Psalm 139 He made, Knows, Sees Us

Psalm 139 says, Lord, you have searched me and

known me. You know when I sit down and when I

get up. You understand my thought from far away.

You scrutinize my path, that means he looks closely,

and my lying down and are acquainted with all

my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue,

behold, Lord, you know it all. You have encircled

me behind and in front and placed your hand upon

me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It

is too high. I cannot comprehend it. Where can

I go from your spirit or 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 up the wings of the dawn,

if I dwell in the remotest parts of the sea,

even there your hand will lead me and your right

hand will take hold of me. If I say, surely the

darkness will overwhelm me and the light around

me will be night, even darkness is not dark to

you. And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness

and light are alike to you. For you create my

innermost parts. You wove me in my mother's womb.

I will give thanks to you because I am awesomely

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 formed in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes have seen my formless substance and

in your book were written. All the days that

were ordained for me. When as yet there was not

one of them. How precious also are your thoughts

for me, God. How vast is the sum of them. Were

I to count them, they would outnumber the sand.

When I awake, I am still with you. And then we're

skipping to verse 23. Search me, God, and know

my heart. Put me to the test and know my anxious

thoughts. And see if there is any hurtful way

in me. And lead me in the everlasting way. God

knows you completely. Verse 1. Oh Lord, you have

searched me and known me. Think about a journal,

right? Who's got a journal in the room? Somebody's

got one. Alright, can you hold it up? You keep

one electronically? That doesn't quite count

in this case. Alright, so that's a journal. Think

about a journal. God knows every page that will

be, or if it will be long lost before it's finished,

or whatever. He knows every page of that journal.

He knows what will be written on every page.

Our life's a little like that. The book represents

your life. Most people only see the cover of

your journal. A few might know a chapter or a

page or two. But Psalm 139 tells us God knows

every page, every margin note, even the words

that you crossed out. And here's the good news.

He still loves the author's work. God knows what

others miss. Verses 1 to 3, he knows when you

sit and rise, when your thoughts are from afar,

when your paths, he knows your paths and resting

places. Parents may know when a child is quiet.

Teachers know when a teen is distracted, but

God knows why. God knows kids in the room, which

not too many of kids, but there's one. Zayden,

I see you. You hear me? God knows. God knows

when you're scared, but don't say it. Teens,

God knows when you smile, but feel pressure on

the inside. God knows the weight we adults carry

silently and say nothing about. But God knows.

God knows before you speak. Even before there

is a word on my tongue, it says in verse 4. So

the other day I... What was I about to say? God

knows. God knows everything I'm going to say.

He is not limited in his knowledge. Have you

ever said, I didn't mean to say that? Oops, I

hurt his or her feelings. It just came out. God

knew what you were about to say before you said

it. And he still loved you. And he still stayed

with you. And he's still working in your life.

God's knowledge is comforting, not crushing.

A lot of people think that knowing God, being

with God, sometimes you feel, you act like, feel

like it's some kind of a burden, like it's so

difficult, so hard, it's crushing. It says, you

hem me in before and behind, or behind and before.

But this is talking about protection, not a trap,

not like God has sealed you in some kind of a

trap, he stuck you, making, forcing you to go

a certain way. It's not like that. This is talking

about protection. It's terrible to have an exposed

back. One time years ago, we did a Belgarth event

out in the side yard and there was a young man

there and he was really good at Belgarth and

I was okay, pretty good at Belgarth on that day

anyway. And so everybody said, well, let's all

fight everybody against them. And so we went

back to back in the middle. And as soon as the

fight started, he left me. And then soon he was

dead and then I was dead too. Your back exposed

is a terrible thing. But God hems us in behind

and before. Protection. God's knowledge does

not expose us to shame. Just because God knows

and maybe even exposes what you did wrong doesn't

necessarily mean you have to have shame. God

doesn't do that. Rather, God's knowledge invites

us to honesty. Psalm 139 doesn't just say God

knows us, it says He stays with us. And that

truth matters deeply when life feels confusing,

overwhelming, or lonely. I want you to hear that

next from one of our students. Come on Haley,

don't forget to push your button. Oh my goodness.

I can hear myself well. God is with you everywhere.

Okay, I'm going to read a song. Where can I go

from your spirit or where can I flee from your

presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there.

If I make my bed in Sheol, you behold, you are

there. If I take up the wings of the dawn, if

I dwell in the remote part of the sea. Okay,

I lost the paper. There, okay, it's right there.

Okay. Where is my glow from the spirit? Okay,

the object lives in this flashlight in the dark.

RJ, can you... off the light over there? Thank

you. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. This light represents God's presence. No

matter where I walk, the light goes with me.

Okay. You can't outrun... God, which is verses

7 and 10. Heaven, God is there. Lowest places,

God is there. Even places where you shouldn't

be, God is there. Sometimes that's comforting,

sometimes that's convincing, but it's always

loving. Darkness doesn't hide from us, verses

12, or not 11 and 12. Even the darkness is not

dark to you. Okay, so, okay, Zayden's another

kid, and, oh, Ariana, God, God sees you even

under your blanket at night, teens, which is

mostly in there. God sees you, your late night

thoughts and struggles, and adults, which is

all around the room. God sees the places you

don't post about. God's presence means you're

never alone, even when friends leave, even when

you feel misunderstood. There are moments when

I feel like I don't measure up, but Psalm 139,

reminds me, God never steps away. God knows us,

and God stays with us, but Psalm 139 also says

something amazing about how He made us, and I

think a child can help us understand that better

than anyone. Arianna. Okay. How do I... What

button? Ah, okay. Can you hear me? Okay. It's

not very close to my mouth, but that's fine.

And I also can't see up here. That's all right.

I'm very short. Okay. We need to read Psalms

139, 13 -16, which I was not given. Would someone

like to read that for me? Psalms 139, 13 -16.

For you created my innermost parts, you wove

me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to

you, because I am awesomely 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 formed in

the depths of the earth. Verse 16. Your eyes

have seen my formless substance, and in your

book were written all the days that were ordained

for you, when as yet there was not one of them.

Okay. So, in part of the verse, it says, I am

fearfully and wonderfully made. Right here I

have a box. This box has a quite intricate puzzle

in it. 350 pieces. And I have one piece of it.

This isn't the whole picture. When pieces are

missing, the picture isn't right. This is just

a small swab of the photo. It's not even close

to the entire thing. God made you himself, as

the verse says, you formed my inner parts. Let's

explain this in a way that children may understand

better. God didn't just make your body, he made

your heart and mind too. He makes good stuff,

and you are good stuff. God doesn't make mistakes,

like we heard in verse 14. I praise you, for

I am fearfully and wonderfully made. We have

a reason to praise God. Talk about Him. Song

about Him. He made us so good. Okay. I have a

couple of questions. These are some pretty easy

ones. I'm sure we can get this. Just shout it

out if you know it. Who made you? God did. God

did. Okay. We're going to say that a couple of

times. I say it. You answer it. Who made you?

God did. Who made you? God did. Who made you?

God did. God has a plan for your life, verse

16, and all the days are ordained for me. It

doesn't do me any good to ask me not to if I

didn't mean to. Okay. So God already knows. He'll

know when you learn. He'll know when you will

learn. He'll know when you grow. He'll know when

you will grow. How he'll use you, maybe only

God knows. You might have thoughts about how

God's going to use you. You might have ideas

like what you're expecting. God knows the truth.

You matter to God. And God doesn't make junk.

Our response to a God who knows, stays, and shapes.

Look then again at verses 23 and 24. Can I have

somebody read them? Verses 23 and 24. Psalm 139,

yeah. Nice and loud. and see if there be any

purple way of being, and lead me in the everlasting

way. Amen. He says, search me, O God, dot, dot,

dot, lead me in the everlasting way. It's about

being open to God. I mean, listen, He's going

to see anyway, right? You can do everything in

your power to try to cover up or conceal, but

you cannot fool Him. So it's about being open

to the Lord. When I first read this when I was

a young Christian, I thought, you know, that's

pretty bold to say to God, go ahead, check me

out. See if there be any fault in me, right?

I'm like, I'm thinking, yeah, there's fault in

me. I've got troubles. I do things I shouldn't

do. But it isn't about me saying, God, look at

me. I'm not doing anything wrong. It's about

me being willing to be open to God looking at

me. So I'm not making any efforts to cover up

to the Lord. I'm not talking to the Lord with

haughtiness or pride or false humility. I'll

say, oh God, I know I'm so stupid. I'm so wicked.

I'm such a bad person. I feel so bad about it.

I want to change. But when I know actually I

don't want to change at all. Or I know the next

day I'm just going to keep doing those things.

Those same things that I just called wicked and

bad, I'm going to keep doing those things. So

when I say search me, oh God, what I mean is,

Lord, I get it. You see everything. And then

I say, lead me in the everlasting way. I want

to be on that highway of holiness, that road

that God has laid out for us that takes us from

where we presently are to where God sees us going.

That's what I want to be. And if your life becomes

about that, then there is an eternal success

that's available. On the other hand, if your

life becomes about thinking you're okay, thinking

you're good enough, thinking you're going to

get by today, or maybe like you're going to fool

God somehow. It's going to lie, sneak, cheat,

steal, and then praise God for your victory,

right? If it becomes about that, that road of

lying, cheating, sneaking, and stealing is also

an infinitely long road. It just ends a place

that we don't want to end. It goes to a, I should

say it never ends, but it goes to a place that

we don't want to end, right? And so we know that

there are people who went before us, and demons,

who went before us who were, in some sense, a

lot smarter than us. They know the word a lot

better. They can make a better argument. They

probably can sing a better song, write a better

book, create a better painting. They can do all

of that. They can create a more complicated and

more successful plan. They can do all of that.

And yet their road ends in hell away from God

for eternity. So do you want to be like them?

Is that what we want to do? We want to be the

wisest person in our generation, or the wealthiest,

or the most successful, or everyone thinks that

we're the mighty, powerful Christian, loves God,

does all the right things? That will really not

benefit in the long run. It really does not matter.

There's a lot of times in life where you want

to say to yourself, it doesn't matter what other

people say about me. There's a lot of times when

you want to say that, it'll give you the strength

to go on, it'll give you the strength not to

be stuck in people defining you and things like

that. But there is a time in life where you say,

I want to have a good witness. I want to represent

God and be good. I want to be as good as I know

how to be. But the moment you start thinking

that you're already good, you're already there,

and you can kind of haughty say, I'm arriving,

I'm doing a good job, then arrogance has become

your friend. So we say to God, no, search me,

meaning I am open to be examined. If there is

a wicked way in me, I want it dealt with. I'm

not trying to hide it or put it away in my back

pocket for later. I'm trying to let it go. God,

help me let it go. And then we say, and lead

me in the way everlasting. We know now on this

side, the psalm was written a long time before

Jesus was born, by the way. We know now on this

side that there is a Lord and he will lead you

daily. that the Holy Spirit of God, because of

the sacrifice of Jesus, comes and lives in Christians

and we can be led, we can be convicted of our

sin, led to do the right thing, empowered spiritually,

trained through spiritual gifts and spiritual

disciplines. We can do things. I have already

done things that now I look back at them and

go, what? I did that? I can't believe that. That's

crazy. First of all, because I never would have

done that before. And then secondly, because

I can't do that. I couldn't do that. Right? It's

not possible. And yet, with God, all things are

possible. And so there is a God who will lead

us and actually lead us in the everlasting way.

So your journal then, Psalm 139, says, it ends

not with fear, but with an invitation. We say,

God, you already know me, so lead me. You already

know me, so lead me. For the children and young

people in the room, you are loved and you are

safe with God. Even if your parents get it wrong,

your grandparents, your teachers, and you will

have teachers who will get it wrong. They are

not your parents or grandparents. You will probably

have parents. Ariana, I will probably get it

wrong. Right? We've had that conversation before.

And so we know that. And yet, even as we know

that. We know that God is taking care of it.

Sometimes we learn from other people's bad examples

as much as we learn from people's good examples.

And so when your teacher tries to teach you something

that is contrary to what God says, you side with

what God says and realize that it's possible

for even somebody that you know that's maybe

honorable or good or caring or educated to be

wrong. You are loved and safe with God. Teens.

You don't have to hide from God to belong. The

truth is that there are a lot of people already

in your social groups, already Christians. Maybe

they're a little quirky, but then if you have

a true sense of yourself, you're a little quirky

too. And you're all trying to be not quirky,

not your odd self, not different, not unique.

But at the same time, outwardly say, but I am

different. I am different. I'm not like them.

So you're different but not different. It's a

confusing choice to make as a teenager. The truth

is, you don't have to hide from God to belong

in your set, in your circle, in your section,

in your hobbies, in your recreation. In our church,

we've got artistic people, we've got gamers,

we've got hard workers, we've got every kind

of creative mind. And we're not that big of a

church to have all of that. We're very blessed.

You do not have to hide from God to belong. We

have a young person that goes to Bowling Green,

and she said she was sitting in her school class,

and one of the students in her class is a devout

atheist, and will argue the point to no end.

And so she would sit there day after day and

say nothing, because she didn't want to start

a fight. She wouldn't say, God bless you. She

wouldn't pray for people, talk about Jesus, whatever,

because she didn't want to start a fight with

that person. Only to find out later that of the

five people, three of the five, her, the other

three, all Christians, all doing the exact same

thing. All four of them. One devout atheist was

shutting up four Christians who loved the Lord.

It's not necessary. You do not have to hide from

God to belong. And ultimately, those who are

fighting against God will not belong with God.

And we do, in the end. So choose your way according

to his love for you. Adults, let the God who

knows everything lead everything. And now at

that point where the truth is, tomorrow you're

going to get up and you've got to make your own

decisions. What you wear, where you go, your

schedule, your finances, your work, what you

do for work, whether or not you work, do you

work hard, do you work just as hard as you have

to, do you not work very hard at all? Will you

take the medicine? Will you get the diagnosis?

Will you get the procedure? All of that. You

have to make all of those decisions. If you submit

yourself to the doctor, the doctor makes all

of those decisions for you, then they're going

to make them based on the input that you give

them. And if you go in telling them that you

have pain, then they're going to give you diagnoses

and medicines for pain because you have pain.

And that's what they treat. If you go in and

you say, well, something's not right in my body,

then they're going to keep searching, ordering

tests, whatever, until they find the thing that's

not right in your body. And that's a good thing

about doctors. But that's all they are. They're

a sounding board for patients. So this I learned

when I was a teenager. I was a young teen, and

I busted my knee up pretty good playing side

yard football. I caught an interception and ran

it back, and the all -time QB, who was the 350

-pound junior linebacker for Northwood High School,

he tackled me. And as he tackled me, Their receiver

also tackled me, and the receiver hit me on the

top, and the big guy hit me on the legs, and

I went to the emergency room. Long story short,

I sat with the specialist, and he said, you've

got to have this special surgery for your knee

because you've got a bone in there that doesn't

belong. You've got to get it removed. It's going

to be six months recovery, but if you don't do

that, it's going to be bad. And I wasn't a Christian

at the time. My dad was a Christian, but he was

backslidden out with the Lord. My mom wasn't

a Christian. We didn't have anybody to appeal

to for our higher knowledge. But we didn't know.

So my parents said, well, it's up to you, Dan.

Do you want the surgery or not? I'm a young teen.

I'm in pain. I mean, you say no, you don't want

the surgery, but you don't want the pain either,

right? So I didn't know what to do. So he says,

well, let me talk to him alone. And the doctor

told me, he stood in the room, and I'm sitting

on the bed, and he's towering over me. He was

like 6 '2", looking down at me with kind of a

mean look on his face. And he said, you don't

have this surgery. By the time you're 19, you'll

be going pooping your pants every day. You will

lose control of your bowels. You will not be

able to take care of yourself. You'll be an invalid

by the time you're 25. That's what he told me.

Now, you imagine you're 13, 14 years old hearing

that from a medical professional. As I was sitting

there, I'm saying to myself, this doesn't seem

right. This doesn't seem right. This doesn't

seem right. This can't be right. So my parents

came back in the room and they said, well, what

do you want to do? And I said, well, I'll tell

you one thing for sure. I'm not letting that

man operate on my knee. If I need a surgery,

if I really need a surgery, somebody else can

do it, but I'm not letting him do it. And I said,

but I really need it. I said, at the very least,

we need a second opinion. About a week later,

my needs started to feel better. We kept putting

it off and putting it off, as you tend to do

when you need a surgery. And about six months

later, there was a girl in my high school who

got the same diagnosis. She had a surgery and

it took her a year and a half to learn to walk

again. I never got the surgery. I didn't need

the surgery. I was 55 years old now. That's over

40 years ago. I didn't need the surgery. But

that doctor... was saying all kinds of very harsh

things about going to the bathroom in your pants

and stuff like that to try to get me to take

that surgery. And if I had given in in that moment,

I'd have had a surgery. You have got to make

the decisions of your life. And the great blessing

that Psalm 139 points out is that there is a

God who knows everything, who made everything,

and He is worthy to follow, and He will lead

you if you let Him. At this point in time, we're

finishing up. We're going to pray together in

a moment. But first, we're going to have just

a moment's worship. So Brother Tim is going to

come at this time and he's going to lead us in

a song. We've got a PowerPoint coming up up here.

It's on. I'll let it shut off. Alright, so you're

going to stand. Stand, stand. We're all going

to stand. And we're going to sing this song with

Brother Tim. Come on! You can be seated for a

moment. That same God who knows us best loved

us most. Of all creation, elevated man to have

dominion over everything ever made. And then

when man misused that dominion and took sin as

an alternative, that is to say, did not honor

God with... His and her choices. God sent Jesus

to bring us on. While we were yet sinners, Christ

died for us. For those of you who are in the

room who have already accepted Jesus Christ as

your Lord, that means He tells you what to do.

And your Savior, that means you know that He

paid the price for your sins. This message is

clear. Trust Him who knows. and still loves,

and still saves, and still has the right to lead.

For those of you who have not accepted Jesus

Christ as your Lord and Savior, and I'm fully

aware that someone could accept God as Savior,

that means, oh, I'm so glad he saved me, yay,

I get to go to heaven when I die, I accepted

the free gift of salvation, and has not accepted

him as Lord, except it is the quality of Lord,

not the quality of Savior, that Romans 10 says

we must embrace. And so if you have accepted

Jesus just as Savior, and oh, thank goodness

he paid the price for my sins, but not Lord,

he has the right to lead me, then it is a message

to trust his leadership. To commit yourself today

to follow him. I think that Ariana and Haley

and myself had to trust in God to do this lesson

today. And we did. You had to trust in God at

least a little bit to come here today, or maybe

you trusted. The safety of the place, the friendliness

of the people, the comfort of the chair, the

warmth compared to the outside cold. I'm telling

you that those things all come and go in life.

But there is only one God. And you'll be saved

by trusting Him with your life and having Him

as your Lord. We're going to close in prayer.

And as I pray, I'll pray a prayer of salvation

that will include those two facets of this lesson.

Then we are done in this room. We'll retreat

to the cafeteria where we have... cake in honor

of birthdays, and mini hot dogs. Right? Is that

what we're calling them? Mini what? Chili dogs.

Yeah, mini chili dogs. Not chili as in cold,

but chili as in they have chili sauce on them.

All right? So let's pray. Pray with me, because

there might be somebody listening who's not saved.

Even if they're not in this room, this message

will go out across the world. Father in heaven,

great creator, giver of all good things, designer

of all functional patterns, a layer out of the

borders of all nations, assigner of all tasks,

giver of all kings and presidents, sovereign

God. We recognize that even in a day when to

recognize, Who and what you are doesn't mean

the same thing to everybody. Lord, we recognize

that you are Lord. When light hovered just outside

of existence, and that's hard for our minds to

fathom, I understand, you said, light be. Let

there be light, as the English translates it.

And we are grateful that you did that because

our eyes collect light. And by that we see as

the light bounces off different colors and shapes

and things. And then we know that there are those

who suffer from blindness. From birth sometimes,

later, or near the end, or while they still have

a lot of time left. And we're kind of partial

to being able to see. It's a great gift from

you. It goes on. We turn down water in favor

of coffee or soda or juice. But you made water

the stuff that life needs. It's made of. There

is a part of us, even as we recognize you as

Lord, that fails to trust the pattern, the design,

the plan that you have for us. We want to say,

well, God knows best, but... Today, I know better.

In this moment, I know what I want. God knows

what I want, and if I wait around for him to

give it to me, he may not. Lord, we need to trust

you. And for the Christians in this room who

have you as Lord, that means we're supposed to

do what you say. And Savior, that means you paid

the price for our sins. We commit ourselves to

trust you now. It means we know that things are

going to happen. That shake us a little. Make

forward progress more difficult. Maybe even stop

us in our tracks. Maybe even drop us in a pit.

I think of the prophets and how they suffered.

The apostles and how they suffered. One of us

could wind up on a cross. Or in front of the

barrel of a gun. Or worse. Lord, we commit ourselves

to trust you with what is and with what's coming.

And we are grateful to know that you already

know what is and what's coming. For those of

us in this room, Lord, who do not know you as

Lord, moving in our spirits just now, I pray

that that person, whether they're actually in

this room with us or dialing in on Facebook or...

whether they catch this later on one of the other

social media outlets or whether it comes out

on the podcast and they listen to it. Let's see

if I can remember one of those cities, Bangladesh

or Burma. I don't know. Lord, wherever they might

be in the world, if they listen to this, I pray

that right now that their soul will be crying

out and saying, I need a savior, but I realize

I'm being offered a Lord and I need that. And

they would say, okay God, whether I ever talk

to Dan Stevenson or Haley or Ariana or anybody

else that was in that room that day singing that

music, reading those verses, thinking of me,

whether I ever talk to any one of them or not,

I give my life to you to do with what you please.

Because I realize now it was already yours in

the first place. Father, go with us as we go

out. Make us your messengers of mercy, your reconcilers

of sinners. Help us bring people to you the best

we know how. Go with us as the light. And let

us serve you. And we pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen. Thank you very much.