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July 18, 2021: How To Build A Close Relationship With God (Psalm 139)
Good morning - great to see you folks here in person... and hello again to those of you joining us online.
Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about a key season in my life & journey with God: I want to share a story with you from that time to begin today.
● Set the scene for you: It was the Fall of 1992, and I was an Iowa farm kid getting adjusted to my first semester in college.
In my attempt to make friends in those early weeks, I met a number of students involved in Christian groups / activities on campus.
Got that picture in your mind?
● Now, I had grown up in the church, and so faith was important to me.
But I was also struck by how distinct my new friends' approach to faith was compared to mine.
● For me - I had a genuine belief in God, but my faith was largely centered on having the right facts about God, and how important it was to follow certain Christian rules.
● Contrast that with my new friends.
When they prayed - it was like they were talking to a close friend.
And when they worshipped God - it was from their hearts, not just vocalising abstract truths set to music.
● To be honest...
I initially thought these new friends were a bit weird.
● But I wanted to get to know God in the personal way that they knew Him.
And so I began learning from my friends how to develop a closer relationship with God.
And that changed so much in me, even in those first few months of college.
- Changed how I read the Bible and prayed...
I wasn't just checking something off the religious "to-do" list.
- Changed how I approached why and how I went to church: I showed up believing that I could really experience God.
- Changed how I looked at myself.
That was a season where I confronted some big areas of brokenness in my life... and that work of transformation was birthed out of me growing closer to God.
- And here it is 30 years later... and I am still on this journey, learning how to grow closer to God.
In large part, that's why we're here - why we exist as a church.
We want to help you discover and grow in a real relationship with God.
But how do you develop that kind of close relationship with God? That's what we want to talk about this morning.
● Going to look at an amazing passage in the Psalms.
Psalm 139.
Psalm 139:1-6
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
How do we build a close relationship with God? Here's the first item I want to touch on from Psalm 139: Embrace that you are fully known by God
And that begins with understanding... God's knowledge of you is personal
There is a Hebrew word that is used a number of times in this psalm - 4 times in just these first few verses.
The word is "yada."
This Hebrew word has several definitions, but all of them communicate the idea of intimate knowledge.
Occasionally, "yada" is used as a euphemism for sexual intimacy.
But more broadly, it describes what it is like to encounter, to experience, to connect deeply with another person.
When you think about relationships - isn't this what we all long for?
Whether that's in a dating or marriage relationship, or with our very close friends.
Not merely knowing things about someone or sharing the same interests, but to know that person's hopes and dreams, to know their fears and even their secrets.
To know someone else deeply... and for them to know you in the same fashion.
That's the idea behind this Hebrew word "yada."
Ps 139 goes on to describe even more about God's personal knowledge of us.
Tracking all the way back to God's role as our creator.
Listen to this from v.13-16
13 You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
I love the descriptive language that David (the author of this Psalm) uses here.
● He writes: Lord you created my in-most being.
You knit me together.
I was made in the secret place.
I was woven together.
Now, those descriptions might challenge a few of your original ideas about God.
Many people come to think about God as being somewhere "out there or "up there" as a distant, aloof deity.
Or that God is this stoic, eternal score-keeper.
● But that's not what we see here.
Psalm 139 describes the God of the universe watching over, orchestrating every bit of our formation as tiny babies in our mother's womb.
His wonderful work of creating you and creating me is intensely personal.
When we grasp that understanding, that picture of God - it can radically shift how we approach our lives.
For example, if you were here two weeks ago, Steph B gave a great message about identity.
When we ask important questions like... Who am I?
Where am I going?
What am I for?
...we often get off track by looking to other people and other things for our sense of identity.
Friends, we were made to receive our ultimate sense of identity from our creator.
The God that made you and knows you wants to help you understand what he has built into you.
God's knowledge of you is so personal, and he wants to let you in on what He knows about you!
Okay, we're just getting started here about God's knowledge.
God's knowledge of you is also challenging.
(repeat) Look back at verses 1-3 (SLIDE)
V.1 - You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.
● That underlined word is a legal term, describing being cross-examined; being explored and probed.
V. 2 - you perceive my thoughts from afar.
● That word literally means to observe with all one's senses and to thoroughly understand.
David is saying: God you see right into me and right through me
V. 3 - You discern my going out and my lying down...
● This same word is used to describe wheat being sifted.
Later in V.3.
David writes: you are familiar with all my ways.
● That means everything is open to God in our lives.
There are no secrets that we have from him.
Even those things we don't want to share, everything is laid bare.
Let's pause here... As I unpack this pointed terminology - about being explored and sifted, seen right into and laid bare - how are you feeling?
Anyone saying to themselves, "I think I might go get another cup of coffee now!"
Why do we get a bit uncomfortable in these moments?
Think about it...
● It's one thing to have the awesome things about us come to light.
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