The Bible makes it clear that God is all-knowing and all-powerful. And yet, this same God is deeply personal. In fact, He knows us better than we know ourselves. Today, on Truth for Life, as we continue our Encore twenty twenty five series of Listener Favorites, we'll learn why this realization can either be terrifying or comforting. Alastair Begg is teaching from Psalm 139, but he begins with an illustration from Psalm 135.
Let's just look at verse thirteen. Your name, O Lord, endures forever. Your renown, O Lord, throughout all the ages. For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. And then look at what he says in verse 15: the idols of the nations are silver and gold.
the work of human hands. They have mouths. But don't speak. They have eyes. But don't see.
They have ears. But they don't hear. Nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them Become like them.
So do all. Who trusts in them?
So the contrast is vast. And what he is pointing out as he goes through and writes in this way is the absurdity, and it is an absurdity. for men and women to seek ultimate answers from substitute gods. But that's what we do. Because we are made in order to worship, to worship the true and living God.
And when the peoples turn back and when they turn aside, where do they end up? The ironsmith makes his peace. The carpenter makes his peace. He shapes it into a figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree, or an oak, and he lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest.
He plants a cedar, the rain nourishes it, then it becomes fuel. He takes a part of it and warms himself. He kindles a fire, he bakes bread.
So far, so good. But wait a minute. Also he makes a god. and worships it. He makes it an idol.
and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half, he eats meat. He roasts it and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, Aha, I'm warm.
Great fire And the rest he makes it into a god. His idol. And he falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, Deliver me. For you are my God.
Now look back at Psalm 139. Oh Lord. Yeah. have searched me. And you know me.
Now here is the fascinating and vitally important thing. And I've read this Psalm ever since I was we. But I'm not sure that I really focused on this until I began to look at it this past week. Yeah. The knowledge of God is, as I have said, comprehensive.
It spans the globe. But the point that he's making here is not the comprehensiveness of the knowledge of God, but the fact that David says, You know me. You know me. It's one thing to say, you know, everybody in the world. He's got the whole world in his hands.
True. But David says, you have searched me. And you know me.
See, we've got to be able to say these things to our teenagers. We'll go on through the Psalm and see how vital it is that they understand that they're not a product of chance, that they're divinely put together. And that God knows them. And he knows us.
Now, let's just look at how he outlines this.
Some of you remember Warren Weersby. What a wonderful man he was. I met him in the early days of my life here and enjoyed him very much. And he always had a funny story, but he was masterful at outlining passages of the Bible. And when I found out what he did with this section, I said, that's for me.
That's for me. And now it's going to be for you. Because this is how he worked his way through it. The headings, some of them are his, and some are a corruption. But there you look at this in verse 2.
First of all, you know what I do. You know what I do. You know when I sit down, and when I rise up.
So the psalmist says, you know my actions. And you know my movements. You know whether I brushed my teeth or whether I didn't. You know everything. You know what I do.
To be? You discern my thoughts. from afar. Not only do you know what I do, But you know what I think. You know what I think.
All that goes on in my mind. is known to you, Almighty God. In other words, David is acknowledging the fact. That it is impossible for him. To deceive God.
Because God knows. even our secret thoughts. God knows the motives of my heart. As well as the actions, as well as the actions of my life. You know what I do when I'm moving around, whether I'm sitting up or lying down.
But you know my thoughts. You know them from afar. Distance is no issue to God. Then in verse 3 You know what I do? You know what I think?
You know where I go. You search out my path. and my lying down. and are acquainted With All My Ways. We sang it, didn't we?
All my ways are known to you. Do you actually believe that? All my resting spots. all the lay byes, All the spare time in the airport. You search on my path.
So you're acquainted with all my ways. You're following this? You know what I do? You know what I think? You know where I go?
Verse 4, you know what I say. Even before a word is on my tongue. There's a behold. Remember we said a few weeks ago We don't often say, behold, there is McDonald's. It's a So when you come to a behold like this, he's sink.
It's an exclamation mark almost. He says, you know, even before a word is on my tongue, behold. Think about this, he says. You know it. You know it.
Altogether. Behold, you know everything, you know it all together. In other words, what he's saying is: you know me better than I know myself. It's quite staggering, isn't it? It's wonderful.
Unless you're scared by it. It's a threat to the unbeliever for sure. That God knows all this? Mm-hmm. In other words, I may be a master of disguise before you.
You can conceal Where do you go during the week?
So can I. You and I can cover up our pasts. If we choose. You and I can exaggerate. What we do.
How clever we are. What we have achieved. You and I can cover our heart's secret longings. From those Mm-hmm. and our own beds.
But we cannot. before the searching gaze. of Almighty God. And that is the point. that he's making.
You know. What I do. You know what I think. You know what I see. You know me better than I know myself.
You know. where I go. You have searched me. and known me. This is quite wonderful.
A god From whom we could Before whom we could conceal all these things, would have to be one of these made-up gods. I mean it's like Augustine says, a God who doesn't know the future is not God. I mean, a God that didn't know this, he wouldn't be much of a God.
So that's why you see, we want to make a God in our own image. We want a manageable God. You know, a God who kind of looks after things generally, so that the floods don't finally overwhelm us, that the the the equilibrium of our existence is managed and so on, so that we can get by. But surely not a God like this. Yes, he says.
And Sixthly You know what? I need. Verse 5. What do I need? I need your presence every passing hour.
You hem me in. Behind And before. And you lay your hand on me.
Now We do not know in what context David wrote this Psalm. I've thought about it a lot, and perhaps you will later on today as you think of all your way back through 1st and 2 Samuel at all the points and places along the journey where we followed his life that he might have sat down and written this particular psalm. If there is any indication of a context or occasion, perhaps it is to be found in the verses to which we'll come in the end of this study. Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God. The men of blood depart from me.
If then the occasion is that he is confronted again by those who oppose God, who oppose David as God's covenant king, you remember we said that David's response to things like this, not to anticipate the final study, but David's response was the response of he who was the covenant king, he was the Lord's anointed. And David, who writes this psalm, Ah sings the psalm. And he recognizes verse five That he needs the sheltering protection of the hand of God. You hem me in behind and before. It's like being hedged around.
It's uh protected. I don't think that we ought to read it, although some of the commentators do, in terms of restriction.
So the picture of one is being hemmed in by way of restriction. I don't think so, but rather by way of protection. Um I don't want to go to the same old analogies I always use about grandchildren and putting pillows around them to stop them from collapsing and so on. But the picture of being hemmed in of the hand of God. of being watched over.
Wow. You think about it, I just mentioned Elliott, he was in my mind this week.
Somebody sent me a picture from a notice board of a church in the north of Ireland, and it had Jim Elliott's picture from Wheaton College, and it had the dates of his life. He died at 29 as a martyr, as you will know. And the great statement from his diary: he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. And if you know the story that uh his wife uh Elizabeth Eliot wrote of him You remember that before they encountered Ah there. forces that finally took their lives.
They stood on the beach and they sang. We rest on Thee. our shield and our defender. We go not forth alone against the foe. Strong in thy strength, And safe in thy keeping tender.
It's in your name, we call. You ham us in. behind and before. You say about how does that work? They lost their heads.
As for God. His way is perfect. We'll see later on in the psalm. that all the days that he ordained for us were written in his book. before one of them came to be.
And again, you have that lovely picture of the hand of God, don't you? The psalmist mentions it frequently. The prophets mention it always. I am the Lord. I will take you by the hand.
I will keep you. If you've started to uh to read in Nehemiah. uh sorry, in Ezra uh this uh past Few days of the year. And you know that that was a recurring word concerning. All of the Kindness of Artaxerxes towards the people of God.
And Ezra says on more than one occasion, And he was aware that the hand of God rested upon me. You think about how Hands. Think about God's hand. God doesn't have a hand. You think about it when a child takes a father's hand.
The tiny hand Inside a big hat. You lay your hand upon me. You protect me. You're watching over me. We sing of it, don't we?
Help me, Lord. When toil and trouble meeting?
So to take, as from a father's hand. Jesus sang. the hundred and thirty ninth Psalm. As a boy he sang this Jesus not only sang it, but in many ways he fulfilled it. He lived it.
We can't import Jesus back into the Psalm, but the Psalm will always send us ultimately forward to Jesus. And maybe your mind goes where my went when I start sat for a while thinking about the hand of God and then I say, well, isn't that what Jesus said from the cross? Father, Into Your hand? I commend My spirit.
Well Just a few closing thoughts, but let me give you a paraphrase of the six verses. See if this helps to register it. David says, I'm an open book to you. Even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back.
I'm never out of your sight. You know everything I'm going to say. Before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you're there. Then up ahead, And you're there too.
Your reassuring presence. As I come, And go.
Now look at verse 6. What is his response to all of this? His response is wonder. It's wonder. He says, this is actually beyond my ability to fathom.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. This is, I've never completed this course. I can't complete this course. It's very clear, isn't it, that David, as representative of the Psalms and the Psalmists, thinks very differently about God than we are prone to do. I said to myself as I was reading it this week, you know, I think in many ways I've become a practical atheist.
You know my thoughts? You know the words before I even get them on my lips? That's somewhat daunting. In fact Jim Packer, in a wonderful little statement in his book, Knowing God. He says living becomes an awesome business.
When you realize that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an all-knowing, ever-present God. He's got that dead on. It becomes an awesome business. Awesome.
So there's two ways to look at this. You see, you can look at it and say, oh, this is a terrifying reality. Or you can say, This is an unbelievable privilege. Almighty God, you got what, eight billion people to look after, and you know. My every thought?
You care about me that much? You watch over my coming and going, you're interested in all my ways. You know my fears, you know my failures, you know my starts, my stops, my missteps, my disasters. And yet You love me. I said to Sue through the last few days, she said, Are you ready for Sunday?
I said, Well, I know how to start, but I don't know how to finish. He said, Well, I think it's pretty important that you get to a finish.
So here's the best I can do with a finish. I was thinking about it just this morning when I woke up. You say, well, you're running close to the deadline, aren't you?
So Well, there's nothing like the thrill of that scare, I tell you. I woke up thinking about Nathaniel. Not my son-in-law, but that's his name, one of them. Not that one. No, the tha the Nathaniel of John 1.
Philippus found Nathaniel. And he says to him, Nathanael, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel says to him, This is not very complimentary. He says, Well, hey, wait a minute. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
Philip said to him, Come and see.
So he says, okay, I'm going to go see Jesus. Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Nathanael said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered him, Before Philip called you. When you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
How could he do that? Because he's the Messiah. Because he's God. Because he's the shepherd of the sheep. which brought me to My concluding observation, I hope, is helpful to you.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, remember David was a shepherd? He is a hired hand, not a shepherd. He does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, flees.
The wolf snatches them, scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
Now listen. I am the good shepherd. I know my own. And my own. Know me.
I know my own. And my own Know me. Just as the Father knows me. and I know the Father, and I lay down my life For the sheep. And then further down.
It better be further down. Yeah, my sheep hear my voice. and I know them. and they follow me. I give them eternal life.
and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them. out of my hand. Fantastic, isn't it? He knows.
We sing it sometimes in that song, You Know All the Things I've Ever Done. And yet your blood has cancelled everyone. Oh God. Oh God. This is wonderful, Father.
It's high. It's beyond our ability to comprehend. Thank you for giving us an inkling of it. Help us to live in the light of it. Do you know the one who is the Good Shepherd?
We're listening to Truth for Life with Alastair Begg. If you are new to Christianity and you'd like to learn more about Jesus, you can find additional teaching from Alistair about Jesus, about the gospel, the Bible, much more. It's all free to listen to, or watch, or download, and share with others on our website. Visit truthforlife.org/slash learn more. And while you're on the website, check out a book we are recommending currently.
It's called A Good Old Age An A to Z of Loving and Following the Lord Jesus in Later Years. Growing older is something all of us face, but rarely talk about in depth. What does it look like? In the book A Good Old Age the author Derrick Prime invites us into a refreshing and hopeful perspective on later life, as he walks through twenty six Christ centred reflections, A to Z, on how to honor God through our later years. This isn't a book about avoiding the reality of getting older a How to Stay Young book rather it's a How to Grow Old Well book, about embracing this season with faith filled zeal.
A good old age is quick to read, but you'll want to linger over each chapter. Of encouragement, biblical insight, and practical reminders that as we age, our spiritual life can continue to grow richer with meaning and purpose. The book is perfect for quiet reading and reflection, or sharing with a small group, or giving it as a gift to someone you love. Ask for a copy of the book A Good Old Age when you donate to Truth for Life Today using our mobile app or online at truthforlife. org slash donate or you can call us at eight eight eight five eight eight seven eight eight four.
And if you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book, write to us at Truth4Life, Post Office Box 398000, Cleveland, Ohio, 44139. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow, Alistair explores the secret to genuine contentment. It's a relevant subject at any age. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life.
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