Nice sound system here. So if we could turn to Psalm 139, that'd be great. I'm going to turn there myself. And this is a very well-known psalm.
It's one of my favorites. I used to say it was my favorite psalm, but it's pretty hard to say that one psalm is your favorite psalm because they're also good. But this one has a lot of depth. And it just shows God's amazing word, just how it works itself.
It's something that's living. So this is actually a living book. And it's pretty amazing just how God actually made his word. But I think I'm going to open prayer and talk to the Lord, and then we'll dive in.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for bringing us together tonight to look to you and to look into your word and to study it and to learn about you, Lord. But most of all, Lord, I pray that you help us to transform to be more like you and to be more pleasing to you as we live our lives, more glorifying to you. I just pray that this word would penetrate our hearts and that it would counteract our flesh and our desires that we have for ourselves that would work in us to do your will and in Jesus' name. So I want to start with, so I'm just going to read the psalm and then I'll go through it kind of step by step.
And there's a lot in here that we can look at. So I'm going to start with verse 1 in ESV. Oh Lord, you have searched me and know 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. You 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 send to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in sheal, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hands 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 day. The 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'm 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. Intercutly 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 were none of them. How precious to me, O Lord are your thoughts.
How vast is the sum of them. If I could count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I'm 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?
I do not, and I do not, do not load those who rise up against you. I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. Search my heart, O God, try me.
And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. I want to start with verses one to four. And I've labeled this the Lord's intimate understanding. This is the Lord's level of his ability to discern our thoughts and his ability to see what we think.
It's interesting because it says that he sees our thoughts, but he also, and he sees everything we do. But what stands out to me is that he sees our thoughts. He sees our thoughts. Everything we do.
But what stands out to me is in verse two. The end of verse two, it says, you discern my thoughts from afar. It means that he knows our thoughts. He understands what we're thinking.
He understands even what we don't understand, what we need or what we want or what we desire. He does. He understands that. And he can, basically, he can predict what we are about to think or about to say because he knows it inside out.
He knows all. And he transcends time. So this was something that stuck out to me, just the fact that God doesn't just see it. He doesn't just observe it and it slips by him.
He actually understands it. He actually, the other thing I noticed is that he searches us out. He actually searches it. Oh, Lord, you have searched me and know me.
And there's a deep purpose in God's searching us out. It's not just a passive God. He actually searches us out. And he desires to help us grow.
He understands our thoughts in the deepest and most intimate way possible. So it's just amazing to me. He's acquainted with all our ways. And to think that the God of the universe who created us, who created not just us, but created the whole world, the whole universe, I don't know if everyone here is into science.
But this week, there was a picture published by NASA. And it was the picture of the black hole, which is at the center of our galaxy here. And one of the challenges with that picture is just how big it was, how big the black hole is. They were focusing on.
They had to figure out an algorithm to actually capture that picture. When you think about it, that's something God just spoke into existence. It's something that it's nothing to him. And yet he looks at our smallest little thoughts.
And he actually thinks about those things. It's just amazing the vast depth that God has. It shows that in verse five, it says, you hem me in behind him before and lay your hand upon me. And it's just amazing that that's God cares for us.
He actually protects us. And it says he hems us in. He cares about each and every one of us. In verse six, David basically pauses.
And he's just in awe of God. And he's in awe of this amazing truth that God is actually caring for us, caring for him. And he says, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high.
I cannot attain it. He's saying that he just can't even understand God's amazing intimate knowledge. And so verses seven to 10 are some amazing verses. Where shall I go from your spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in shiel, basically, that means the grave. Behold, 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. This we think of God as high up. He's high in heaven.
And that's where he that's his dwelling place. But his dwelling place is also in our hearts as believers. God comes and he lives with us. Wherever we are, whether we're standing here, walking around on the earth, if a believer dies, then the Lord is with him.
And wherever we go, God is with us when we are truly his. And it can be both comforting and terrifying. If you're not a believer, it's absolutely terrifying that the Lord can have access to you wherever you go. But as a believer, it's something that's tremendously comforting.
And it's something that can boost our faith. Just understanding the fact that simply just the fact that God, number one, can be with us. And number two is willing to be with us, and is chosen to live with us. And I think of the verse in Revelation where it says, the dwelling place of the Lord is among men.
And that's speaking of the end times. And we just look forward to when we can see him face to face. And that's an amazing thing. So just these three verses or four verses are extremely deep.
I mean, we think of God as in heaven, but he's everywhere. He's here. He's with us. So it says in verse 11, if I say surely the darkness will cover me, the light about me be night.
Even if even the darkness is not dark to you, the night is bright as the day. For the darkness is as light with you. I think there's different ways of looking at darkness in the scripture. I think in this case, I would say that there's kind of two meanings.
So one can be, it means evil things. And the other, it can mean unknown. I think this is more talking about unknown. So this is more talking about the fact that darkness is kind of a, when you're in the dark, you're in an unknown place.
You have to feel your way around. You can't actually see anything. So you actually don't know what's happening. You actually are unaware of things around you.
This is speaking of God's awareness and how closely connected he is with his creation and just how he understands he can see in the darkness, he sees things. And there's lots of different unknowns that we can face. We can face things like our health, a job, or applying for a job, financial issues or marriage or kids, which is an unknown for me right now. And this is just something that we know that God sees these unknowns.
He understands these unknowns. And he knows what's going to happen. And he is in control of all these things. And even the darkness is as light to him.
It's so comforting to know that. And he knows the unknowns. He carries us through the unknown. So it's not just that he's in control and that he'll control it.
But it's that he actually deeply, intimately, cares for us and brings us through these things and protects us. He hems us in and he brings us through all of these things. And it's amazing. It's really cool.
The next section here, verses 13 to 16, this is kind of interesting because it starts with the word for so it kind of indicates that David is talking about. This is why he knows that God sees in the darkness. It's because he knows that God formed his inward parts. He knows that God knitted him together in his mother's womb.
I praise you for it. I'm 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, we're written every one of them. The days were formed for me.
As yet, there were none of them. This speaks of God's creation of us physically, actually. And it's something that you can look here and God is very meticulous in the way he created us. He was very detailed in the way that he creates each individual.
I think sometimes people might think of it as almost like God said it and forget it. He said he spoke the world into existence, said it in motion, and then it just carried on and did what it does. I don't think that's actually what happened. I think God individually has his hand in everything, in every little bit of his creation.
He controls every little bit of it. And I have a term called, set it and forget it. And it's kind of like, if I want to have a guitar pedal and make a certain noise, then I step on it, and that's it, I set it and forget it. God didn't do that.
God is meticulously working in our lives. And he did that when he physically formed us. He does that when he spiritually grows us. And he carefully tracks everything.
He says that, I'm trying to see, verse 16 here. It says, in your book, we're written every one of them. And that's talking about the days. The days were formed before me.
As when as yet, there were none of them. So God actually, it says here that God has a book that, I've written all of our days, everything we do. And before we even do the things that we do. So God, this is just an amazing builder of our faith, just to know that God is in control.
He's able to overcome anything. The next section is verse 17 to 18. And I basically just have a little note that says, we are on his mind, exclamation point, question mark. And it's amazing just that there's a word here in verse 17 that says, how precious to me are your thoughts, oh, God, how vast is the sum of them.
In breaking of bread this morning, we thought about how God is precious to us. And also how the reason why God is precious to us is because we're precious to him. And he actually displays that. I think in verse 17, it's David just expressing how precious God is to him because God has made him precious.
And it's a really great verse. How precious to me are your thoughts, oh, God, how vast the sum of them. If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I wake and I'm still with you.
David's expressing the fact that his faith is growing because he understands that God thinks about him and that God understands things. He sees the future. The next section here in verse 19, oh, that you would slay the wicked, oh, men of blood, depart from me. They speak against you with malicious intent.
Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate you, those who hate you, oh, Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you. I hate them with a complete hatred.
I count them by enemies. That's a challenging section in the Psalm. It has a little different flavor than the rest of the Psalm. The early part of the Psalm is meditation.
It's David thinking about the things of God, thinking about God's power and his thoughts. And this, part near the end of the Psalm, David is actually supplication. It's David asking of the Lord to slay the wicked. And I think it comes from his meditation.
It comes from David's understanding of God's power. It drives him to have the faith to come to God and ask him and look to him. Also, it shows that when we're open to God's will and open to God's nature, his word, it gives us the desire to see him glorified. And that's what this is.
Not necessarily, I don't think David's actually asking for a bloodbath for the sake of a bloodbath here. David is asking for people who are blasphemers, people who are hate God. He's asking for God to deal with them in a just way. And David asks the Lord to bring these blasphemers to justice.
And that's what David's asking for here. And I think when we align our hearts with God, we desire to see him glorified. And when we see him blasphemed, it hurts us just like it hurts him when we were in line with God's will. And so David's expressing the idea that he wants to see justice, and he wants to see God glorified.
The last two verses in the Psalm, I actually personally find these the most interesting verses in the Psalm. And it ends the same way it starts. David's only in more of a supplication, more of it. More of David asking.
It's not David stating a fact. It's David asking the Lord. He's saying, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts.
See if there'd be any grievous way in me. Lead me in the way of in the way everlasting. When you look at this, I actually looked at that. And I was thinking, well, didn't God just do that?
I mean, God just, it says in verse one, he said, oh Lord, you have searched me. You have known me. You know when I sit down. You know when I rise up.
And at the very end of the Psalm, he says, search me, oh God, and know my heart. I think what this indicates is the fact that we are so drawn to our own flesh and our own desires, we need this constant cycle. We need to constantly be asking God to search us, to know us, to find anything in us that is blocking us from serving him, from being, from glorifying him. And we just always need to reconnect with God through his word and prayer.
I think that's probably the most important thing that I learned in the Psalm reading it. And it just shows that David goes through a process in this Psalm. He goes through this process of deep meditation. He looks to the Lord.
He thinks about the Lord. He thinks about his works that he's done. He thinks about his creation. And we need to pause in awe of God.
In verse six, it says, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. I cannot attain it. It is high. I cannot attain it.
And I think that indicates to us that we need to do this. We need to sit down. We need to think about the Lord. We need to meditate on his word.
Because there's so much there. And it's everlasting. And it's constant. And I look at this.
And I see that the Christian life is also not just set it and forget it. It's not something that we just go in. We get all the settings right. And then we move on.
This is something where we need constant tweaking. Because our flesh is always desiring to do things that we want to do. And not the things that God wants us to do. And we always want to see our own glory in our flesh.
So we need to always be reconnecting with God. And yeah, so this whole Psalm, I think, is just a picture of the process that we need to constantly go through. And it's just a constant battle. But as we see here in the Psalm, God is always with us.
No matter where we go, no matter what we're going through, God is always here, God is always with us. I actually wanted to sing a song with this one. And it was, no one ever cared for me like Jesus. So I'll let Nick get that's.