6/3/07

The Essence of Christ in the Psalms: The Intimate One

Psalm 139:2-24 

You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.  [3] You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.  [4] For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.  [5] You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.  [6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.   [7] Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?  [8] If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.  [9] If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,  [10] Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.  [11] If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," even the night shall be light about me;  [12] 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. [13] For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.  [14] I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.  [15] My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. [16] Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.   [17] How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!  [18] If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You.   [19] Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.  [20] For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain.  [21] Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?  [22] I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.   [23] Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; [24] and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

This Psalm of David reveals an understanding of God that could only come from the Holy Spirit.  I can’t think of a single OT passage that gives a deeper insight into God’s personal relationship with His creation.  Most religions cannot conceive of their gods as personal, emotional or intimate beings.  They are distant, passive, uncaring.  It is incumbent upon people to earn favor, manipulate the god’s behavior, beg and implore for them to get an attentive glance to their human needs.  In most cases, gods are seen as not wanting to be approached.  It is practically an insult to imply a “personal relationship” with a god.  The Spirit speaks to us about His true nature and intent.  It is important that we understand that it is at His initiative that we know anything about Him at all.  God desires us to know who He is and what He has done. 

God not only desires that we know Him, but He took a definitive approach to make sure we understood that He knows who we are!  Verses 2-6 reveal that the Spirit inspired David to understand and write about the relationship that God desired and established.  He not only sees us, but He knows what our thoughts are.  He goes on to say that God is aware of our intentions (v.3)  If He sees us, knows our thoughts, knows what motivated our thoughts, it is easy to see that God would know what we am going to say before we say it. (v.4)  Notice, also, that David reveals a God that cares about us, even though our words, actions and attitudes have not turned Him against us.  Jesus’ nature of being a Shepherd, a Provider, a Sustainer, in spite of our sinfulness, causes Him to also be a protector and One who shows intimacy to His creation. (v.5) 

The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever. Psalm 121:8

"For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Matthew 6:32

"And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. [6] "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. [7] "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. [8] "Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him. Matthew 6:5-8

Verse 6 reveals something that I feel that we all need to see.  I believe that it is imperative for every one who desires to have an intimate relationship with Christ to understand that we are in relationship with a Holy, Righteous God, yet, One who knows who we are (sinners, prone to live with selfish ambition) and He still seeks to have relationship with us.  He is always the pursuer (Ps. 23:6).  At that point, I feel that anyone who has received the grace of God in their life must echo, at some point in their spiritual journey, the idea of being  unable to attain understand all that God is and has done.”  Remember from our study in Psalm 145, last week, where David said that he would “declare His mighty acts” and “meditate on His glorious splendor.”  It is that sense of just being overcome by the goodness, grace and mercy of God.

Verses 7-12 simply amplify this awareness of God’s sovereign control and rule over our lives.  He is faithful in keeping us for Himself.  We cannot remove ourselves from Him nor can any work of the natural or supernatural restrain Him from carrying out in our lives what He has ordained.

[7] Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?  [8] If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.  [9] If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, [10] even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.  [11] If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," even the night shall be light about me;  [12] 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.

Verse 13 begins one of the most astoundingly wonderful statements every written in any literary work.  The physiological miracle of birth was still a mystery up until the 17^th century.  People knew how to have babies, of course, but they did not have knowledge of how the baby was formed, etc.  David declares that our bodies are the express work of God’s formation.  Prior to the understanding of physiology, how many people do you think ever thought about the wonder of the God-made human body?  Just think of the eye, or the finger print or the cells in our bodies.

 

It was not until the early 1700’s that medical science had any awareness of how the eye works and it was not until 1949 that the first optical implant surgery was performed.  In 1686, Marcello Malpighi, a professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, noted in his treatise; ridges, spirals and loops in fingerprints. He made no mention of their value as a tool for individual identification.  But it wasn’t until Sir Francis Galton, a British anthropologist began his observations of fingerprints as a means of identification in the 1880's.  Juan Vucetich, an Argentine Police Official, began the first fingerprint files based on Galton pattern types.  Our body is made up of millions and millions of cells, that the human eye cannot even see.  David may not have known about optic nerves, cellular makeup or how high his cholesterol count was, but he had a intimate knowledge of the One who created all those things. Notice verse 17.  David held all the thoughts that God gave to him as “precious.”  His understanding of His works “outnumber the sand.” 

Verses 18-21 reveal David’s inability to cannot contain his disdain for those who do not have the intimacy with His God.  He cannot come to grips with how anyone could hold God in such contempt.  He gets close to the place of hating them.  He counts them as enemies.  But then he realizes that he does not need to (nor could he) defend God.  God calls him to check his own heart and reveal any wickedness in him.

then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 2 Peter 2:9

in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 1 John 3:20

"For He knows false men, and He sees iniquity without investigating. Job 11:11

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 1:6

 David concludes by asking God, the one who “formed him in his mother’s womb” to now look at his heart.  David is clear about one thing: God is not satisfied to simply be our Creator; He wants to rule us.  David expresses a desire for God to “make a diligent search” of his heart.  He says, “try me”.  This Hebrew word, “ba-chan” means to put on the scales, work me in your search to reveal what I am being ruled by.  He asks God to check him in the same way that an assayer checks to see if a mineral sample is pure gold or fool’s gold.  David asks for God’s leadership in His way wanting to be ruled by God’s omnipotent hand.

and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:27

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 1 Cor. 2:11

and again, "The Lord KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, that they are useless."

1 Cor. 3:20

Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness." 2 Tim. 2:19

God created us, He has redeemed us and wants to rule and control us.  God deserves our worship.  He alone is worthy to be praised.  He is worthy of our highest attention and affection.  It is imperative that we yield Him our lives to Him everyday…throughout the day.  He wants us to know His affection and compassion.  He desires that we see Him as the only One who truly loves us unconditionally.  He knows our “frame”, our bent to rebel and go our own way. Yet, He loves us in His Son, the perfect One, who gave His life so that we might live unto God.  We must continually be aware of the deceitfulness of our hearts (Jeremiah 17:9).  Our hearts long for self-glory.  God calls us to see His awesome glory and has provided the glory of Himself to be a part of our lives.  Oh, as David says, this is just too much to bear!  Oh, Lord, we give you praise.  We “extol You” and “bless You.”  May this be our hearts’ cry everyday!