Transcript

For the next few episodes we’ll be considering this important question: Does God Care About My Day to Day Life? We’ll seek to answer this question from Scripture, which is our authority in all matters of faith and practice. And I believe we’ll see that the answer to this question is absolutely yes. He is deeply involved in each of our lives.

It was a very crowded bus, and all the passengers looked sympathetically as Susan made her way down the aisle.

She fumbled with her cane, and as she nestled herself into her seat, the onlookers just watched with questions and concern. It had been a year since Susan lost her sight. When she first became blind, she fell into a deep pit of depression.

Her world had crumbled, her sadness overtook her. Not only was her heart crushed, but so was the heart of her husband, Mark.

He loved his wife and wanted to help her, and he did. Inch by inch, he helped to pull her out of that pit of depression, helped give her skills and confidence, and did all that he could to help her in her new state of darkness.

After many months of Susan’s blindness, she began to feel more confident because of Mark’s help, and she felt like she could perhaps return to her job again.

Mark promised that he would help her. And every day, he would drive his wife to work, walk her into the office, make sure she was settled, and then leave and go to his base that was across town, because Mark was a military officer.

Then, he’d come back and get her from work. This went on for several weeks. Though Mark wanted to help his wife, the burden was becoming heavier because it was becoming logistically impossible for him to make it to his base on time.

He dreaded having to announce to Susan that he wasn’t going to be able to drive her to work. But in the end, he had to and asked if she’d ride the bus to work.

Susan feared this and told him, “How am I going to know how many stairs there are? How am I going to know what path to take?”

He promised her, like he had done from the very beginning that he would do whatever it took to help her until she felt confident and independent on the bus. He helped her with the routes. He helped her learn the stairs and learn the paths.

And so, finally, after several weeks of doing such, Susan was confident. He went to his base; she went to her work. Monday morning, she got on the bus. She went to work, she came home; it was flawless. All week there were no problems.

Then Friday morning arrived. Susan made her way onto the bus, and as she went to pay her fare, the bus driver said, “Ma’am you sure are lucky.”

Susan asked, “Are you talking to me?” The bus driver said, “Yeah. It must feel good to be cared for as you are.” Susan replied, “I don’t know what you mean, sir.”

The bus driver said: “Well, you know, every morning when I drop you off at your stop, as soon as those doors open, I can see that man standing over there at the corner. And he watches you. As soon as you step off the bus, his eyes are on you.

“I think he’s some kind of military officer or something because of his uniform. And his eyes follow you as you walk across that parking lot. And his eyes don’t leave you as you’re trying to walk up those stairs.

“And when your hand touches that door knob, his eyes are on you. Until you open that door and go inside, that man doesn’t take his eyes off you. And once that door closes, he stands straight and tall, like a sentinel, and then he blows you a kiss.”

Susan burst into tears. She had no idea that her husband had been watching her.

Like that husband, God, out of His great love for us, never, ever takes His eyes off of us. He is watching us always; His eyes are on us always. He’s always there for us.

One author writes, “I am never out of God’s mind. There is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted from me, no moment when His care falters.”

Psalm 139 is a rich, deep, very personal Psalm. It’s a Psalm of David which declares that God is all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, all-loving and all-caring.

The Psalm shows that God cares for us and is with us from the womb until we’re home with Him and everything that happens in our life in between.

Psalm 139:1-2: “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.”

When David says “thou hast searched me,” the Hebrew term for “search” means to examine with pain and care. It was used to speak of digging deep into a mine or exploring a land, or investigating a legal case.

God searches us, which speaks of a focus, concentrated looking. God digs deeply into your life and my life and He looks intently.

One way to look at this word “search” is to picture an archeological dig. Whenever they think they come across something of value, the archeologists and their helpers remove the dirt slowly, ever so carefully, scrutinizing everything very carefully and gently.

They brush the dust off very cautiously, slowly, studying it and cataloging it accurately. And they do this with the entire area. They leave no stone unturned.

That’s a picture of how God searches us and how intently and thoroughly God knows us. God doesn’t search us with the idea that He is ignorant of some things about us. He doesn’t need to search us to get to know us. There was never a time where He didn’t know us, and know us thoroughly and intimately.

His knowledge of us is innate and inherent in Him because of Who He is. He knows us because of Who He is! Because He is God!

The term “search” is for our benefit. By this word God want us to know the depth of His knowledge of us, and His care in knowing every detail about us.

And out of His complete knowledge of us He knows our “downsitting and mine uprising.” He knows when we sit down and when we stand up. He knows when we’re at home sitting back, taking it easy in our recliners and when we get up to make some popcorn.

He knows when we’re at singing at church, working at our job, taking a test at school, when we’re taking a walk, fishing, reading a book, riding a bike, when we’re weeding the garden, cutting the grass, eating at a restaurant, and on and on.

The opposites of sitting and rising represent all our actions throughout the day. Sitting down for rest or work, rising up to engage in all the varied activities of life, God knows and sees them all.

Proverbs 5:21 says, “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He pondereth ALL his goings.” God knows every move we make.

We are an open book before God. Not only does He know our actions, He also knows the motivations behind our actions and all our thoughts. He “understandest my thought afar off.” He knows what we are thinking, and even anticipates our thoughts.

He knows what you are thinking right know. He knows the thoughts you had yesterday, and He knows the thoughts you will have next month, and next year.

He knows what we think even before we think it! Our thoughts are like words to God; He hears them and understands them completely. God knows us inside and out.

Psalm 139:3-4: “Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.”

In God’s knowledge of us, verse 2 says He knows everything we do and everything we think. Verses 3,4 tells us He knows everywhere we go and everything we say.

“Thou compassest my path and my lying down,” means that God sees us when we walk and are up and around and He sees us when we lie down. He keeps a constant watch on us. None of our ways are hidden from God.

He is “acquainted” and familiar with “all” my ways, with all we do, and everywhere we go. He knows our actions, our locations, our thoughts and words, our ways and motives.

All the paths we tread, all that we do, in all places and at all times, the whole course of our lives, is fully known to God. From the time we fall out of bed in the morning until we collapse into bed at night, He sees it all. In all of this, we see the depth of His care.

We can’t keep secrets from God. He knows what we are saying. He knows where we are going. He is familiar with all our ways. He knows, and not one thing is hidden from Him.

But we can be comforted in knowing that while God knows everything about us, He still loves you, and He still loves me. The One who knows us the best, loves us the most.

One author said this, “There is tremendous relief in knowing God’s love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that nothing now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself.”

According to Ephesians 4:30, sin in our lives grieves God’s heart, but we are safe in Christ and sealed until the day of redemption. As believers, we can be thankful and comforted to know that God is patient and gracious and loving, and works in our lives to conform us into the image of His Son.

God doesn’t want believers to live disillusioned about themselves, but instead to joyously live in light of our identity in Christ: that we are accepted in the Beloved, righteous in Him, redeemed and belonging wholly to Him, enabled to live a transformed life by God’s grace for Christ’s glory through the Holy Spirit.

Verse 4 teaches us that as God knows our thoughts even before they’re developed in our mind, so He knows our words even before they are formed on our tongues.

The Lord is familiar and knows all our words. He hears everything that we say. He knows what we’re going to say before we even form the words in our mouth.

And with what we say, He knows “it altogether,” or all that pertains to it. He knows not only what is said, but also has a full knowledge of exactly what is meant behind what is said.

Psalm 139:5-6: “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”

Because God’s knowledge of us is so absolute, He can guard us behind and before. His hand is always upon us. Every thought, word and deed is known by God and His knowledge surrounds each of us.

You cannot turn back and run or run forward to try to escape it, because God and His knowledge is on every side, behind us and in front of us, and His hand is upon us.

The word “beset” means “to guard a valuable object.” We are valuable in God’s sight, and His knowledge of us and His wisdom and guidance are for our protection and to guard us.

What we see here is that God knows us intimately and thoroughly so He can take care of us perfectly. He knows what we need. He knows what is best for us. But we need to trust Him and allow Him to lead us by His Word. We need to allow His hand to direct us.

So does God care about your life? Yes. Does God have the wisdom, and the knowledge of you to help you in your deepest hurt? Yes. Does God have the wisdom and the knowledge of you to help you know what is best for your life? Yes.

As David here we should be overwhelmed by His knowledge and care for us, and cry out, “such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”

David is saying in these verses, “God, you know me completely, thoroughly, fully, inside and out. You’ve made a detailed inquiry into my life. You know everything about me, all my actions, all my thoughts, all my words, you know it all!”

And in v. 6, David is just blown away. To consider God and His omniscience and realize that He cares so much for me, that He searches and knows me so completely and perfectly, it’s all too wonderful, we are not equal to it, it’s too mind-blowing to comprehend.

Psalm 139:7-10: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

“If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”

From God’s omniscience, David turns to God’s omnipresence. From God knowing us thoroughly, David turns to God being with us constantly.

God is never missing from our lives. He is always present. God is everywhere at once, every-where present all the time. We can only be one place at one time, but God is everywhere at the same time. We can’t be two places at once, though sometimes we wish we could!

It’s been said, “God is not a substance spread out in a thin layer all over the earth. All of Him is in Chicago, in Calcutta, in Cairo, and in Caracas, at once and the same time.” All of Him is right here right now. All of Him is with you always.

“Where is God?” is a question asked by the seeker, by the skeptic, and the hurting person who feels abandoned by Him. But He is always present, always there.

A heathen philosopher once asked a Christian, “Where is God?” The Christian answered, “Let me first ask you, where is He not?”

David asks where he could go to get away from God’s Spirit, or where he could possibly hide from the presence of the Lord? The implied answer is: absolutely nowhere.

Jer. 23:24 says, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.”

David says, if man should go up to the highest heaven, or down to the lowest “hell” or sheol, the realm of all the dead back in the Old Testament, God is there.

Whether in the spiritual world or the physical world, whether in an embodied state or disembodied state, God’s presence is in both.

If we took the wings of the morning and traveled on a sun beam to the east or west to any point across the globe, or if we streaked at the velocity of the speed of light out into the measureless expanse of space deep into the universe, God would be present there.

If we would dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, whether in the great depths of the sea, or on the far side of the vast oceans, in a remote, far away distant place, “even there” would God be and He’d be there waiting and caring, and ready to guide and uphold us, “even there” His hand would catch and comfort us and He would lead us.

Psalm 139:11-12: “If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”

Even if one would try to hide in the darkness, he’d be trusting in a false refuge. Darkness and night cannot shut out the presence of the Lord.

Darkness is not dark to Him. To the Lord, the darkness is as the light. He can see through it all. The light of God and His divine essence penetrates all dark places, and makes the deepest darkness light up as the brightest possible light.

Night and darkness won’t help, hiding or pulling a blanket over our head won’t help, running away won’t help (Jonah). God is absolutely inescapable.

As it’s been said, “God’s center is everywhere. His circumference is nowhere.” God is magnificently present wherever we are.

Kenneth Wilson writes, “At bedtime once when I was a boy, I remember my father asking “Would you rather I leave the light on and go downstairs, or turn the light out and stay with you for a while? I chose presence with darkness, over absence with light.”

That’s where God’s omnipresence really hits home. Like a young boy comforted by the presence of their parent, God’s presence brings us comfort. And He’s present with us always. Even in the darkness, and the “dark” tough times, He’s always there.

Because God is with us always, we do not have to worry, fear, or be dismayed. He is always near, always present, and He will never leave us or forsake us.

And so whether we’re standing in a crowded elevator, driving on the highway, working at our cubicle, waiting for some medical test results, lying awake at night, rejoicing at a wedding, or grieving in a funeral service, we know God is with us. He is in each moment of our lives and is always there for us.

Psalm 139:13-16: “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

“My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”

David declares here that God is present with us and knows us even in the womb before our birth. David says we can’t get away from God even before we are born.

David shows here how God’s power is magnified in the formation, development, and growth of a baby in the mother’s womb. The focus is on God and His work here: “thou hast possessed, thou hast covered me…I will praise thee…marvelous are thy works.”

“Thou hast possessed my reins,” literally means “you formed my inward parts.” Our inward parts are each a marvel of divine engineering.

And “thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.” The word “covered,” means to knit or weave together. In the mother’s womb, the Lord forms a human being, knitting and weaving together the bones, tissue, organs, muscles, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels.

This is all cause for praise to David, and to us, because we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and God’s works in the human body are marvelous and miraculous.

One person once said, “People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars—and they pass by themselves without wondering.”

The marvels of the human body with its design, order, and complexity are all due to the power and wisdom of God. David was aware here that God knew him through and through even from the womb.

His “substance” or frame was not hidden from God when David was being made in secret and “curiously” or skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, or the womb.

The terminology used here of forming, knitting, weaving, made, skillfully wrought all speak to design and God’s work and power in the formation of a human life in the womb.

God’s eyes, David says, “did see my substance yet being unperfect,” or unformed in the womb. Even in the womb before our birth, God saw us and knew us. God watches us and watches over every detail of our life.

Psalm 139:17-18: “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with Thee.”

David says “How precious are thy thoughts unto me!” David is overwhelmed again as He contemplates the greatness of God and how God could care so much to think of him all the time. David treasures that realization when he says, “How precious.”

God’s thoughts of us are incalculable, innumerable, impossible to count, impossible to understand. If we would try to count them they would outnumber all the grains of sand on all the beaches of all the world.

He cares deeply about our life and is so involved with our lives that we can’t even begin to fathom how many times He thinks about us.

God thinks of us constantly, and He wants us to think of Him by praying more, spending time in His Word, and serving Him. We may get busy and forget and not remember Him in life, but God in His care never, ever stops thinking of us.

He loves us more than we could ever imagine. We see it so clearly in the Cross. He gave His Son that we might be saved from our sins and spend eternity with Him.

Have you believed the good news? Just trust that Christ died for your sins and rose again and God will save you by His grace the moment you believe.