What stirs David more than his knowledge of God is God's knowledge and care of him. You know, David isn't going, you know, I'm a pretty good poet, huh? Well, I've managed to articulate three cardinal doctrines of truth in just a few verses.
He doesn't even go there. What astonishes him is that this powerful, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent God even knows I exist and cares. He's not just cognizant that I exist.
He cares that I exist. Pastor Tony Evans said, To live by faith means to make decisions based on what God says, even though you do not yet see the results. Today on Connect with Skip Heiteck, Skip shares why you can put your complete trust in God. But first, we want to share about where you can hear even more encouraging Bible messages from Skip. Well, I want you to know that because of support from listeners like you, our media ministry is expanding. Our weekly half-hour TV program is continuing to grow. In addition to our weekend broadcast on the worldwide Hillsong Channel, we are now being seen each week on the Trinity Broadcast Network. Thank you for your donations that make this expansion even possible. It's a joy to see the teaching of God's word reach even more people.
Here are the viewing details for Hillsong and TBN. David, writing God's biography in part. He was a king. He was once a shepherd. He had been a warrior.
He's a poet. He's seen a lot of God's work, a lot of God's power. And he would sum it up and say it's marvelous. God's work is marvelous. Or as one translation puts this phrase, I worship in adoration. What a creation.
It's a good way to put it. God's work is marvelous. The second thing David would have us know is that God's workmanship is meticulous. Now look at verse 13.
Notice the emphasis for you. God formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully created, is the idea, made. You created me.
You're my creator. Now I know I'm very aware of the culture in which I live. I am very aware of the ideologies that surround us. And I know that whenever you talk to any person who's not a believer in God about creation or design, you lose them.
There's this assumption that, look, it's a done deal. Everybody who's intelligent knows that we were evolved, not designed, not created. And when you say I've been created by God, they go into altered states of consciousness.
They just go berserk, even though they don't have the stack of evidence on their side. And I know we've beat this to death in a number of studies. I'll just sum it up by quoting to you molecular biologist Michael Denton's words, quote, the evolutionary theory is still, as it was in Darwin's time, a highly speculative hypothesis that is entirely without direct factual support, close quote. We've already covered that in previous studies, how design is apparent, etc. What David points to here is one particular aspect of God's creation, and that is us. Human beings. Because human beings are the crown of God's creative genius. So it's just interesting to me.
Now follow me here. Of all of the examples David could have pointed to about how big and great and powerful God is in creation, he didn't go to the stars like he does in Psalm 8, when I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, or Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God. Rather than pointing upward to the sky with its bright lights, he points inward to the dark womb where a developing child is inside the mother and is born. That's the section here. He points to the gestation period, the nine month development of a child.
Let's look at that. Verse 13, let's follow it through. For you formed my inward parts, you covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed, and in your book they were all written.
The days fashioned for me when as yet there was none of them. Speaking of the marvels of the human body. Your body, marvelous, fearfully, wonderfully made. Now it's interesting to me, a lot of people, dare I say in our culture, most people aren't really happy with their body. We'd be quick to say, marvelous are your works, but we'd be reticent to say marvelous is this work.
Because we're always trying to fix it and change it and alter it and fight the aging process, all that comes with it. But David would say and want you to know, you are marvelous. So let me just say it to you collectively, you're marvelous.
You are. You're the crowning part of God's creation. Marvelous are your works, and the crowning work is you. You're in the image and the likeness of God.
Look at verse 15, notice the language that David employs. My frame, he says, was not hidden from you. What is he speaking of? The bones, the skeletal system of a developing child. My frame was not hidden from you when I was skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Did you know that the term skillfully wrought literally is embroidered or knit together? And I think what David is describing very poetically is the network of veins and arteries that develops very rapidly in the placenta that surrounds that child and gives it that blood flow that is so crucial to life.
Skillfully wrought, embroidered or knit. And then notice the lowest parts of the earth. That describes the darkness of the womb.
Verse 16, your eyes saw my substance. Notice being yet unformed. That means rolled up, being yet rolled up or wrapped together. And the embryonic and especially the fetal stage, the body parts are folded up, scrunched together.
They lack distinct proportions. That's what he's describing. Okay, so we get the picture. We all had humble beginnings. We all started out as a speck. You were once a speck, a zygote, a fertilized ovum. And one day you became an embryo and later on you became a fetus.
You probably don't remember that, it was so long ago. And then you were born and you grew and developed. And here you are today, a human being, an adult with about a hundred trillion cells with about 100,000 miles of nerve fiber, 60,000 miles of veins and arteries, 206 bones, muscles, tendons that make you, you. David's point is God has been superintending your development since those early stages onward. And he's not going to stop now. And the big thought of the psalm since it begins with you've searched me, you've known me, oh God.
God has known me so well because he knew me and watched over my development since I was in those primary stages. And if that is true, God's not going to stop now. Now, there's an obvious point to be made. It may be so painfully obvious, but I cannot pass it up at this point, especially at this juncture in our culture. But it's safe to say by reading what we just read that the Bible acknowledges personhood from the moment of conception. It's really not a big debate.
It's not a huge issue for us. The culture might debate it. They can argue over it in political halls and news reports at night when life begins.
But for us who believe the Scripture, there's no argument. From the moment of conception onward, it's life. Even though today we live in a culture that regards the fetus as a nuisance sometimes and to be discarded like a ruptured appendix if it gets in the way.
Now listen carefully. Since 1973 in Roe versus Wade, in our country alone, there have been 49 million abortions. I know that's just a number, so let me give you perspective. The entire population of Canada today is 33 million people.
The entire population of the country of Spain and Europe is 40 million people. Since 1973, in our country alone, there have been 49 million abortions. Well, a teacher was talking about this issue with her ethics class, and she posed a problem. They had to answer it.
This is what she said to make the point. How would you advise a mother pregnant with her fifth child based upon the following family medical history? The husband had syphilis, she has tuberculosis, first child was born blind, second child died, the third child was born deaf, and the fourth child had tuberculosis. The mother is now considering an abortion. Would you advise her to have one?
Most everybody in the class, would they answer? Yes, they said. Based upon her medical history?
Absolutely. So they voted, she waited, she took in their data. And then she said, congratulations, you have just killed one of the greatest composers ever, Ludwig von Beethoven.
And she went on to describe that that was the exact medical history of that family, and that child that was born was Ludwig von Beethoven. So here's the deal. It gets down to this. Life is either secondary or life is sacred. It's secondary for some, it's incidental, it's accidental, it's disposable, or life is sacred. And we would say marvelous, as David put it from the moment of conception onward. You're made in the image of God. Special creation, crowning creation.
And if you happen to say, well, I think life is secondary, then I'll say unashamedly to you, my God is bigger than your God, because he considers life sacred from the very earliest stages onward up until old age. Look at the 16th verse a little more carefully. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed. Now look at this, and in your book they were all written.
The days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. Now I know that that is a beautiful and just poetic description of saying, you knew me in advance, you knew my life in advance, you saw my development in advance in such a detailed and meticulous way as if it were written in a book or programmed. But the language was enough this week for me to just stop and ponder the way David wrote this. Written in your book, and then he says, the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. And as I was thinking, I couldn't help but go, in my mind, to what has been discovered about the DNA, the programming of every cell of the human body.
And in our generation, we've uncovered and unlocked the DNA code. I read a book recently called The Language of God by Dr. Francis Collins, who was the head of the Human Genome Project. He calls it The Language of God because he purports to say that we're designed by God, and he says he's a believer. I disagree with a lot of his book.
I'm mad at other parts of his book, but it's a great read nonetheless, The Language of God. He writes about the DNA molecules in every cell, the deoxyribonucleic acid molecules. And here's what he says, one cell.
Listen to his language. In one cell, there's three billion letters long, and they're written in a strange and cryptographic four-letter code. Now, you have 100 trillion cells in your body, and in every cell, most of your cells are 46 segments, DNA 23 from mom, 23 from dad. Each cell with those molecules contains densely coded information that tells every cell of your body how it's going to function and act from the moment of conception to the moment of demise. It's a program. What body type you'll have, color of skin, color of hair, even though you want to change it.
How your body will respond to the aging process, diseases that will come about, it's all part of the program. And it is so detailed and so complex that if you were to decode one cell's worth of information in the DNA into written form, it would fill a library with 4,000 volumes. It's one cell.
According to Dr. Francis Collins, the author of that book, a live reading of that code at the rate of three letters per second would take 31 years reading nonstop day and night. It's one cell. You've got 100 trillion cells, give or take a few million. If you were to take all the coded information not in just one cell but all 100 trillion cells and put them into written information, you'd have enough books to fill the Grand Canyon 78 times. And that's just one human being. So the Grand Canyon, 200 miles long, 3 to 20 miles wide, you fill it 78 times and that's the information coded in the cells of one adult human being. So this language just grabbed me.
We're determined. It's programmed. God knows it all in advance before it happens. Which leads David to the third great truth in verse 17 and 18.
Notice how he puts it. How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God. How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand.
When I awake, I am still with you. So David would tell us, God's work is marvelous work. God's workmanship is meticulous workmanship. And that God's wisdom is matchless wisdom. Now follow the thinking here, verse 17 and 18. What stirs David more than his knowledge of God is God's knowledge and care of him. You know, David would go, you know, I'm a pretty good poet, huh?
I've managed to articulate three cardinal doctrines of truth in just a few verses. He doesn't even go there. What astonishes him is that this powerful, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent God even knows I exist. He even cares. He's not just cognizant that I exist. He cares that I exist.
How precious, he writes, are your thoughts toward me. I'll tell you what this does for me. I don't know about you, but I'll tell you what this truth has done for me and my conclusions. Number one, it produces a sense of purpose. It elevates me to a sense of purpose. If ever you're the kind who walks through life kind of sagging down, know that this incredible God who superintended your development watches over you now and should fill you with a sense of purpose.
How different from the unbeliever who doesn't see the special creation of God. We're just here by accident. He gets up every morning as a fortuitous occurrence of accidental circumstances and has to face the day with that every day. No purpose. Versus getting up and going, I'm God's crowning creation. I live with purpose.
There's a reason I exist. So that's what it does, number one, for me. Number two, it fills me with faith. Because if all this is true about the God that I serve, it would just make sense that I'd be able to entrust everything in my life over to him. If he's that big and that powerful and that meticulous and watched over me that carefully when I was an embryo, he knows my need now and I can trust every bit of my life, my future, my misery, my problems to him.
The third thing this does to me, it fills me with a sense of responsibility. If God does have a purpose and I can trust him with everything, then I want to make sure that as far as I can possibly do that I understand what God's will is for my life and walk in it as close as I can every day. And wasn't that Paul's prayer for the Colossians? He said, I pray, chapter one, that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That's the highest possible knowledge, isn't it?
You could say, I know that I'm walking in God's plan and will and purpose for my life. So, how big is your God? How powerful is your God? He's big enough to make everything in your universe and big enough to take care of everything and anything in your life. And he'll never say, I cannot hold it together.
I need more power. He's got you covered. One of my favorite stories that's a true story of all times is about Donald Gray Barnhouse. Now, Donald Gray Barnhouse is a great author, one of my favorite authors who wrote a great series of books, one on revelation that's the best.
He's in heaven now. Donald Gray Barnhouse attended Princeton Theological Seminary, graduated, went back to Princeton 12 years after graduation to speak to the class at a place called Miller Chapel on the campus of Princeton University. And as he was speaking, in the front row was his old Hebrew professor, Dr. Robert Dick Wilson. Old Dr. Wilson in the front row couldn't hear that well, squinted, you know, old guy. And Donald Gray Barnhouse gave his message and afterwards the old professor went up, put his hand out, shook it, and said to Dr. Barnhouse, if you come back again, I will not come and hear you preach.
I only come once. I'm glad that you are a big godder. When my boys come back, I come to see if they're big godders or little godders and then I'll know what their ministry will be like.
Barnhouse asked him to explain further. And old Dr. Wilson said, well, some men have a little god and they're always in trouble with him. He can't do any miracles. He can't take care of the inspiration and transmission of the Scriptures to us. He doesn't intervene on behalf of his people. They have a little god and I call them little godders.
Then there are those who have a great god. He speaks and it's done. He commands and it stands fast. He knows how to show himself strong on behalf of them that fear him. You, Donald, have a great god. And he will bless your ministry. With that he grabbed his hand, said God bless you and they parted never to see each other again.
So which is it? Are you a big godder or are you a little godder? I guess you could tell by looking at the ends of your fingers in some cases.
Do you bite those nails a lot? Chew them off because you're so frightened and worried about the future when God said he'll walk every step of the way. And that impossible isn't in his vocabulary and his will is perfect for you. I just hope that you are filled with a sense of purpose and trust and that more than anything else tomorrow and the rest of this week and this year your pursuit would be to be filled with the knowledge of his will for your life because he's so powerful. That wraps up Skip Heisig's message from the series The Biography of God. Right now we want to share about an exciting resource that will answer your questions about who God is and how you can know him more intimately. Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr, Winston Churchill, C.S. Lewis all are outstanding men with amazing life stories.
But in all of history one biography stands out above the rest. I'm excited to announce the release of my new book The Biography of God which gives an in-depth look at God's character and nature diving into the theological and personal profile of our Heavenly Father. I invite you on a journey to search the scriptures to discover who God is and how sensitive he is to the human condition.
This process will both lift you up and humble you. Here's how to get your copy of my newest book The Biography of God. Skip's new book is our thanks when you give $35 or more today to help keep this ministry on the air.
Call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. At Connect with Skip Heisig we want to help listeners like you live a life of dynamic faith in Jesus. But we're counting on your financial support to keep this strong Bible teaching on the air. Please give today to continue bringing this broadcast your way and connecting more people to the living Savior. Just call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate.
Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heisig talks about one of God's most unpopular attributes and why it's so important for you to understand and embrace it. God's holiness is not His most attractive characteristic and here's why. It's because of this character trait of God that He is holy that is responsible for His actions. He's a God of justice, a God of judgment, a God of vengeance, a God of wrath.
The reason hell exists is because God is ultimately a holy God. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heisig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
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