The Wonder of God’s Greatness

Good morning

It is good to be with all of you

I have been out of the pulpit for a few weeks and I am so glad to be back

If we have not had a chance to meet, my name is Stefan, I am the preaching pastor here at Harvest

And I am most eager to open God’s Word with all of you

So let’s take out our Bibles and open to the book of psalms, and turn to the 139th Psalm.

The book of Psalms, as a collection of songs and hymns, has a purpose:

To instruct us in who God is and in how we should respond as his people

And so as we come to Psalm 139, it is going to instruct us in truths about God and in how we should respond to those truths

Before we get to the txt, I would encourage you to consider: In our current culture, if you have worry or if you have fear or concerns, where would the world tell you to turn for comfort?

More than likely, the world would tell you to turn within

Look within for confidence

Look within for courage

Look to yourself, your abilities, your authenticity

And that message is really a message that exposes the man-centered worldview of the world

You need not fear if you would just believe how great you are

But there is a problem with that - I am worried, I am fearful, I am concerned… because of things outside of me… So how can comfort come from within?

No, for me to have comfort in my worries and in my struggles, I need to know that there is something (or someone) greater than my problems who can intervene on my behalf.

Only then can I have true comfort to know that whatever I may face, I’ll be okay

And in Psalm 139, David makes very clear why God is greater than anything you and I will face

So let’s give these words our full attention

Psalm 139:1–12 “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. 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 the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; 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 complete hatred; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

These are God’s words for us as his people

Big Idea: The greatness of God is the comfort of his people. [6:00]

The more that you and I consider the greatness of God, the more we will find comfort in God as we face trials and difficulties in life.

It won’t be because I realize how great I am in the face of my troubles

It will be because I realize how great God is, and so I am comforted in the midst of my troubles

[Bridge Question] What is great about God? And how does the truth of his greatness lead to our comfort?

David is going to give us four comforting truths

Four truths, that if we will believe them, will lead to our comfort

Make sense?

So, comforting truth number one…

God knows me perfectly (1-6) [8:00]

We are going to start by looking at v. 1-6 and get the whole picture on what it means that God knows us perfectly

And then we will talk about how it is comforting…

Psalm 139:1–3 “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.”

This is a poetic way of saying you know everything about me. My actions, my thoughts, my motives, my emotions and my experiences.

There is nothing about me that you don’t know

This is what is known as God’s omniscience, the fact that he is all knowing.

And it isn’t just that God knows alot about alot

In fact, A.W. Pink gives a great summary of just how much God knows:

“He knows everything; everything possible, everything actual; all events and all creatures, of the past, the present, and the future. He is perfectly acquainted with every detail in the life of every being in heaven, in earth, and in hell… His knowledge is perfect.”

God’s knowledge is exhaustive of all that can be known - Perfect, complete knowledge

And notice in that definition that God’s knowledge is not just about the present, but past present and future

This is what is called God’s foreknowledge, his perfect and complete knowledge of that which has not even occurred yet

Look at v. 4

Psalm 139:4 “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”

While it may not have happened yet, God knows it altogether (he not only knows the words, he knows the motive, the meaning, the tone… all before I even say it.)

And he goes further…

In v. 5, where it says “You hem [confined] me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.”

David is saying, “You have confined me in this present moment, between my past and my future, and you hands is moving me through all of it”

David is acknowledging, “I come to a knowledge of things as they occur… You have a full knowledge of them outside of time.”

God’s knowledge and his eternality presents us with a baffling reality of how God’s knowledge is entirely different from ours…

Listen to the way one commentator puts it…

Psalms, Volumes 1 & 2 139:4, Every Word Known

God knows what has already taken place, to our perception, as fully as he knows what is yet to be in our experience. He does not forget what is past, nor is he yet to know what will be. He knows all. Now.

Because God is outside of time, his knowledge is not only complete, his knowledge is all present to him and he sees it perfectly - All eternity, all people, all times, all at once.

Now, let’s just stop for a minute… and take a breather…

No doubt this idea of God’s perfect and complete eternal knowledge is mind-bending and presses against the limits of our knowledge in a way where we are left awestruck when we consider the extent of God’s knowledge

And so you and I would do well have the same response as David in v. 6

Psalm 139:6 “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”

I cant even fathom that kind of knowledge…

And you’re right.

We would do well to stop thinking that God knows like we know…

He knows infinitely more perfectly, completely, and eternally than we could ever comprehend.

And listen… that fact should bring us comfort.

Because I think that many of us carry a very common insecurity when it comes to what people know about us

We know our thoughts… We know our struggles… we know our secrets and what we are ashamed of…

And many of us struggle with the feeling that if you knew about me what I know about me… you would not love me anymore

“Oh you love me because you only know some things about me…

“But if you knew about me what I know about me, you would reject me”

Maybe that is you this morning

And if it is, you need to see the comforting truth of v. 1-6

God knows all of those things about you, perfectly, completely - He knows even more about you than even you do

He knows your past

He knows your present

He knows your future

He knew all of it when he sent Jesus to live the perfect life he knew you would not live

And when Jesus died on the cross in your place and cried out “It is finished”

He declared that with the perfect and complete knowledge from all eternity of all that would be true about you…

Every one of those things that you think is worthy of rejection… in a moment in time were all washed away for all time.

And when you follow Jesus by faith, you can be confident that God knows you perfectly—past, present, and future—and he loves you completely.

Second comforting truth…

God is with me constantly (7-12) [15:00]

in v. 7-12, David moves from God’s omniscience to God’s omnipresence.

Psalm 139:7–10 “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”

Just like in v. 2-3, David here uses poetic language to say that there is no place you can go where God’s presence is not there.

No matter how high or how deep, no matter how far east or how far west

And when he says, “If I make my bed in Sheol” that is the Hebrew term for the place of the dead

He is saying that even in death you cannot escape the presence of God because he is present even in the afterlife.

No matter where I go, God is there.

And while that might be easy enough to understand, it would be equally easy to think that that just refers to his presence in general

Like, “Ya, he is present everywhere, but he is still not really interested in our daily lives”

David helps us to see that God isn’t just spatially present in the world and disengaged from our lives, he is personally present in the lives of his people as well.

Look at v. 10 - Psalm 139:10 “even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”

Illustration - Guiding my kids through a difficult area, protecting them with one hand and guiding them with the other hand

That is the image this v is giving of God - leading and holding his children like a loving father

God is personally present with those who are his children by faith in Jesus

When you put your faith in Jesus the spirit of God comes and dwells with you as God’s personal presence

God isn’t just near you in space - He is near in relationship, leading and holding you.

And there is nowhere you can go where that will no longer be true

But it isn’t just that is with us when we let him guide us… He is still near when we run away…

Psalm 139:11–12 “If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”

What does David mean here?

The first time we hear about darkness and light is in Genesis 1

Before there is order in creation, there is darkness

And then God brought order by saying “Let there be light” and separating the light from the darkness

God overcame the darkness to bring light

So then throughout the Bible, darkness carries the significance of that which goes against God’s order

And light represents God overcoming the darkness to bring about his goodness and truth.

So, what David seems to be saying here is, “Even if I fled to sin to try to escape you, your presence would expose me by the light of your truth.”

Now why would he say that?

Well, I think that some of us when we are caught up in sin are prone to believe that God is far from us

When I know that I am in a season of addiction or ongoing sin, it is easy to think that God has walked away, or that he is angry with me and has turned away from me

And David’s words here are a comfort because even when I sin, God did not abandon me, but is instead near and calling me back

If you have been running away from God because you are ashamed of your sin, turn around and you’ll see he is right there

If you have never run to God and think you need to clean your life up before he will come near to you, give him your life now and he will draw near to you.

No matter how deep into darkness you think you are, his light will shine in that darkness and the darkness will not overcome it.

When you and I embrace the truth that God is with us constantly, we can be comforted knowing that we are never alone and the best place we can be is in the arms of God.

That’s the second comforting truth

The third comforting truth…

God formed me intentionally (13-18) [23:00]

We live in a time in which no one is happy with who they are or what they look like.

Everybody it seems wants to change practically everything about themselves

And the reason is because we are constantly evaluating ourselves against the ever-changing whims of the world around us

But if we will listen to what God’s word says about us then we can be comforted to not change things that don’t need to change and to only desire change in those things that should change.

Look at how David talks about how we should view ourselves…

Psalm 139:13-14 “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.”

David is saying, “The way you are made, outside and inside, your appearance and your personality, is on purpose, for a purpose, and it is a wonderful thing.”

Things that you look in the mirror and critique and wish you could change, God looks at and says, “I knitted you like that and it is wonderful.”

Are we affected by sin so that those things are marred and broken by that sin?

Yes, but those things that are broken, God will renew as he works in us by his Spirit

He will complete the work that he began in you, changing what needs to change while keeping you uniquely how he created you.

What an error it is when we try to change everything about us the world says should change while ignoring everything that God says should change.

You don’t need to change how you look - You need to change how you live

You don’t need botox - You need Jesus

You don’t need to be skinnier - You need to shed the weight of sin that hinders you

You don’t need someone else’s life - You need holiness

You don’t need to look different for the life you want - You need to use the way that God made you to live the life that God wants.

But it isn’t just your body and personality that God designed… Look at v. 16

Psalm 139:16 “…in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

God did not just form your body, he formed the days of your life as well

Now, there is so much that could be said here, but what will have to suffice for the purpose of this Psalm this morning is this: the current state of your life is not a surprise to God; it is actually necessary for his purposes in your life to come to pass.

While life may not look the way you thought it would look, it looks precisely how it needs to look for God to do in you what he has purpose to do in you

There are things about my life that I don’t understand, but because of God’s sovereignty over time and space and over my life, I can know that those things about my life are fully known by God and will be fully and perfectly used by God to accomplish in me whatever God has purposed.

And so, rather than trying to change everything about myself and my life to fit what I think is best,

instead the best thing that I can do when i look at my life is to say “Lord you know, you formed me, you formed my days - Fulfill your purpose in my life however you want.”

And we can be comforted knowing that he formed us and will use each day to continue to form us intentionally

And I want you to look at how David concludes this thought…

Psalm 139:17–18 “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 the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”

The greatest marvel in all of this, is that a God who is beyond human understanding… purposes to love us, to be with us, and to be for us

It is a truth too good to be true… Like dreaming, but when we wake up, the dream turned out to be real.

I love the way theologian Willam VanGemeren puts it

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 5: Psalms (Revised Edition) Commentary

It is impossible for the creature to comprehend the Creator fully. God’s plans are beyond humankind’s ability to comprehend, as they are more in number than the sand of the sea. They are like a dream; but, unlike a dream, God’s love is real. When awake, the psalmist still knows that he enjoys God’s presence. - Willam VanGemeren

When God is your God, the wonder of his greatness is comforting precisely because it is true and it directly impacts how you and I should view ourselves.

When we embrace the truth that God formed our lives and our days intentionally, we can have a real comfort, regardless of what we may face, because the God who knows perfectly and is present constantly, is forming us intentionally for our good through all of it.

And the final comforting truth…

God leads me continually (19-24) [33:00]

The psalm feels like it shifts here in a way that you might not have predicted, but it is actually the outworking of what David has been considering

Consider this: when you are confronted with the truth of who God is, and it leads you to wonder at his greatness and to marvel at how incredible he is and how his ways are better and how he is orchestrating all things in a way that is for our good and for his glory and that that is what we should want more than anything

… And then you look out at the world

and see that it is absolutely bent on doing things every other way except for God’s way

and that it wants nothing to do with God

and it actually despises the things of God and the people of God

You are immediately confronted with the fact that you have to choose sides, because friendship with the world is enmity toward God.

And so David aligns himself with God and against the world.

And I just want you to notice how he responds after aligning himself with God

First, he acknowledges the evil in the world… and he doesn’t shy away from calling it what it is… wicked

Psalm 139:19–20 “Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain.”

God, because of your greatness, do something!

But rather than David taking things into his own hands, He does two things

First, he contrasts himself against the world

Psalm 139:21–22 “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 complete hatred; I count them my enemies.”

Hatred here does not mean acting hateful

In the biblical usage “Hatred” carries the meaning of wanting nothing to do with someone

It means completely avoiding what that person is doing

And you might be thinking, “But aren’t we called to love?”

Yes, we are, and the most loving thing you can do it is to not look like the world.

Because it shows that God is worth going a different way

It is an error to think that by looking like the world in the name of Jesus you will win the world for Jesus

The world does not need to see that God is so insignificant that he cant even change our lives

The world needs to see that God is so great that he is worth living a completely different kind of life for

Not in a hateful way, but in a way that says, “God’s way is better.”

And because he is worth living a life that goes against the way of the world, the right prayer is v. 23-24

Psalm 139:23–24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

Because of your greatness God, have your way with me

Change whatever is offensive to you

Lead me wherever you would have me go

It will mean we won’t fit in this world… But at the same time we can be comforted as God leads us in his way

Because we can know that he is leading us continually on the way that leads to everlasting life.

You might be here today and you have been going along with the world because you thought that that was going to lead to greatness

But I can assure you that what you need more than being great in this world is for your life to be reconciled with the great God who reigns over you and before whom you will stand.

And you can be made right with him by placing your trust in Jesus Christ, who died to be the penalty for your sin, and you can follow him with your life and he will lead you to eternal life, forever fulfilled and satisfied in the presence of our great God.

Conclusion

For all of us, whatever you are facing today that has you longing to be comforted…

Don’t look to the world to give you comfort

Don’t look to material things to give you comfort

Don’t turn to substances that will just numb the pain and then call that comfort

Look at the greatness of God, because that is where you will find comfort

He knows you perfectly

He is with you constantly

He formed you intentionally

And he will lead you continually

And those truths are a great comfort for God’s people.

Amen.

[40:00]

Communion

Remember the finished work of Jesus

Ordinary bread and cup - The Spirit’s presence in us makes this a means of God’s grace to us as we remember together

Open communion

But our hearts need to be in the right place

We must not take the bread and the cup while living in conflict with God

We must not take the bread and the cup while living in conflict with one another

Ushers get in place

Movement in the room

Gluten free option

Reflect on the great love of God displayed in the finished work of Jesus