Psalms 139 | My God – Part 1
- V1-6 God is omniscient
- V7-12 God is omnipotent and omnipresent
- V13-18 God is my loving creator
- V19-24 He is my God
The objective of a christian life is not going to heaven, but to know God and be transformed by Him. (Look for 2 Peter 1 with pastor Dale)
During all our walk, we need to mature and grow. Events and situations will happen, and we will need to be firm to not stumble.
For this, we need to remember and have very clear 4 things:
- God is omniscient. He knows everything and knows you.
- God is omnipotent. He can do everything according His will.
- God is omnipresent. He is everywhere. He is here.
- God created you. He is with you.
Its very common to lose the focus on these truths because our flesh.
In this Psalm, dear friend, we will be learning/refreshing about these attributes of God. In this passage, the intimate and personal relationship between God and man is shown as it is: a fact. A relationship where God knows everything about us. And now, we want to know Him better. He loved us first, now we love Him (1 John 4:19)
After getting start knowing more God, we will be transformed. Nobody in the history who started knowing and had an encounter with God continued being the same.
V1-4 God is omniscient
O Lord! You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
“O Lord”!!:
God’s knowledge of personal life is stated here. He knows everything that cross our mind and every single action we take. It is overwhelming and amazing how infinite is God. The God who created all without effort.
Praise Him! He knows me, he know you. He knows EVERYTHING about me and you. I know He knows about everything, but more amazing: HE KNOWS ME and YOU! It is personal! Does this bring us peace or restlessness?
Dear brother, this supposes whole new perspective to me and you. Our private life should be a reflect of our public life! And the same backwards. We must be consistent in everything we speak; we watch, we think, we do… Should not be difference. Though I can fool my pastor, my spouse, my brother, my friend, my boss…. I cannot fool God!
I can say that I pray and that I read the bible every day and people could believe me and think that I am the best man in Hamilton; but God knows if that is truth or not.
Let’s refresh the story of Ananias and Sapphira:
“But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” Acts 5:1-4.
You know the rest of the story.
The point here is (again), my friend, we cannot fool God. And I’m not talking here with the intend of you to be terrified of God, but to be amazed of Him. Be amazed of His almighty power, greatness and love, HE KNOWS ME AND HE KNOWS YOU!
As we already said, the two objectives in a Christian life should be:
- To know God
- To be transformed by Him
With this idea on mind, we should live our lives and do everything. When we read our bibles, we should start in prayer. When we are facing difficult moments or trials. When we don’t understand the reasons or something in our lives. We always suggest a simple three-part prayer:
- “Lord, show me You. I want to know You more, your character, your nature, your attributes…” This is a reflect of our submission to Him, our dependency, our love to Him. We are coming to seek Him.
- “Lord, show me ME. I want You to show me the things only You know about me”. We denote our limitation and recognize God as our creator who know us as we REALLY are.
- “Lord, transform me. Break me and make me the person You want me to be”. Is in His strength, not mine. I need to ask God and be willing to be changed in any aspect He wants.
Looking each section of this prayer, we can model our life depending on God only, in this personal relationship. We come to His word to know Him first. We want to know our loving Father. We are here to know Jesus.
We know God is infinite, but we are seeking Him day by day to learn more and more about His character, His nature, His attributes… Maybe, when we got to heaven in a glorified body, we will comprehend better, but for now we need to seek Him in His word and ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom.
After understanding He is our Creator, our Savior and our Lord, the second thing we need to ask Him is to show us us. He will reveal us who we really are through His word and Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 4:13
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
We want to know how God see us. Sometimes could be that we are His beloved children; Some other times could be direct and reveal us that we are breaking His heart with our actions, or because we are not in prayer constantly or that we are not being good with our brothers.
Comprehending the first two parts and knowing that we are in this process called SANCTIFICATION, we need to ask Him to transform us to His image more and more. We need to be humble and accept that we are not as good as we think, and we will never be so; God is who can change us.
Romans 8:7
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
Remember, Christian! This is a process; it is a daily process. There are no formulas, no shortcuts… Sanctification is a process and God strength us every day for it. We need to ask Him to transform us.
Dear friend, there’s not a hair in your head (if you have still hair…) that He does not have in count Mathew 10:30. Wonderful is this! There is nothing I can do without Him knowing it way before.
This overwhelming brings me to another very important matter, as we read it in verse 1. This overwhelming leads us to worship Him. “O Lord” should be my first thought every morning. Should be my celebration, my joy, my happiness, my indescribable feeling… Should be my first thought in trials and difficulties also. Claim to Jehovah’s name. It denotes our surrender to Him only.
O Lord, YOU KNOW ME! YOU KNOW WHY! YOU KNOW WHAT AND WHEN!
There’s nothing I can fool or impress Him with. This fact removes a big weight of my shoulders: God knows me as I am, and He is transforming me every day. He knows the reasons. He has the plan. Everything is in His hands. The only thing I can try to do is to be obedient and sensitive to His voice (This is a must do).
He knows everything even if I don’t say it
Mark 2:6-8
And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?
(Again), my friend, we cannot fool God. And I’m not talking here with the intend of you to be terrified of God, but to be amazed of Him. Be amazed of His almighty power, greatness and love, HE KNOWS ME AND HE KNOWS YOU!
You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.
In verse 5 and 6 we can notice that God not only knows me and you but knows our path also. He knows our debilities and everything we struggle with. He equips and protects us. He is our wall, our barrier, our protection, our strength, our help, our renew, our refreshment, our limitless fount of life and love. Nothing will happen without His permission. Rest on His power and His control. Isn’t this amazing? He is bigger than us: Recognize this and be humble!!!
For:
My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
His is always before me, He is always behind me. What a wonderful peace means this to me. He laid His hand to me and delivered me from my old life; He protected me and He’s doing it now! He is transforming me every day.
James 4:13-16
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
We failed in this most of the times. Our arrogance always makes us enough and sufficient. Transform us, God!.
Look to Daniel, recognizing God’s knowledge and power:
Daniel 2:20-23
Daniel answered and said:
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding.
He reveals deep and secret things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And light dwells with Him.
“I thank You and praise You,
O God of my fathers;
You have given me wisdom and might,
And have now made known to me what we asked of You,
For You have made known to us the king’s demand.”
What a different perspective. God knows and does everything, and we need to recognize Him in every situation. Not with arrogance but in thanksgiving.
This is overwhelming. I cannot fully understand how perfect He is. I should delight myself in Him. Is amazing how everything is in His control. Even if we don’t see it or feel it, He has a plan. HE KNOWS EVERYTHING. HE KNOWS ME! HE KNOWS YOU!
V7-12 God is omnipotent and omnipresent
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.
Dear friend, we cannot flee from God. He is everywhere. His omnipresence gives us this assurance of protection and peace. If we SEEK for Him, we WILL find Him.
Isaiah 55:6-7
Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
He does not hide His face from us, and His arms are always open. No matter how big the problem looks like. No matter what happened, or what we did, everything is His. He has control and will lead us. Without hesitation we should listen to Him.
*Just a quick note: verse 8 is not referring to the normal conception of hell (Gehenna Matthew 10:28 and 18:9, the lake of fire Revelation 20:14-15 – REFERRING TO THE FINAL DESTRUCTION). The Hebrew word here is Sheol: grave, place of exile. The point here is that God can be in ANY place he wants including both the Sheol and Paradise. It is obvious that the presence of God produces very different effects in these places, but it is unquestionably in each; the bliss of one, the terror of the other.
Now:
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 fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
The darkness -as trials, as difficulties, as sorrow- cannot cover us, as God is with us and He is in control. We will face trials, and difficult times but our faith will be known in the way we go through these. We will have joy not OF the trial but IN the trial.
James 1:2-4
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
The perspective should be seeking the light in the apparent darkness (that is Jesus). He will walk with us and lead us through the difficult times (sometimes they look like dark for us, but we are not seeing the light -that is HIM).
Dear friend, what about if we think and pray like this:
“O Lord! How amazing is knowing that You are here and you can do everything!!!. Sometimes – ALL THE TIME- I forget You’re in control and everything is yours.
The darkness seems to be profound. However, you lead and put everything in the right place. You change my direction and the only thing I need to do is trust in You. “
Should be easy, right friend? But no, our flesh and the devil always try to keep us away from this trues.
Let’s continue our prayer where we recognize Him as the Creator and Lord:
“ – You’re the maker of everything- but my flesh is weak. I need to be intentional in every situation on remind myself You’re here and You will do and place everything…”
Notice here that the devil cannot destroy or touch me or you, my friend; as we are filled with the Holy Spirit; but he tries to distract us with foolish things, doubts and thoughts. Sometimes this darkness it’s just our loss of direction and focus on God.
Wake up, christian! Wake up! Grow up in Him! Put the armor, read your bible, be ready!! No matter what, God will provide everything and manage the times for it. Just realize that He is the Highest, the Almighty and He is with you.
Psalm 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Reading again:
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
What will you do with the light that is Jesus and is lighting you? What are you doing with this precious knowledge that God is giving to us?
Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Share it with others, reach others. Testify with your life. Have joy.