Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul tells the Thessalonian people, he says, Having so fond an affection for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel, but also our own lives because you had become dear to us. And this morning is one of those mornings where I don't just bring to you the gospel, I bring to you my life. Because that's what it is as a pastor to do that, is to share my life with you.

The very first time I ever taught a message. 25 years ago. That's what I did. I just brought forth my life. And that's what I plan on doing. Here this morning, it'll be a little bit more raw and unhinged than I usually am. And you're like, really? But it'll be a little bit more that way. Because I'm just going to kind of share with you what God has done. Kind of in our family this week and what God's kind of done in me this week.

So I'm going to tell you a little bit of the story of how we got to where we are right now. So last Sunday, late afternoon, I got a call from my mom. And she said, hey. You should probably come over here. Your dad's throwing up blood again. And we're going to have to take him to the ER. And I think I need your help to get him to the car. And so that's what happened.

So I ran over to my mom and dad's house. And we got dad loaded into the car. And we took him over to the ER. Bear in mind, it was the second time in a week he had done the exact same thing the previous Sunday. And because of that, they said, hey, listen. You are entirely too critical to stay here. We have to get you somewhere. So they started giving him things, all the medicines and fluids and all that.

And they started him on another blood transfusion. And they said, but we've got to get him somewhere. And there's nowhere in Wichita. All the beds are full up there or whatever the situation was. They said, so we're going to have to fly him down to Tulsa. We said, okay. Well, that's what it is. So they got him loaded into the helicopter, flew him down there.

By the way, he thought the helicopter ride was pretty fun. So I don't know if that means anything. We said, what did you think of riding in a helicopter, Dad? And he was like, we asked him this yesterday, actually. He goes, oh, you know, not too bad.

They got him down to Tulsa. And when we got down there about midnight, they ran a different kind of a scan than they usually do. And they said, hey, listen. Here's what the scan shows. This is before they got him into a room up in the ICU. They said the scan that we did shows that the tumor is actually protruding through the stomach. It looks like that's the case.

And if that's the case, there's really nothing that can be done. This is going to continue to be a perennial issue for him. And so we'll just take it from there. But the best thing that we can do is to do a scope. So about 3.30 Sunday night, I crashed out on a couch. I say a couch. That's the loosest translation of anything. It's about the size of two of those chairs.

You know how something looks a lot bigger in your mind? And you're like, hey, that's going to be really comfortable to lay. I was so tired. I was up. But I was up for 23 hours by that point in time. I'm too old. I learned something about myself. I'm too old to stay up for 23 hours, right? That's no longer an enjoyable thing to do. That's no longer something I'm like, I was like, because it's really hard to be up that late.

And so I slept on these two little chairs that were put together with arms on them. And I did learn that God is still a God that works miracles. Because when I got up the next morning, I could actually walk. Some people were like, oh, praying for you. I'm like, no, I'm serious. Like, that's my testimony. Like, I can walk after sleeping for three hours on those chairs.

And so we were there with them all day Monday. And then Tuesday, sometime early afternoon, they finally did the scan or did the scope. And so they took them upstairs. They did the scope. And after they did so, the surgeon called us back. And while he was recovering, he said, here's what you need to know. What they told you is exactly the case. The tumor's protruding through the stomach.

It's just going to continue bleeding. It's very vascular in nature. And you should really consider going on hospice. Have you looked at that yet? Have you looked at hospice care? And we said we had. Of course, we're all crying at that point in time because we're all nickels. And that's just what we do. And so we said we had. And he said, you should call now.

It's not quite 5 o'clock yet. You should call and get lined up with that. And he was a very, very compassionate surgeon. And as we're all crying and talking about what we're going to do, he actually just gave each one of us a hug. I don't know. I don't know that I've ever seen a surgeon do that with anybody before. But he just gave each one of us a hug. And he said, I'm really sorry that I couldn't do anything.

But this is the steps that you need to take now. And so we went back and told everybody what was said. And we all cried together for a little while. And spent some time with my dad and ate some food and went back to the hotel. And when we got back to the hotel, I took a shower and got ready. And I was ready to lay down. I thought, I don't want to lay down right now.

I just need to read. So I went down to the hotel lobby with my Bible and my notebook. And all day long, the Lord had kind of had Psalm 139 on my mind. And I thought, I wonder, I don't think I can just go do a normal sermon this week. I can't just now go into, like, what are the requirements for elders after I just went through all of this with my dad. And so I just sat down with my notebook and a pen and my Bible and opened up Psalm 139.

And as I read it, the Lord just kind of, he just ministered to my heart. You know, it's a great psalm. And we'll read through it here in just a minute. It's a great psalm. But he just really ministered to my heart and just kind of laid out exactly what he wanted to tell me through all of it about who he is. You know, and as I did so, I was reminded of what we talked about the other day when it came to prayer.

That sometimes the greatest thing that you can do to start off in prayer is to praise God for who he is. Because it refocuses you. It puts your focus back on what's true. It puts your focus back on how big God is and how much bigger that is than whatever it is that you're going through at that point in time. And that's exactly what God did for me. And what kept going through my mind were the lyrics to the psalm, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.

Because that's exactly what happened to me in that hotel lobby as I was reading my Bible. God put my eyes back on Jesus. He put my eyes back on the all-powerful God. And so what I want to do is I want to just read all the way through Psalm 139. And you can just follow along in your Bible. And then we're going to go back and we're just going to talk about it a little bit.

It says, For the choir director, a psalm of David. He says, O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and you know when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all of my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all.

You have enclosed 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 can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me. And the light of the day will be on me. And the light of the day will be on me. And the light of the day will be on me. The light around me will be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you. And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you.

For you formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret. And skillfully wrought in the depths of my soul. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance. And in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me.

When as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God. How vast is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with you. O that you would slay the wicked. Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against you wickedly. And your enemies take your name in vain.

Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with the utmost hatred. They have become my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there be any hurtful way in me. And lead me in the everlasting way. The psalmist in Psalm 139, does such a phenomenal job of presenting God

in all of his grandeur, in all of his glory, in all of his power, in all of his majesty. But he takes all of those things that we know to be true about God, the greatness of who God is, and he puts it right down in the place where we live. Because these truths of who God is that he presents to us are not something that's far away, that have no effect upon our lives, something that we just observe from a distance. These truths of who God is, reach down to the very core of who we are, and show that he is intimately acquainted with everything that we do.

So I want to look at these this morning. The first thing, there's a handful of things he tells us about God, and then there's a prayer. But the first thing that he tells us about God is that he is the all-knowing God. The all-knowing God. Notice what he says in verse 1. Lord, you have searched me, and you have known me. The idea of both searching and knowing

carries with it the idea of knowing. The idea of having searched thoroughly and having known completely. And he's going to continue to build on that idea throughout the rest of the psalm, but it's fascinating because the idea is that there's nothing about you that God does not know. There's nothing about you that God has not searched out. There's nothing about you that takes God by surprise.

There's nothing about you that God says, well, that's a mystery to me. I don't understand why he acts the way he does or why she thinks the way that she does. Because he has searched you thoroughly, and he has known you completely. Now, depending on who you are, depending on where you're at in your walk, that can either be the scariest thoughts you've ever heard in your entire life or the most comforting thoughts you've ever heard in your entire life.

Sometimes both at the same time, amen? Sometimes it's like, oh crap, he knows me. Ah, but he knows me. He knows everything that is about us because he is the all-knowing God. Notice what he says to continue on. He says, you know when I sit down, and when I rise up, the idea is you know everything that I do, every action that I take. You know what those all look like.

But not only that, he says, you understand my thoughts from afar. I love, I don't remember who it was that said it, but he said that the idea is he knows my thoughts in their origin. In other words, before you think it, he already saw it. Before you think it, he already knew it. He knew your thoughts in all of their origins. See what I mean about the fact that

that's a little bit scary, but also a little bit comforting, that he knows all of the thoughts that go on in our mind. You know why that's so comforting to me right now? It's one of the hardest things that I have dealt with, one of the most difficult things I've dealt with this week. It's been really hard for me to pray this week. It just has, my brain has just been all over the place.

I already don't focus very well in life, but you throw a whole bunch of things like that at me at once, and it's like you just live in this fog. And some of you all know what I'm talking about, because you've been in this fog before. You're just in this fog, and it's like, you just kind of go, huh, I really should think about that, shouldn't I? And all you can do is just kind of exhale collectively every now and then.

Because that's all you know how to do. And the great thing about God, and this thought is expanded upon in the New Testament, in the book of Romans, when he says that even when we don't know how to pray, his spirit intercedes for us, because he already knows your thoughts. And when you let out that groan, when you let out that sigh, he's like, I know exactly what you're talking about, because I saw what you were thinking before it even came into your mind. Because he knows us so well, because he is the all-knowing God.

But notice what else he says. He says, you scrutinize my path and my lying down, and you are intimately acquainted with all of my ways. The idea is that he knows, he discerns our paths. And I got to thinking about this, and it's kind of fascinating. You have to know that God knows our entire path that led us up to where we are right now. There's always only so much you can tell somebody about the path

that you have followed to lead you to where you are right now. But God knows that path clearly. He could walk the whole thing back through you. It was fascinating. My dad's a fascinating guy, because his brain is just really incredible. The things that he can remember, his memory is just fantastic. And so we're sitting there in the ER. No, we had just moved up to the ICU.

We're in the ICU room real early Monday morning. It's like 2.30 Monday morning, right? And so the nurse is in there taking notes and asking things. And he's like, and when did this happen? And he'd say, last night. He goes, OK, we're in a really strange spot right now, because it's actually really early Monday morning. So last night could either mean Sunday night,

or last night could mean Saturday night. So which one do you mean? And my dad started putting dates on everything. Bear in mind, he's in the middle of a blood transfusion, and he's got all kinds of pain meds coursing through his body. OK. On the 9th, they did this. And we're just going, God's even greater than that, right? God knows that even better, because he knows your path.

But not only does he know the path of what led you are now in every detail, but he knows the path that you will follow from here on out. And listen, he's already there. He knows the path that your life is going to follow. And he has already laid it out to you, because he is intimately acquainted with all your ways. And he has scrutinized. He has discerned. The word means to winnow out.

The idea is to clear out the extra and just get with what's real. He knows the real path that lies before you. And he already has it laid out for you. And I got to tell you, sometimes there's just a lot of peace in knowing all I have to do is follow the next right step, because God already has the path cleared out for us. Amen? That God was not caught off guard by anything

that happened in my life this last week. Quite frankly, God wasn't caught off guard by anything that happened in your life this last week. And anything that comes up from here on out, he's not caught. He's not caught off guard because he's already there and he already knows, because he scrutinizes your path. He's intimately acquainted with all of your ways.

Doesn't that sort of suck the fear out of the future just a little bit? Doesn't that sort of suck the fear out of the unknown just a little bit? Because while it's unknown to us, it's not unknown to God, because he's the all-knowing God. And he's already waiting for you in the future. He's already waiting for you on your path, because he's so intimately acquainted with all of our ways.

He goes on to say, he says, even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all. You have enclosed me, literally encircled me behind and before the idea as a hedge about, and you laid your hand upon me. That idea of you have laid your hand upon me carries with it the idea of divine protection and blessing. It speaks of the hand of God's protection and blessing upon us.

But let me give you a little bit of an illustration. I always think about this, about this story when I think about my girls, or when I think about this verse. And it has to do with my girls. Both of them, when they were little, they had moments where it was very, very hard for them to fall asleep, especially when they were little, tiny babies. You try to get them adjusted to their crib.

And that's the hardest thing in the world, because you've got to let them cry themselves to sleep. And A, it kind of hurts your heart a little bit. But then it mainly just kind of hurts your ears a little bit. And so sometimes your ear is more than your heart. But whatever. Anyway, so you've got to get them to go to sleep. And I remember, especially Violet.

She just needed, she's a touch-oriented person. And so what I would do to get her to go to sleep is I would go in and I would lean on her crib. And I would just lay my hand down on her back. And it was almost like magic. When I lay my hand on her back and she would sense my presence there with her, she would just sort of relax. She would drift off to sleep.

If I pulled my hand back too soon, she'd wake up and start crying again. As soon as I put my hand back on her, she'd go back to sleep. And I would have to go to sleep. And I would have to go to sleep. And I would have to go to sleep. And I would have to go to sleep. And I would have to sit there for a little bit and gently remove my hand so that she wouldn't know that I was gone.

And I thought, that's kind of what God means, what David means, I think, when he says that you've placed your hand upon me. Sometimes there are things that we go through that we just need to sense the presence of God with us. Amen? Sometimes you just need to sense that God's presence is with you. And so he so gently and caringly and lovingly, like a very good father, he places his hand upon you.

And you can finally get some rest. You can finally get some sleep. You can finally relax a little bit, because the hand of God is upon you, not only generally speaking in his divine protection and blessing, but in his presence that is with you. Because he knows that's what you need. He says, you have placed your hand upon me. And then he says, such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

It is too high. I cannot attain it. In other words, God's knowledge is beyond my finding out. Isn't it good to know that God will always know more than I can ever imagine? Isn't it great to know that God's knowledge is so far superior that I will never be able to plumb the depths of it? Because he is the all-knowing God, and I am a finite human being? It gives you a little bit more rest in the God that we follow.

So the first thing he says is, he is the all-knowing God. God. God. God. God. God. God. The second thing that he says is that he is the all-present God. Notice what it says in verse 7. Where can I go from your spirit, or where can I flee from your presence? The ever-present nature of God. When I was a little kid and I would think about God, it would kind of blow my mind a little bit that the same God that I was praying to right

here in Arc City, Kansas, is the exact same God that some kid was praying to in China. Isn't that fascinating? That if they're praying to the one tree, it's the same God, and it's like, how does he do that? Right? How is he everywhere all the time? I don't know how he does it, but as the all-present God, he's everywhere all the time. There's a great word for that.

It's called omnipresent, and it speaks of his ever-present nature. That presence of God with us is one of the things that was continually, over and over-again, promised to all of the Old Testament saints, and it's what was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ, and it's what's carried out through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But he says, where can I go from your presence? Where can I flee from your spirit?

He's everywhere all the time. Again, this is sort of like the all-knowing God. It's like, okay, that's a little bit scary to think about, that God's with me everywhere, because I know sometimes I don't go places I'm supposed to go, but it's also the most comforting feeling in the world, because God is with me. Amen. He says, where can I go from your spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence? Notice what he says. He says, if I ascend to the heavens, you're there. If I make my bed in Sheol, or in other words, the depths of the earth, behold, you're there. If I were to take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me.

What does he mean by that? Wherever I go, there he is. God has no circumference, because he is everywhere. Now, the writer of this psalm, of course, was David, and I love that David writes this about God, because David knew what it was like to be in some fairly precarious situations, didn't he? He knew what it was like for God to be with him out in the field with the sheep, that

when he was out in the field taking care of the sheep, that God was with him out there as the, as he looked upon the land, as he looked upon the sky, as he looked upon the mountains. As he looked upon the night sky and praised God as he looked at the stars and all of the things. He knew that God was there with him. But God was also there with him when he was facing the lion and the bear, when he was facing that difficulty of having to protect the flock.

God was with him on the day that he was anointed by Samuel as the next king of Israel, and God was with him in the day when he defeated Goliath, but God was also with him when he was in the cave of Adullam, fleeing from Saul. God was still with him. When Saul was hurling spears at his head, God was still with him even when he acted like a madman. Instead of trusting in God, God was still with him during all of that time.

God was with him in his greatest failures. God was with him in his greatest victories. And when he failed and needed to achieve victory again, God was there at the bottom of his pit. He says, where can I go from you? You're everywhere. Well, I thought about this in my own life. I thought about this this last week, that God was with me everywhere that I went, that

his presence went with me. God was with me in the car on the way to the ER when I was breaking certain speed limits, trying to get my dad to the ER on time so that he could get looked at. And God was my dad as he was being flown down to Tulsa. Inside of that helicopter was three very skillful individuals and God, who was with him that whole time. God was with us when he received his cancer diagnosis, and he was with us as we were trying

to sleep in the waiting room. He was with us as we were by his bedside. He was with us when the surgeon told us there's nothing else that can be done. He was with us as we were in the room crying together. Because no matter where you go, there he is. Whether you feel it or not, whether you trust it or not, whether you believe it or not, he is with you everywhere you go.

You know, that's not just true for David. It's not just true for me. It's true for you. I don't know what you're going through. I don't know what you've been through this week. I don't know what your highs and your lows were, but I want you to know this. God was with you. Because there's nowhere that you can go from his presence. There's nowhere that you can flee from his spirit.

You can go up to the heavens. He's there. You can go down to the depths. He's there. You can ride on the wings of the dawn. He's there. You can be in your car. He's there. You can be in your job. He's there. Because God is with you everywhere that you go. Because he is the... The ever-present God. And as the ever-present God, there is nothing that will keep him from you.

Because notice what he says. He says, surely, verse 11, if I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me and the light around me will be night, even the darkness is not dark to you and the night is as bright to you because darkness and light are alike to you. In other words, nothing will keep God from being with you. Because he is the... Ever-present. So he is the all-knowing God.

He is the all-present God. And number three, he is the all-powerful God. It's fascinating because there's all kinds of things that David could have written about God being all-powerful. He could have written about the greatness of the things that God made. He could have written about the power to destroy enemies. He could have written about the power to part the sea.

He could have written about the power of the storms. He could have written about all of these great things, the thundering voice of God. But that's not what he wrote about to tell us how powerful God is. Do you know what he wrote about to tell us how powerful God is? He wrote about how God created you. And he wrote about how God created me. Because the great power of God is seen in the intricacy of the detail with which he

created us. Notice what he says. He says, you formed my inward part. My inward parts. You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret. It's skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. It's fascinating the hands-on approach to the power of God that's given to us here.

The hands-on approach that he has in our lives that started with the very forming. Pay attention to some of the things he says. First of all, he says, you formed my inward parts. That word formed is an interesting word in the Hebrew because the word formed means to acquire. It means to acquire or almost to purchase. But the idea behind the fullness of the word means to acquire by creation.

In other words, God wanted one of you so he made you. God's like, I really could use this one so I'm going to make them. I like collecting things. I collect girly things sometimes because I really like shoes and so I have a shoe collection. And every time I see a sweet new pair of shoes, I'm like, ooh, I need one of those. Now it would be fantastic if I could see a new pair of Jordans and be like, I need one

of those. I will create it. Right? That would be pretty fascinating. But I can't. I say I have to purchase it. But when God was looking at the world, he said, I need one of you and so he formed you. He acquired you. By creating you. Now I love that because one of the things I love to make sure that people understand is that you are not an accident. You are on purpose.

That's not what my mom and dad said. It doesn't matter. You're on purpose. God wanted one of you and so he made you. And so he says, for you formed my inward parts. You wove me together in my mother's womb. That carries with it the idea of a hands-on approach. You put me together. Some of your translations say you knit me together in my mother's womb. And he says, and I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Do you know what that means? That means that everything about you, the all-powerful God of the universe made sure that you are exactly the way that he intended for you to be. When he looked at you, he didn't say, oops. He knew exactly what you were supposed to be. And that's exactly who you are. And you know, there's a lot of debate on this, especially when it comes to what we, on this

side of eternity, call birth defects. That some people are born with certain issues in their lives and they say, well, everybody else was fearfully and wonderfully made, but that person has a birth defect. And you know, the older I've gotten and the more I've worked with people, the more I think, I don't agree with that at all. Now maybe as far as science and medicine and things are concerned, there are these things called birth defects.

There are issues that have to be worked through, but God knew what he was doing. And God uses those things for his power and for his glory, and God has a purpose for everything that he does. I listened to my dad recount to three different nurses why he's visually impaired, because you have to tell them everything. Do you have any prosthetics? Yep. My right eye is the prosthetic.

Okay, good. We will try not to pop that thing out of your head. Okay. You know, things like that. And you have to tell them all those kinds of things. And so they said, well, what happened? And so he recounts. Well, I was born premature. And as I was born premature, they gave us, lots of babies in the 50s were given too much oxygen in the incubator. And because of that, there was a partial detaching of the retina.

So as far as anybody knows, he's had 2% vision his whole life. None of us really know what that means. Because none of us have ever seen through his eyes. And it would be easy to say the doctors screwed up. Did they? Or has God used what my dad has gone through more powerfully than just about anything else? It was interesting because when we were talking with the hospice nurse, she was pretty fascinated

with his Braille Bible, and everybody is. Everybody loves when he talks about Braille and shows them his Bible. And I just remember as a kid, you just couldn't push down the dots, right? Like that was, that was the bit you can't, you can't push down the dots, then he can't operate. But he was explaining things about his vision to her. And I don't remember what came after this, I was just taken aback by it.

Because he said, you know, I was born premature, I lost my vision. It's all I've ever known. But God really blessed me. And I don't remember what came after that. I just always find it fascinating that when you talk to my dad about any of this stuff, he will include in the sentences about the fact that he lost his vision that God has really blessed him. Yeah.

I'm sorry, but it's a reminder that he is fearfully and wonderfully made. And you are fearfully and wonderfully made. And on this side of eternity, science and other people may say, well, you have this defect. But God says, no, that's what I wanted. Because I'm going to use that for my glory. I'm going to use that for your good and for my glory. And just watch what I'm able to do with it.

And so he says, he says, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. He says, my frame wasn't hidden from you when I was made. I wasn't hidden from you when I was made in secret, obviously, because he was the one that made them. And I want you to notice what he says. And I was skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.

That phrase, skillfully wrought in the Hebrew, the root of that means to be embroidered, literally to be embroidered with many colors. Have you ever thought about the fact that that's what you are? You have been embroidered with many colors, that you have been embroidered by God and that personality, that everything that you are, God's like, ah, that's the little symbol. That's who you really are on the outside.

And I want you to notice what he says. This all-powerful God, or David says about this all-powerful God, your eyes have seen my unformed substance. And in your book were written all the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. You know what that means? Let me put that in real, real simple terms. You arrive on time. And you leave on time.

I remember several years back after my cousin passed away, and myself and my uncle, who were both pastors by the way, and my aunt were all sitting around, and my wife were all sitting around talking about all the shoulda, coulda, wouldas, you know, because Jalen died at a pretty young age, and it was a hard one for all of us, and if only we had done this, and if only we had done this, and I'll never forget my wife having to correct two pastors at that point in time, and say, his days were in God's hands. And God knew exactly how many he had, and he didn't leave any earlier than he was supposed to. And my uncle Joe and I kind of looked at each other and said, that's a good word.

And I always appreciate listening to my dad talk about this, because my dad always shares a story. One time, this phenomenal Bible teacher named David Hawking came out here and did a conference when I was a teenager. And he said, you know what? David Hawking and my dad were talking, and my dad told him he was born prematurely. And David looked at him, and he said, no, you weren't.

You arrived exactly when God intended. There was nothing premature about it. And ever since then, my dad's had this phrase, you arrive on time, and you leave on time, because God knows the number of your days. And isn't there a lot of rest in that? We don't test God in these things. But the all-powerful God who fashioned you with his hands, who embroidered you, who knit

you together, who wanted one of you, and so he created one of you, your days are in his hands. And I think sometimes we just need to sit back and go, yeah, that's right. I don't have to worry about tomorrow, because God's already got that one under control. I just have to serve God today. Because he is the all-powerful God. And so he's the all-knowing God. He's the all-present God.

He's the all-powerful God. But he's also, and I added this one to what a lot of other commentators use, he is the all-caring God. Notice what it says in verses 17 and 18. He says, how precious also are your thoughts to me, O God. If I should count them, they would outnumber me. They would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with you. How precious are your thoughts to me.

Now, I don't know if you ever think about this, but has anybody ever messaged you and said, I was thinking about you today? Anybody ever done that? I try to do that with people, because people come across my mind. I'm not always as disciplined about it as I should. But how special does it make us feel? When someone says, I was thinking about you today. That usually makes you feel pretty good, right?

Like you came across someone's mind. Someone thought about you. Now, I want you to imagine whoever the most famous person you can think of, like, hey, I think this person's pretty awesome. What if you got a text from that person, and they said, I was thinking about you today? You'd be like, well, I'll be doggone. I didn't even know they knew my name. That's pretty impressive that they thought about me today.

And they let me know about it. Right? That's a pretty cool thing. Now, I want you to think about the fact that the God who created you, the God who created them, thinks about you all day every day. Because he's the all-knowing God. He's the all-present God. He's the all-powerful God. Why couldn't he think about everybody all day long? And so he says, how precious are your thoughts to me?

That word precious in the Hebrew means weighty. How weighty are your thoughts towards me? In other words, it's a pretty heavy thought that God thinks about us as much as he does. If we threw his thoughts into a scale, it would weigh it down, because they are so weighty. But it also is a really beautiful weight to us. Right? It brings a great comfort to us. As I was reading this and studying this, I thought about, you know, some people that struggle to sleep at night,

they use these things called weighted blankets. Have you ever heard of these things? And somehow that weight of the blanket on you sort of brings something. It sort of brings some rest and comfort to you and allows you to sleep. I just like a lot of blankets on me, because I get cold at night. But that weight of that blanket on you helps you sleep, because it gives you rest and comfort.

That's kind of the idea of what he means here when he says, how weighty are your thoughts towards me, O God? They're kind of like that weighted blanket on a stressed-out soul that lays upon you and go, ah, I can rest. Because the God of all creation, the all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful God, is thinking about me. How precious are your thoughts to me, O God?

How vast is the sum of them? And I want you to notice what he says. If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand of the sea. Now, we went to the beach last summer. And every now and then I think about this, because several places in Scripture it talks about more numerous than the sand of the sea. Have you ever picked up a handful of sand, let most of it get out of your hand,

and just try to start counting all of the little kernels of sand there? All the little grains of sand? And you're like, one, two, three, four, I'm done. Right? Because it's really hard to do. It's hard to count all this. David says, that's how much God thinks about you. Now, if he thinks about you that much, that means he cares about you that much. And if he cares about you that much, that means we can rest in a sovereign, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present God who cares about you.

And I love the way he ends this little section. He says, When I awake, I am still with you. It's almost like he retreats back knowing the all-caring nature of God. He retreats back to the ever-present nature of God. And so in all of this time, he has turned our eyes back upon God, back upon the all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, all-caring God. And it's like now he gets to his prayer requests.

Did you notice that it took us 18 verses to get to some prayer requests that will take up like five verses? That's pretty amazing, isn't it? It's almost like we should spend more time getting focused on Jesus because it makes what we pour out to him go that much faster, because it makes our problems that much smaller. So I want you to notice what he says. There's a really abrupt change that takes place here.

He says, Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God. Well, this feels intense. Depart from me, you men of bloodshed, for they speak against you wickedly, and your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who arise against you? I hate them with the utmost hatred. They have become my enemies. He says, God, slay the wicked, because I hate anything that would keep me from you.

Sometimes we have a hard time thinking about this in Scripture, right? Like, wait, he just told, oh, God, he made me, he loves me, he formed me, killed the people I don't like, right? But we have to understand something. These enemies of God have become his own enemies. Why? Because anything that would keep him away from God, anything that would keep him from knowing God,

he views as his enemy in his life. And he wants it to be destroyed. See, David came to this place because he was running from his enemies. David came to this place because he was running from those who would want to take his life. And now that he has reset his focus on God, and now that he has reset his focus, on God's ability, he says, now, Lord, deal with all of my enemies,

because I hate anything that would keep me from you. I want you to destroy anything that would keep me from knowing you. And I know this because of what he's going to say in just a second, but I want you to think about something. I want you to ask yourself a question. Do you want God to destroy anything in your life that would keep you from him? Do you want God to destroy anything in your life that would keep you from knowing him?

That's a dangerous prayer to pray. But quite frankly, I think some of us need to start praying it. Because David is viewing these enemies of God as those who would hold him back from the place of worship, those who would keep him from his God, and who would profane the name of God. And in our culture today, we seem to entertain the things that profane the name of God, that would keep us from knowing God.

Do we hate those things that keep us from God? Do we want to destroy those things that keep us from God? Because that's what David prays at this point in time. He says, destroy anything that would keep me from the all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, all-caring God. And then he closes with this. He says, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts,

and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. He starts off by saying, search me and know me. Interestingly enough, the exact same two Hebrew words that he uses in verse 1 when he says, you have searched me and you have known me. But now David asks God to search him and know him, not for God's knowledge, but for David's knowledge.

You see, nothing about you is a surprise to God. Nothing about you is a mystery to God. But sometimes it's a mystery to us. The book of Jeremiah tells us that the heart is deceitfully wicked above all things. Who can know it? God's the only one that can truly discern your thoughts. God's the only one who can truly discern your motives. God's the only one who can truly discern what's deep down on the inside of you.

And the greatest thing that we need to have God do is to reveal it to us. To pull back the veil of all of our conceptions of ourself, of all of the lies that we've told ourselves, of all of the lies the flesh has told ourselves. To peel back all of that and really expose what's on the inside. Because if we can really expose what's on the inside, then it can get dealt with.

Then it can be dealt with by God. He says, search me and know me. And then he goes, and he says, and try me and know my anxious thoughts. And I love that because as somebody who battles anxiety, I'm like, sometimes I can't get to the bottom of all of my anxious thoughts. You ever been there? Where it's like you're a little bit anxious but you don't know how to get to the bottom of it?

You know, you're just this, I always term anxiety like this. Anxiety is like if you tie up a whole bunch of shoestrings together and then you go and you're like, oh crap, now I have to undo that entire ball of shoestrings. That's what anxiety feels like, right? Like it's just this giant knot that you have to undo. And you can't get to the bottom of it. That's what David asks him.

Lord, help me get to the bottom of the knot. Help me to start untying this thing. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and help me to untie this knot of anxiety that I'm all balled up with. And then he says, and see if there is any hurtful way in me. See if there is any hurtful way in me. Some of your translations may say, see if there's any wicked way in me.

Some of your translations, I think the ESV says, see if there's any grievous way in me. But the idea can either be hurtful or wicked. Or it can be translated, if there is any way of grief in me. And the idea is this. If there's anything in me that grieves your heart. If there's anything in my life that grieves the heart of God. I get asked the question a lot.

Why did God allow people in the Old Testament to marry multiple wives? That seems like such a wrong thing. Why would God allow that to happen? And my response has become, same reason why he still loves you. Even though you have a lot of sin in your life. It was a sin acceptable in the culture at that point in time. And so God showed grace in spite of the sins of the culture.

You should be more worried about what sins are grieving the heart of God that you're committing right now. Not what the people of the Old Testament committed. They don't usually ask after that. But sometimes there are things inside of us that grieve God's heart and we don't see it because we have a blind spot to it. We say, Lord, I don't even see what you're talking about.

And he goes, well, let me explain it to you. And so he says, I'm going to open my heart bare before the all-present, all-knowing, all-powerful God and say, show me what's in me. And he says, and lead me in the everlasting way. Lead me in the way that will allow me to walk towards everlasting life. Brothers and sisters, life is hard. But God is good. And the greatest thing that we can do is to turn our eyes upon Jesus.

For me, getting into Psalm 139 last Tuesday night did just that. And I pray for you that has done the same. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. We praise you for who you are. I praise you, Lord, that you are that God. That you are the all-powerful, all-present, all-knowing, all-caring God. And Lord, like David, I pray, search me and know me.

Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there's anything that's hurtful in me. Anything that grieves your heart. And Lord, would you lead me in the way everlasting. Thank you for who you are in my life. I thank you for what you continue to do in my life. And Lord, I thank you so much for this body of believers. That I am blessed to be able to lead. So Father, draw us near to you.

Keep us close to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

God, we just thank you for how much you love us, Lord God. Despite all of our shortcomings. Our sin and our rebellion, Lord God. You still love us. You still chose to love us. And you still chose to go to the cross for us, Lord. Lord, you loved us so much, Lord. You even paid the price for those already hanging on the cross. With you, Lord. And we just thank you, Lord.

You love us that much. And we ask that you continue to minister to our hearts, Lord. As we leave here today. And we love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen.