Where is God when you feel hopeless? In Psalm 139, David finds comfort in two truths: God knows him completely, and God is always near. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt offers words of hope from this psalm for the discouraged and depressed. David marvels that God knows his every thought and word, and that there is nowhere he can flee from God’s presence — even in the darkest places, “You are there.” Dr. Holt explains that God’s complete knowledge of us is good news: He knows us fully, sin and all, and loves us still. That love does not change with our moods or circumstances. For anyone in despair, the message of Psalm 139 is that you are never beyond God’s sight or reach.

Questions this study answers:

1. How does God’s knowledge of us bring comfort and healing? Because He knows us fully and loves us anyway. We are never misunderstood or forgotten by God.

2. What does it mean that God is always present, even in despair? It means there is no pit so deep that God is not there. Even in our lowest moments, He is with us.

3. How can this psalm help someone who feels hopeless? It reminds us that our value rests in God’s eyes, not our feelings. He made us, knows us, and will not let us go. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.” — Psalm 139:7-8 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the Psalms Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.

You know, in the Bible, there are references to something that is called the third heaven.

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Do you remember what that is?

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Do you remember what that is?

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Well, in Scripture, this is the way it works.

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If you were to go outside and look up and you see the clouds and you see the atmosphere above our heads

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and you see the birds flying and the like, that would be referred to as the first heaven.

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Now, beyond that, if you were to look up into the night sky or through a telescope

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and you were to look at the stars and the moon, you would say that's the second heaven.

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so what then is the third heaven well the third heaven that's where god is the third heaven that's

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where the seat of our king is now a number of years ago about five or six years back there

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were a number of astrophysicists men and women who hold degrees i can barely pronounce who know

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all manner of deep and rich things and they published a study about the second heaven

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they looked up above the clouds they pierced into the stars with their telescope and they made some

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observations. And the observations were slightly different than astrophysicists had made in years

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past. Specifically, they did this. They revised their opinion on the total quantity of stars and

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galaxies in the universe around us, and they did so by a magnitude of 10. In other words,

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scientists once thought that our universe contained roughly 2 billion galaxies. These

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astrophysicists determined that in times past there was about two billion galaxies but five or

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six years ago they revised that number upward by a magnitude of 10 and they now believe that the

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universe around us contains two trillion galaxies now i'm no mathematician i'm not even going to try

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to do the math for us here this morning but i'll tell you this much that sounds like a lot that

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sounds like a significant number see if you take even one galaxy even one galaxy contains hundreds

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of billions of stars. If you multiply those billions of stars in one galaxy across two

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trillion galaxies, what number do you get? There's no calculator in this room that can add that up.

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That is the scope of the created realm, and even that is subject to revision. And guess what?

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When scientists revise these numbers, when the astrophysicists get together and do what

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astrophysicists do, the number that they come to when they talk about these things, when they

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revise these numbers it always goes up with that context in mind let me offer you some encouragement

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here this morning in a universe that contains beyond 200 billion trillion stars and even more

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planets and moons and clover and horseshoes and lucky diamonds and the like and the universe of

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unfathomable size and scope and grandeur in that universe in the middle of all that god's eye

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His attention, his focus, and his love is upon the children that he calls his own.

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See, God has never called a planet his child.

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He's never called the mountains his sons and daughters.

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But he does call you that.

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In all the created realm, you are unique and special in the midst of all of that space dust around us.

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You're unique.

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And God has proven how unique you are.

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And he has proven the love that he has for you in this.

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That he sent that which was most precious to himself to hang upon a cross and die for your sake.

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He has never done that for a planet or a moon or a clover or like a diamond or what have you,

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but he has done it for you. If you ever struggle with esteem, if you ever think to yourself,

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does God even care? Does he love me? Does anybody love me? Know this, you are beloved by the one

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who has made all the things around us. He has called you out of all of that and given you the

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designation of a son or daughter, and that won't change tomorrow even if you mess up. I trust that

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some measure of encouragement, and we'll build upon that as we look at Psalm 139. What we're

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going to do here is i'm going to reread verses one through six then we're going to work our way

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through the text as far as time permits i encourage you to follow along with me verses one through six

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oh lord you have searched me and known me in the midst of all that you made all the stars and

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galaxies and the like you've searched me not just us corporately me your eyes on the sparrow your

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eyes on me you have searched me and known me you have known my sitting down and my rising up you

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You understand my thoughts from afar off.

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You comprehend my path, my lying down.

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You're acquainted with all my ways.

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There's not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it.

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You've hedged me behind before.

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You've laid your hand upon me.

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Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

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It's high.

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I cannot attain it.

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You know, several centuries ago, there's a story about a man.

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He was convinced that God existed.

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He believed that God must be out there somewhere.

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And yet, he thought that this God was distant and unknowable.

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and was indifferent to his life and to his pain.

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He knew, as he looked at the natural realm,

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he got the testimony of the natural realm right, that there is a God,

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but he thought you just couldn't know this God, and he didn't care too much about you.

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This man is what you might call a discouraged deist.

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Remember, deists are those who posit a God, but say that you can't know him.

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Theists say there is a God, and we can know him, and he does know us.

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Well, this man was a discouraged deist.

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He believed God was there, but God was aloof,

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And so he was trying to think, how do I get this God's attention?

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He's out there somewhere.

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How can I flag him down?

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And one day he goes, aha.

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He said, I got it.

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I'll climb to the tallest peak in my region.

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I'll go to the tallest peak.

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I'll grab the biggest stones I can throw and I'll heave them at the heavens.

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I'll throw stones up into the heavens and the idea that this will get God's attention.

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Well, in a sermon that's talked about science, let me add one more scientific principle.

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What goes up must come down.

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And the third or fourth stone came down, landed upon the man, knocked him out.

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And as the story goes, the next day he wakes up in a hospital.

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It's a hospital run by believers, and there's a Bible open, and it's open to Psalm 139.

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And in Psalm 139, this man read, we read this morning, this good news, that God knows us.

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You don't have to flag him down by throwing stones in the heaven or waving your arms about.

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He knows you intimately.

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He knows you're going in, you're going out, you're standing up, you're laying down.

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He knows every thought you think before you think it.

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This is the nature and the knowledge of God.

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Before a word even rises to the tip of our tongue, God knows what we're going to say.

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Now, to the thinking man and woman here this morning,

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if God knows everything about you, everything you're going to do and think even before you do it,

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on the one hand, that's good news.

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On the other hand, some of us might say it's bad news.

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Now, what do I mean by that?

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Well, let's start with the good news.

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Why is it good news that God knows everything?

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God knows everything about you, everything about the world around us, everything that's going on

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a hundred light years from now. Why is it good that he knows that? Well, it's good for a lot

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of reasons. Dear heavens, it's in the job description of being God. If you don't know

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things, then you're not God. It's good that he knows things because that means he not only knows

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the future, but has the ability to affect and inform the future. It's good he's all-knowing

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because then he can actually respond with our prayers instead of just rolling the divine dice

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and hoping things turn out good.

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Of course we want a God who knows us

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and who knows what's going on in the world around us.

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Beyond that, on a personal level,

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many of us go out throughout our entire life

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just wanting someone somewhere to really understand us,

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to really get us.

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And some of us feel that there's no one who does.

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You know, some of the things we say,

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some of the clothes that we wear,

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words that come out of our mouth,

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they're ways to get people to understand what's in here,

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who we are.

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Have you ever wished someone somewhere understood you completely

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after going through a lifetime of maybe having people not get who you are?

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Well, if you've ever wanted someone somewhere to understand you,

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the good news is that there is one.

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The God who formed you.

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Here's something exciting.

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He not only gets you, he not only understands you,

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but he also loves you, sometimes in spite of what he knows and understands.

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God knows everything you've ever done.

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Even the person sitting to your left or right doesn't know that.

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Not by a long shot.

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God does.

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he knows the good he knows the not so good he knows the things that we've done that are holy

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and righteous and the things we've done were sinful he knows it all he knows what's in the

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past he knows what's in the future he knows the brightest lights in our heart he knows the

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darkness that is within and in spite of all that he knows he loves us still and it won't change

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tomorrow the god you go to bed praying to tonight is the same god you wake up to in the morning

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his love for you is not in question now or then and this this is good we should want to be known

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in this way by God who not only knows us but loves us and as he knows us and loves us he's

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also preparing our way and he's putting hedges around our steps so that even though there are

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slings and arrows in the world around us that they should not bear us to the ground. This is good

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news. So what's the bad news then? Well the bad news of having God who knows everything that you

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think and say and do is that you can't hide from him. You can't hide from this God. Take that as

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you will. When you do that which is wrong there's no escaping his attention and if you ask a guy

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like Jonah, that was bad news indeed. An omnipresent, omniscient God is a God you can't run from, you

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can't hide from. The story of Jonah is a story of a man who tried and failed at that exact premise.

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You cannot run from God, stop trying. All right, let's look at verses 7 through 12. Where can I go

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from your spirit? This builds on this earlier point. Where can I go to escape your eye? Where

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can I go from your spirit? Where can I go to flee from your presence? If I descend to heaven, you're

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there if i make my bed in hell behold you're there if i take the wings in the morning and dwell in

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the uttermost parts of the sea like jonah tried if i do that even then your hand shall lead me

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and your right hand shall hold me if i say surely the darkness will fall upon me as in the latter

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days some will desire the rocks to fall down upon them to hide them from their god if i say surely

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the darkness shall fall on me even the night shall be light about me indeed the darkness shall not

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hide me from you but the night shines as the day the darkness and light are both alike to you in

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ancient days if you were to consider the pagan gods the idols if you were thinking about bale

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and moloch and shemosh all these terrible nasty creatures and the like if you were to think about

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these idols something interesting sticks out about them the adherence to those belief systems

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of pagan gods and idols and the like they believe that these things had power however they also

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believed that that power was limited. In other words, they thought that one nation could have

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their own god. A different nation could have their god. That one region could have a god. A different

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region could have another god. You could have the god of the Philistines and the Moabites and the

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Jebusites and the Ammonites and the Hittites and the like. You could have all these different gods

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for all these different nations. And there were some gods for the fields and the farms and the

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frogs and everything in between. What they believed was that God, such as he is, such as they defined

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him that he had limited jurisdiction. You ever been in the car and you turn on AM radio or

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something and you're driving along? Well, then you go a little too far and what happens? The signal

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fades and you go too far, the signal just ends. That's the way they thought God worked. They

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thought you could escape his jurisdiction. If you went far enough, the AM signal from heaven

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couldn't reach you and then you could go do your own thing and be outside of his ability to see you

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and act upon what he has seen well here in verses 7 through 12 even though that was a popular

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understanding of the world around us the psalmist says uh-uh the psalmist says no way he says where

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can i go to be away from you and he answers his own question he says nowhere there's nowhere i

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can go where can i go to flee from your presence nowhere if i go up to heaven you're there go down

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to hell you're there go to the mountains you're there go across the oceans you're there god is

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omniscient, as we talked about in the first six verses. He knows everything. And in these next

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six verses, he's also omnipresent. He is everywhere. The psalmist says there's nowhere he could go or

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travel that God does not reign or rule or exist. Now, once again, that could be interpreted by you

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and I as either bad news or good news. Now, for the psalmist, it was good news. He knew that,

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though he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, that God was where? Too far away to hear

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him too far away to help no thou art with me yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of

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death wherever that might be thou art with me your rod and your staff are perfectly capable of

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comforting me here there everywhere the psalmist viewed all this as good news he says your hand

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shall lead me your right hand shall hold me he talked about being hedged in he saw god's presence

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as a good thing you remember i think this was the 80s that you could correct me if i'm wrong

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Remember the State Farm jingle back in the 80s and 90s?

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It might still be the jingle for all I know.

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I don't watch much TV anymore.

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Like a good neighbor, State Farm is where?

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There.

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Where's there?

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Here, everywhere.

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Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

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Well, here's the thing.

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God is much better than just a good neighbor.

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God is much better than an insurance carrier.

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God is with us.

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He's sovereign.

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He's powerful.

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He's not only able to help us, but he's inclined to do so.

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Do you get how that's cool?

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god not only has the muscles and the power to help you when things go bad in your life but he's also

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inclined to help you it's one thing to have a big mighty powerful friend who could come to your side

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if he really felt like it that's another thing to know that this one is always on your side

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now it doesn't mean he's a genie and you can just tell him to do whatever you want him to do and

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he'll just go and do it but it does mean you're never alone this one is always with you and he

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always understands you and that will never change no matter what hardships you go through again

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that's the good news. I'm loathe even to suggest the bad news, but let me turn back to Jonah again.

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For Jonah, it was good to have God near you when you wanted him to be, but those of you who've

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been younger or young even now, do you always want your parents around? What one voice said

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is what everyone was thinking. You don't always want your parents around because then you can't

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do all the things you want to do. Well, sometimes people act that way with regards to God. They want

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to go do the things that they want to do. Jonah didn't want to obey God. He thought he could outrun

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God, get away from God. You can't. As I said before, stop trying. It will not work. Okay, let's look at

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verses 13 through 18. Verse 13, for you formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb.

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I will praise you for I am fearfully, wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works that my soul knows

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very well my frame was not hidden from you when i was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the

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lowest parts of the earth your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed and in your book

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they were all written the day's fashion for me when as yet there were none how precious also

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are your thoughts to me oh god how great is the sum of them if i should count them there would

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be more number than the sand when i awake i'm still with you you know before my daughter was

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born my wife and I had the opportunity to observe one of those prenatal sonograms in the room it was

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on one of the big screens now when my son was born they still had you know the sonograms I'm not that

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old but they still had the sonograms but what was cool was when my daughter was born they blew it up

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on like this big screen up above they run the thing on the belly and you look up and you can

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see everything moving and it was the coolest thing in the world instead of just giving you that little

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tiny picture and then trying to point out what's what it was all blown up on the screen I thought

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this is just the most amazing thing and in that sonogram in that picture i could see my daughter

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moving i could see fingers i could see toes i could see that the handiwork of a divine craftsman

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at work there in the small there in the dark there in the womb i could see that at the molecular

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level there was things going on that were not a cosmic accident there was things going on that

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were not a byproduct of chance across centuries of time. What I saw at that time was my child's

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tiny body being fashioned, knitted together, some translations say, by the hand of God. That's what

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verses 13 through 15 overtly tell us. They say that you formed my inward parts, the parts of my son,

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my daughter, my spouse, my loved ones. They're not an accident. Even if we don't always understand

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And to what utility certain aspects of our formation have been granted,

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we know this much, that it's all of God.

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It is all of God. It all has an estimable value in the eyes of God.

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Why? Because He formed us and He loved us.

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In any case, various translations put it different ways.

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I like the idea of being knitted together in the womb,

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and this picture of this master weaver at work at this molecular level.

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This is an amazing thing to me,

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and it stands over and against the abortion age of our present day

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and those who would deny the handiwork of God in the still small place of the womb.

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For all of God's might, for all of God's power, for all of God's authority,

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we talked about the billions and trillions of stars and the like,

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the inestimable universe to which your eye can never perceive even one one-millionth of it.

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In fact, he's made all these things, and he's awesome and majestic and marvelous and all powerful.

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All this is true, and yet in this text we see that here in the still small places,

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this same God, all He's capable of doing all these things at a macro level,

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He also does it at the micro.

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The smallest possible way, He fashions bone to bone.

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You and I are fearfully and wonderfully made.

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Don't let anyone take that from you.

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And any time the culture around us steps on that,

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let alone attempts to kill and crush that which was made in His image,

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That's wrong, and it's wicked.

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The psalmist would not stand or abide by that.

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He says we are wonderfully made.

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Now, let me ask a question.

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If this is true, which it is,

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if it's true, then how do we reconcile when individuals are born with conditions that we would say are undesirable?

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Say if someone's born blind or with Down syndrome or something like that.

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Is that an accident? No.

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Is it undesirable? Not in the eyes of God.

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Let me explain what I mean by this.

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If your theology is correct, it has to be able to hold water,

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even when you take that theology and apply it to the hardest things to accept or to understand.

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With regards to all the sicknesses and illnesses that exist in our fallen world,

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we need to remember this, that living in a fallen world means that we are all going to suffer from fallen ills in some way, shape, or form.

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The reason for any deficiency or depravity in the world around us is because the world's nature is to be deficient and depraved.

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As long as we live in this world, as long as children are born in this world,

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we will suffer from fallen ills, some of which will affect us in the womb,

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many of which will affect us in our old age,

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and all of which ultimately culminate in the grave.

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Asking why one person has a condition that another one doesn't,

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asking why one person lives longer than another person lives,

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misses what I think the point is.

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Sometimes we think that we are all supposed to strive for some optimal standard of health and longevity,

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and when it doesn't happen, it's a tragedy.

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Comparing one person's lifespan or impairments against someone else

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and saying that one person's lifespan failed to realize

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some optimal standard that we're supposed to achieve,

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A, it's not biblical, and B, it doesn't understand this,

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that we're all two inches from the grave, whether we recognize it or not.

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We're all two inches from the grave.

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We're all far more impaired than we realize.

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We are so much more impaired than we possibly understand.

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I don't know why Fred has diabetes.

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I don't know why Frida has cancer.

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But I do know this, both Fred and Frida suffer from the same underlying condition of sin

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and that will claim them both, given time short or given time long.

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You will never be able to reconcile why any man dies

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until you've reconciled why every man dies.

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With that said, I want you to notice something else in verses 13 through 18.

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In this passage, God says that however long we should live,

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whatever conditions we're born with, that he has a purpose in this.

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Verses 13 through 18, we see that God not only forms and fashions us

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in a unique and distinct way, but he does so with a divine purpose in view.

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Even if we don't see it, even if some of it's above our pay grade, he does see it.

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If God exists, if God has created all things, then it goes to follow that God has a purpose for that which he has created.

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And this is true for every last man, woman, and child who has ever walked the face of the earth.

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Sometimes it's hard to perceive what that purpose is, but God knows.

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And in verse 16, there's a reference to that purpose to God's book.

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If you look back at verse 16, it says,

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your eyes, saw my substance being unformed, and your book, they were all written, the day's fashion

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for me, when as yet there were none. What book is this? Well, verse 16 says that this is a book that

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contains God's decrees. In other words, it contains his plans, his intentions, that which he has

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ordained. In our new members class, we're talking a little bit about our understanding of things like

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providence and predestination. We'll get into some heavy doctrinal stuff in the next couple weeks.

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Let me just ask you, does the fact that God has planned your days bother you? It shouldn't. Not

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if he's a good loving God? Does the doctrinal concept of predestination bother you? Now on

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some level, on some level, it may today or maybe it did in the past. For many of us, on some level,

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we like to think of ourselves as autonomous, as those who plot our own course. And the idea of

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God declaring the end from the beginning with regards to our lives, that flies in the face

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of our self-styled autonomy. So on some level, we don't like the fact that God is a book in which

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all our days are recorded before we've done any given thing. People will look to any other option

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to avoid this idea that we're not as autonomous as we think we are.

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You know, people, when I talk about God with folks,

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if you talk about God in a real abstract way, people can be cool with that.

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If we go out into the culture around us and talk about God as some kind of ethereal force,

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you know, like Star Wars, some sort of thing out there,

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this karma-centered deity or collection of deities that just rains blessings down on us and the like,

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if you view God in the abstract, most people will accept that.

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Most people will say amen and subscribe to your newsletter.

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They like that.

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What they don't like is this, a God who has an agenda.

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Why?

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Because oftentimes their agenda is not God's.

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And the idea that his transcends their own discourages them.

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It doesn't discourage you.

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Well, it didn't the psalmist.

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He looked at that, he trusted in it, and he praised God for it.

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Let's look at verses 19 through 24.

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These are our final verses of this psalm.

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Verse 19.

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Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God.

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Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men, for they speak against you wickedly.

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Your enemies take your name in vain.

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Don't I hate them, O Lord, who hate you?

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Do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

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I hate them with perfect hatred.

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I count them as my enemies.

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Search me, O God.

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Know my heart.

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Try me.

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Know my anxieties.

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See if there's any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

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All right, let me ask you a question.

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Who wrote Psalm 139?

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I'm glad no one said Moses or Adam.

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David. That's right. I heard David out there. David. David wrote Psalm 139. When in doubt with

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the Psalms, it's oftentimes David. David wrote Psalm 139. Now, what do we know about David? Well,

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we know a lot. We know things he did. We know the different actions that he undertook, many good

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ones, several bad ones. We know some of the things he did. With regards to his character, though,

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there was something that scripture says about David. It says that this was a man, a man after

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God's own heart. Above all men of his day, when the eyes of God looked down, this was a man after

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God's own heart. The Bible says this man, this king, this David, he shared God's likes and his

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dislikes. And although David was imperfect, he genuinely loved that which is good. He was

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generally pained with what was bad, which is why his own sin convicted him so. He loved what was

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good. David was a man after God's own heart. He hated wickedness. You know one of the greatest

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proofs that he hated wickedness and couldn't abide by it do you remember what happened with goliath

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you remember that this great story for a great period of time goliath is challenging israel

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and when he challenges israel he does so by challenging israel's god he blasphemed the god

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of the people time and time and time again he blasphemed this god he threw this god under the

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bus and yet the people of israel just kind of stood by one huh stood by him he sure is tall

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they were mesmerized by the size and strength of this figure and what he was coming out of his

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mouth didn't cause them to take up arms and go slaughter him well guess what happened with david

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david roams in the camp he's bringing food and bread for his brothers and all of a sudden he

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catches wind of what this guy's saying goliath starts doing his blaspheming david hears this

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he says oh my goodness are we going to let this guy get away with this david had a man after god's

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own heart, and he hears his God being besmirched and blasphemed, and even as small as David was,

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he says, I'm going to deal with this. How dare this uncircumcised Philistine talk about our God

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this way? David was a man after God's own heart. He loved things that God loved. He hated things

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that God hated. He did not do it perfectly, but that's what we see in these verses. Oh, that you

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would slay the wicked, oh God. Oh, that you would deal with those who hate you. I hate them for

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hating you. This is the same approach that he had with Goliath. He wasn't going to stand idly by

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while his God was besmirched. He was going to deal as best he could with his own sin, and he was going

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to deal as king with the sins of others. And so Psalm 139 closes with this desperate, heartfelt

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request. He calls out the sins of the people around him, and then, then he draws himself, and he puts

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himself under the same microscope. He says, I hate wickedness, and yet I stand before you as one who's

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committed great wickedness. Oh God, search me. Not just search my neighbor or the people I don't

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like or the people who have different politics than me or what have you. Don't just deal with

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them or search them or what have you, but search me. Search me, lead me, see if there's any wicked

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way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. David was committed to what we call sanctification.

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David was a man after God's own heart. David knew that God had saved him and yet he wanted to be

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different in the time ahead than he was in the times past. John Newton, he put it this way. He

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He says, I am convicted that I'm not the man that I should be.

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He says, I feel terribly that I'm not the man that I could be.

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But then he said this.

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He says, thank God I'm not the man I used to be.

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This is a picture of sanctification.

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John Newton underwent it.

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David underwent it.

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You and I are undergoing it as well.

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This morning, let me just encourage you this.

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You are loved by your maker.

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Your God loves you.

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He has ordained your path, your future.

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The steps not only on this mortal coil, but on to his golden shores.

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You have a great and glorious future.

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Be encouraged this morning.

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Lift your hand to his.

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Don't be Jonah running out to the seas.

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Don't be Jonah trying to flee from your God.

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Seek out his presence in your life today and forevermore.

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Lift your hand to his.

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He will take it.

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Let's pray.