God and Us, Each of Us Together

[HKHaugan]

Just how personal is God? One has only to look at the Psalms. But one of those Psalms is especially pointed, Psalm 139 which will appear at the end of this writing that will hopefully move you to mine its gems. To give us a start consider John Stott’s overview:

“Psalm 139 is arguably the most radical statement in the Old Testament of God's personal relationship to the individual. Personal pronouns and possessives occur in the first person (I, me, my) forty-six times and in the second person (you, yours) thirty-two times. Further, the basis on which God knows us intimately (verses 1-7) and attaches himself to us so that we cannot escape from him (verses 7-12) is that he formed us in the womb and established his relationship with us then (verses 13-16).” ( From 'Does Life Begin Before Birth?', "Christianity Today" 9/5/1980).

Three things emerge in this Psalm that spur encouragement in our hearts: self-confidence, trust and the Body of Christ.

First, self-confidence.
God establishes in each of us his image and his likeness. Where then does self-doubt come from? Where do we get that sense of low self worth? Why are we willing to compromise our values, allow politics and economics to absorb us constantly? What keeps us from sharing our faith? Our Creator God is the mighty powerful and always present God. He is our source and our being. Nothing should stand in our way as every next moment is about His presence, His love for us, His faith in us and His security our future. When I am in God in my mind, heart and spirit there is a renewed sense of confidence no matter where or with whom I am. This is so clear in the person of Jesus. He is my confidence, my reassurance and my future.

Second, trust.
Our world conditioning, that is our upbringing and relationships in the world have made each of us cautionary, a state of fear not ordinary to God, contrary to His nature and proof of how temporary the world is. By opening up to us the gate of faith in the midst of the unseen, the gate of insight into the heart through Jesus and the gate of truth through the Holy Spirit we can trust that who God is in Jesus is the means to His end, His omega for each of us, the way to reality as it is in eternity. He is our trust, our belief and our faith.

Third, the Body.
This Psalm is written to us as the family of God, each of us together. This Psalm is a together insurance and assurance. It is a unifying Psalm in that each of us is given the same relational foundation and security. When we know that we are given the same bond we can build trust in one another. We can see in each other the hand of God at work. This is the difference between a blood family and the Body of Christ, our spiritual family. In the spiritual family we share a spiritual reality that is above and beyond what the world’s definition of family is. When we see ourselves as brothers and sisters in the spiritual family of God we begin to trust one another in a new and deeper way. Our thoughts, conversations and action reflect the presence of God, His purpose and meaning for us. We build spiritual dependence on one another. When we are in a spiritual family we are in the context that makes sense out of our blood family. When a father and mother are centered in the Lord their values, their activities, their worldview, their attitude and their dependence on others in the Body of Christ shape the way children are raised. They share worship, learning, trust and confidence that flow into the lives of those about them. Children see the struggles of their parents to spiritually mature and the Lord honors that struggle. Even in their worst moments God is paving the hearts of children with His presence and when they are old they will not turn from Him.

Now let this Psalm open a door for you today.

1-6 GOD, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
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, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can't take it all in!

7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you're there!
If I go underground, you're there!
If I flew on morning's wings
to the far western horizon,
You'd find me in a minute—
you're already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I'm immersed in the light!"
It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.

13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.

17-18 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I'll never comprehend them!
I couldn't even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!

The Message Bible