From time to time, I run into people who have the worst attitudes. They beat themselves up thinking they are worthless, that they don't matter to much. I've even felt that a time or too. We surround ourselves with people who beat us up, and it can go to our head.
When we feel that way, and all we want to do is lock ourselves away and have a pity-party, we need to remember that God is closer than we think. And He has different feelings about us. We need to start listening to Him, and not to the world.
This Psalm will help us to replace those feelings of inadequacy or doubt and replace them with a sense of purpose in God's plan.

God Knows You

In the opening 6 verses of this Psalm there are 8 different Hebrew words that stqack up to tell you that God knows your story intimately. Searched; Know; Understand; Scrutinize; Intimately acquainted; know; enclosed; laid
Each shows another layer of God's knowledge of you. God is pictured as a detective, tracking even our most mundane activities. Studying us, dissecting us, discerning what makes us tick and why we do what we do.
In fact, God knows you so well, on a programming level that He knows precisely what you will say or do next.
What does that mean?

Does that excite you or does that sound unnerving? It can be scary when we really think about our inmost thoughts. But God knows, and He loves you still
David gives the picture of laying of hands, an OT practive of conferring a blessing
In the same way, your Father, who knows you, bestows blessing on you.
You see in God's family, "nobody's" are non-existent.

God Pursues You

In v. 6 David pours out his heart. God I don't understand why you are this involved in my life, and look at what his response is - he wants to run and hide.
If God knows it all, He knows i'm a hypocrite, He knows I lie, He knows I am motivated by selfishness.
vv. 7-12
David feared total exposure, but that's exactly what God wants
But David wanted to run. Problem is; God will not let him run away, nor will He let us.
David admits in these verses, if I could run a million miles away, Your hand will lead me - that's guidance. Your right hand will hold me - that's security.
You know what this means right? God is pursuing after you!
When you feel the crushing weight of lonliness and despair and wonder if you would be missed if you were gone - God is pursuing after You.

Look at vv. 13-16
It was God who knit you together in your mother's womb
A picture of intricite detail.
Do you watch crime dramas? I do, and how do they always get their man - it's usually fingerprints - why because each one is unique - and think God took the intimate intricate time to draw each and every fingerprint!
Or think about this - currently scientists are racing to complete the most powerful computer. Right now, the most powerful computer can perform 280 trillion calculations per second. But that is nothing compared to the computer they are putting together in the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. When completed it will be the size of a hockey rink, and will do a quadrillion calculations a second. That's a billion times faster than a home computer.

But get this, the human brain processes information at 10 quadrillion operations a second. God has done some fancy knitting, wouldn't you say?

If you look in the mirror everyday and don't like what you see, you've been listening to the carnal world rather han your Heavenly Father.
You are God's treasured creation.

vv. 16b - 18
Your life story has already been written by God and He has carefully mapped out the details of your day.
But it doesn't just stop there. He didn't create you and then just leave you to figure it all out on your own. He has ordained the days, and the plans. His thoughts are constantly on you. He is happy when your happy, He is hurt when you sin, your life is not just randomly moving forward.
God has plans specifically for you.
Think about a hundred dollar bill. If I offered you one, would you take it? What if I crumbled it up threw it on the ground kicked it, wrote all over it. Would you still want it? Sure you would. A worn out $100 bill is the same value as a crisp clean $100 bill.
It has value because of what it is, not because of how it looks, where it's been, or what it's been used for.
If you feel like your life has been stepped on, beat up, or kicked around. You feel dirty, unworthy, or useless. Just know this - you matter to God.
Here is the point David is making - don't let the world or another human being define who or what you are. Look higher, let God show you who you really are.