your plan
that God has
for you.
if we'll be
faithful to
live life
God's way
and cooperate
with his
indwelling
spirit.
We don't
have to sit
around and
worry about
what God
has planned
for us.
We just
need to live
faithfully
day by day
and just
accept it as
it comes.
And if we
don't know
something,
we pray and
seek his
wisdom,
seek his
direction.
We just
seek his
help.
These verses
show us that
God shapes
each of us
to the person
he wants us
to be in
order to
carry out the
purpose that
he has for
our lives.
And that's
why we don't
have to be
anxious about
life.
That's why we
don't have to
be all stressed
out and worried.
We have a
heavenly father.
Remember what
Jesus said in
Matthew 6?
We have a
heavenly father
who knows us,
knows everything
that we need.
We can trust
him to take
care of us.
We can trust
that he's got
everything under
control.
It does
matter how
we live.
It does
matter the
choices we
make.
So we need
to be faithful
to do what
we know God
wants us to
do.
And as I
said, pray
about the
things we
don't.
Seek God's
wisdom.
Seek his
help.
But the
bottom line
in all this
is we can
and must
trust God
if we want
to be able
to deal
with life's
hardships and
uncertainties in
a healthy way.
But I want you
to note how
David responded
to all this.
verses 14
and 17
and 18.
The thought
of how God
made him
was just
overwhelming.
And we need
to think.
The very thought
about all this
stuff we've been
looking at.
How God made
us.
How he's got
a plan for
our lives.
That should
cause us to
praise God
just as David
did.
Look at verse
14.
As he thought
about how God
made him.
For you
former
Emerald
Parks
verse 13
verse 14.
I praise
you for
I am
fearfully
and wonderfully
made.
Wonderful
are your
works.
My soul
knows it
very well.
Verse 17
and 18
same way.
How precious
to me
are your
thoughts
of God.
How vast
is the sum
of them.
David is
expressing
praise and
awe at
God's
greatness
and goodness
in general
and specifically
in his
life.
like David.
If we'll
just sometimes
just think
about how
God made
me.
How God
works in
me.
Works out
his plan
in my life
through good
times and
bad.
God's
sovereign.
God's in
control.
It'll cause
us to praise
him.
It'll cause
us to be
in awe
that he
could love
us and
bless us
and do
in us
the kinds
of things
that he
does.
But I
want us
to look at
one final
application
of what
we've seen
in all
these verses
this morning.
The fact
that God
made us
and even
planned out
our lives,
that is
foundational.
Two things.
As creator,
God designed
human life
to be
sacred.
As David
describes himself
in verse
13,
he understood
from the
time of
my
conception,
he was a
unique
individual,
human being
growing inside
his mother's
womb.
This shows
us clearly
that every
child,
every single
child
conceived,
growing in
his or her
mother's womb,
is a special
creation of
God,
a human
being,
created in
God's image
of extreme
worth and
value and
dignity.
And that
life in that
womb should be
protected,
should be
honored,
should be
taken care of.
And you know
where I'm going
with this.
This helps us
see as clearly
as any other
passage in
Scripture,
abortion is
murder.
It is the
taking of a
human life,
a human life
that is just as
valuable on the
side of God,
inside the
mother's womb,
as any life you
can see here
right now,
this morning.
we need to
honor life from
conception on.
We need to
understand that
that which is
growing inside a
woman is not
just mere
tissue.
It is a
human
baby
created in
the image of
God.
God has a
plan for that
child.
And we need to
honor that
life.
Secondly,
as creator,
God determined
human sex
or gender
to be fixed.
I want you to
look one more
time at
Genesis 127.
God created
human beings
like this.
So God created
man in His
image and in
the image of
God He
created them.
Male and
female He
created them.
God created
human beings
in two ways.
Everybody's
either a
male or
they are a
female.
male.
One or the
other.
And our
anatomy
tells us
what sex
or gender
we are.
If you have
male anatomy,
you are a
male.
If you have
female anatomy,
you are
a female.
Our bodies
do not lie
to us.
God made
us this
way.
If you have
a problem
accepting that,
if you
think,
you look at
yourself in
the mirror,
you know,
I am
made
biologically
a male.
But I
just feel
like I
should live
my life as
a woman.
I feel like
I'm a woman
trapped in a
male body.
I want you
to understand,
you do
not have
a physical
problem.
You have
a psychological
problem.
I want you
to understand
that.
Same thing
goes true.
If you
are
biologically
a female,
but you
just think,
I just feel
like I've
got to live
my life as
a male,
you're
confused.
Here's what
I want you
to understand.
Now,
if you have
these kind
of feelings,
you need
to seek
true
help
from
committed
Christians
who understand
Scripture,
who have
a good
understanding
of what
the kind
of thing,
the kind
of issues
you're
dealing
with,
and will
try to
actually help
you.
One thing
that we're
doing a study
in my Sunday
school class
talking about
male,
female stuff,
and Matt
Chandler is
the actual
teacher on
video,
and one
thing he
said in
our last
week's study
that just
stood out
to me
that's so
true,
the church
of Jesus
Christ needs
to be a
safe haven
for every
human being
with any
kind of
problem.
And I
want you
to hear
that.
If you
struggle
with your
sex or
gender
identity,
if you
don't know
someone to
try to
help you,
you talk
to me,
and I'm
not going
to berate
you or
do anything
negative,
say anything
negative to
you.
I will
try to
help you.
The
church,
we will
try to
help you,
but it is
not helping
you to say
to you,
you just
be whatever
you feel
you ought
to be.
That is
a lie.
That will
lead to
even more
confusion and
misery because
you'll be
living your
life according
to the
opposite of
the way
God designed
you to
live.
It is
not our
choice as
to whether
we live as
male or
female.
God
designed
that.
God
determined
that when
He created
us,
either male
or female.
And if
you have
confusion
about that,
doubts
about that,
you need
to seek
help.
It is a
psychological
problem
that can
be addressed,
that you
can be
helped,
but you've
got to
seek it.
And the
way to
begin is
saying,
God is
God.
He is
the creator.
He determines
these things,
not me.
I'm the
creation.
And I
will
submit to
the
authority
and the
things that
God says
as my
creator.
Let's go
back to
the main
point of
these verses
to conclude.
God has
created and
shaped each
of us
into the
person He
wants us
to be
in order to
carry out
the purpose
He has
for our
lives.
He made
us.
He's got a
purpose for
us.
And the
question is,
are you
cooperating with
God about
this?
Are you
seeking to be
the person
He created
you to
be with
His help?
Are you
seeking to
do His
will and
serve the
purpose He
created you
for?
And just
start where
you are.
Start where
you are in
your home,
where you
work,
in this
church,
where you
are in
life.
Be faithful
to be the
person that
God's called
you to be
there.
Fulfill that
purpose at
this point
in your
life.
But the
only way
we can
do this
is to
truly have
a right
relationship
with Jesus
Christ.
And if
you don't,
if you
don't know
Him,
I want to
encourage you
right now,
if you will
admit to
God that
you don't
know Him,
that you
are a
sinner before
Him,
you're seeking
to live life
your way
instead of
His way,
if you'll
confess that,
if you'll
repent of
that,
turn from
that,
that mindset,
that way
of life,
put your
trust in
Jesus Christ,
that He
actually paid
the penalty
for your
sins when
He died
on the
cross.
If you'll
call upon
Him to
save you,
forgive you,
He will.
In fact,
God will
put His
Spirit in
you,
He'll
make you
new,
He'll
cleanse
you,
He'll
give you
a fresh
start.
You might
think to
yourself this
morning,
I am a
Christian,
there's no
doubt,
I know what
you're talking
about,
but I'm
not as close
to Him now
as I used
to be,
and really
as I want
to be.
I haven't
been so
concerned here
lately about
serving the
purpose that
He has for
me,
because I've
been too
busy serving
my own
purpose.
That's a
problem.
That's a
rebellion.
That's you
trying to live
as the
Creator instead
of God.
And the
way to solve
that problem
is to admit
your sin and
repent of
that.
Come back to
Christ in
renewed
commitment,
faith,
surrender.
Tell God,
I've made a
mess of
things living
life my
way.
I want to
come back
to you and
start one
day at a
time living
life your
way.
Listen to
the Lord and
do whatever
it is He tells
you to do in
response to
His Word this
morning.
Would you pray
with me?
Dear God,
help us to
see now how
we need to
respond in
light of the
fact that
you've made
us and
you've made
us for a
purpose.
Help us,
Father, to
see how we
need to
respond so
that we can
demonstrate to
you that we
trust you in
the details of
life.
Help us,
dear God,
to quit being
so anxious and
stressed out
about everything
going on around
about us.
Help us to
truly trust that
you are our
Heavenly Father.
You know us
better than
anyone because
you made us.
And help us to
trust you that
you're working out
your good purpose
in our lives,
in the bad
times as well
as good.
in an attitude
of prayer,
you just do
what God
tells you to
do and
He'll be
pleased if
you're obedient
to Him.
I'd be happy
to pray with
you if you
would like to
come forward
during this
time.
Just listen to
the Lord and
obey Him.
That's the
important thing.
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