Transcript

Comfort In The Greatness of God

Psalm 139:13-18
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Pastor Randy Smith

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Does intimacy get lost in greatness? Does a CEO still "buddy-up" with the office custodians? Does a famous movie star still have time for us "lesser people"? Does a king entertain peasants in his royal court? Yes, intimacy often does get lost in greatness.

And that should cause us concern because as we read the Bible we can't overlook the greatness of God. We can't get beyond the fact that He spoke the world into existence, that His power is eclipsed by no one, that He is aware of the past as well as the future, and that He is presently attentive to all the events in the cosmos that are occurring at this very moment. He is aware of the many Christians being slaughtered in India and the decisions of the most powerful leaders in the world. He is aware of the ant that is creeping across the Sahara Desert and the smallest molecule on the furthest star. He is aware of all of your thoughts at this very moment as well as the thoughts of every person and animal on the planet. And most remarkable is His ability to not only foresee these facts, but also "(work) all things after the counsel of His will" (Eph. 1:11).

So, when we consider the greatness of God we need to ask the question: Does God care for someone as sinful and insignificant as me? Does a Holy God have the time and desire to make me an object of His time and desire? Does intimacy get lost in greatness? This morning as we look at a portion of Psalm 139 we will seek to answer that question.

After the Psalmist, who was David, describes God's ability to know all (omniscience) in verses 1-6 and His ability to be everywhere (omnipresence) in verses 7-12, He provides a quite remarkable transition. From the greatness of God, he begins to talk about the littleness of a baby in the womb. Notably, not any or every baby, but specifically himself when he was a baby.

In verse 13 we read, "For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb."

David acknowledged that the development of himself in the womb was a result of God's amazing involvement (cf. Job 10:8-11; 31:15). Though fully acquainted with the physical act that produces a child and probably partially acquainted with the stages of development of a child within the womb, David still saw God's handiwork behind it all.

We know at 3 weeks after conception God jumpstarted that heart to begin beating. Within 6 weeks David's brain waves could have been detected. By the time David was 7 weeks old a window into the womb would have revealed David's hands and feet and arms and legs. By 7 weeks David also would have been able to experience pain. By 8 weeks all of his major body systems were in place. And by 10 weeks David would have had his own unique set of fingerprints that would have differentiated him from every other person ever created.

As God told Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you" (Jer. 15). Each person is unique. Each person is special to God. Like every other person that God has ever created, hidden away from the naked eye, God was crafting a special treasure wrapped-up in the womb of David's mother.

We see more of this in verses 15 and 16. "My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance."

Once contemplating his remarkable beginnings, David is left with only one appropriate response. In verse 14 David says, "I will give thanks to You." NIV and KJV - "I will praise You." Contemplating God's creation resulted in praise. That sounds like the worship that happens in heaven. In Revelation 4:11 we read, "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created." Joining in the heavenly chorus, David on earth praises God for being the awesome Creator that He is.

If your child were to produce a drawing in which she invested much time, effort and skill you can guarantee that she would bring it to your attention. Why is that? Because more than money or anything else, your child is looking for praise. "Great job, honey!" "Your artwork has improved!" "I can tell how much work you put into this!" "This one is going on the refrigerator!"

But if we only find the energy to critique, or worse, take the work and throw it in the garbage, what are we saying to the child, the creator of the art? We either directly or indirectly cast disparaging remarks not only on their work but also on the thoughts, motives and intentions of the one who is taking pleasure in the work. Listen, an attack on one's work is a personal attack on the creator of that work.

How must God feel when we say everything resulted through the process of evolution? How must God feel when we tell the world that a little embryo is only a lifeless glob of tissue? How must God feel when we complain about ourselves ("I'm a piece of junk," "I'm good for nothing") or tear down others that He created in His image (Jas. 3:8-10)? Does any of this even remotely resemble the praise that David had for God?

David contemplated his creation, and it resulted in praise to God. And the more he contemplated his creation, the more he could conclude in verse 14: "For I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

The 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California just sold for a record $10,976,000. A Colombo 60-degree, single-over-head cam, "vee" type 12-cylinder, with aluminum alloy blocks and heads, and cast-iron cylinder liners. Displacement at 2953 cc. 0-60 in 4.5 seconds with a top speed of 167 miles per hour. Only 55 made off the assembly line. As the popular line from the 80's movie would say, "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."

Now suppose you were walking along the beach one evening and there sitting alone all by itself is one of these marvelous cars. Would you say that some big bang occurred that generated just enough power to take the sand and the clamshells and the sea glass and a dead horseshoe crab to create this masterpiece? Would you believe that chance plus 10 billion years must have created this? Would you say that interpersonal forces without purpose and without goal must have created this? No, you would say that this car is the product of a master craftsman-that this automobile is fearfully and wonderfully made as a result of talented and hard working individuals.

Beloved, the human body is by far a greater masterpiece than any car!

Spend some time, like David, marveling over your body. Our bodies are a testimony of exquisite design. Beautifully "engineered, it is governed by several hundred systems of control-each interacting with and affecting the other. The human brain alone is filled with billions of cells forming trillions of trillions of connections. Every cubic inch of the human brain contains at least 100 million nerve cells interconnected by 10 thousand miles of fibers. It has been said that man's 3-pound brain is the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter in the entire universe! Far more complicated than any computer, the human brain is capable of storing and creatively manipulating seemingly infinite amounts of information. Our skin has more than 2 million tiny sweat glands-about 3000 per square inch-all part of the intricate system which keeps our body at an even temperature. A "pump" in our chest makes our blood travel 168 million miles a day-equivalent of 6720 times around the world! Each minute the heart pumps 1.5 gallons of blood. The heart beats more than 2.5 million times in an average lifespan. The lining of our stomach contains 35 million glands secreting juices which aid the process of digestion. And these are but a few of the involved processes and chemical wonders which operate to sustain our life (Much taken from: Adrian Dieleman, Sermon on Psalm 139:13-18).

And we say the human body just happened? "It just happened about the way an explosion in a print shop would produce an unabridged dictionary of the English language" (Harold Sala). George Gallup said, "The chances that all the functions of an individual would just happen is a statistical monstrosity." The amazing complexities of the human body are in place as David exclaimed because we have an awesome God that personally fashioned us into existence. Even the most superficial and juvenile contemplation of the human body forces us to agree with the Psalmist: We truly are "fearfully and wonderfully made." Sadly, as Augustine said over a millennia ago, "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."

We've become too sophisticated and too busy to wonder…

Wondering how my eyes can see a candle flame 30 miles away on a clear night and distinguish between 300,000 different colors. Wondering how 30 trillions cells in my body can each perform 10,000 different chemical functions without my conscious attention. Wondering how the skin can repair itself after a cut and how muscles can move bones and how the body can digest food, process oxygen and reproduce itself. Wondering how a little baby with little fingernails and little toes and little eyelashes can come out of the body of my wife last week.

Contemplating such events speak of an Intelligent Designer and should result in praise. David, 3,000 years ago with only a fraction of our recent biological discoveries could exclaim in verse 14: "Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it well."

There was a firm conviction deep inside David's soul that the glory of his creation was the product of an awesome Creator. From years past, one Christian said, "I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking" (George MacDonald, Quoted by J. R. Miller, Finding One's Mission, p. 2). Maybe a little less self-esteem and a little more God-esteem will lead to greater meaning in life. David was satisfied and when we are most satisfied in God, God is most gloried in us. Everybody wins!

And not only does God create our bodies, but He also plans our lives. The end of verse 16 reads, "And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them."

God has planned the exact time we will be born and the exact time we will die. Though often using secondary causes, our entrance and departure from this earthly existence has already been determined. In the ultimate sense, our life is firmly held in His sovereign hands.

Such thoughts should not cause us to despair. This Psalm while speaking about the greatness of God is disclosing God's great purpose for us. That God is revealing His greatness not only in creating planets and stars and mountains and oceans, but also in creating us with such intricate precision and then caring for us with such tender affection. This Psalm teaches us that we did not evolve from the swamp (from the goo to the zoo to you) for a meaningless existence, but rather we are here for a specified reason at a specified time in a specified place for a specified purpose.

I've never found the way that the secular pundits can teach self-esteem and evolution at the same time. Placing my origins and meaning in the same existence as the housefly I swatted after breakfast this morning leads to great despair. But realizing that God made me and made me at a special time for a special purpose, endowing me with special value, brings me special hope that is unrivaled by anything the most "educated" humans can invent and teach.

So this I know: One, there is no such thing as an "accidental birth." Possibly there are "unwanted births" or "unplanned births" (just ask Julie and I about that one!), but every pregnancy is ordained by God. Two, from the time of conception, God's hand is forming that precious baby. Therefore, that baby has value, purpose, dignity and an everlasting soul. Three, murder of any human life (laying aside the capital punishment debate for now) is an abomination to God. Only God has the authority to create life and end life. Genesis 9:6, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man." Four, our ultimate reason for being created is not to worship idols (we can put worshipping ourselves in that category), but find our joy and satisfaction and fulfillment in worshipping the one true God through Jesus Christ. And five, all of God's revelation, whether it be creation or His written Word (Psm. 19; Rom. 1:18-23), is a signpost that points back to His greatness. And the more we acknowledge His greatness the more we will honor Him and fulfill our purpose for existence in living for something much bigger than ourselves.

So back to where I left you-God's greatness is not a cause for ignoring us. On the contrary, God's greatness is best seen, in my humble opinion, by His great love for us. While we are "accounted as nothing" (Dan. 4:35), He still cares for us. Moreover, while being perfectly just to cast us aside because of our sinfulness, He has proven His love by sending Jesus Christ to bear the penalty for our sins-a free gift of forgiveness for those who come to Him in faith and repentance. Through Christ we enter with God the most intimate relationship ever conceivable.

David speaks of this relationship in verse 17: "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!"

While we are continually called in Scripture to think about God, this verse in Scripture actually says God continually thinks about us! And far from bringing a feeling of shame or anxiety, this truth brought David great comfort and joy.

You see, contemplation on an object of our affections always brings us great delight. Our mind will wander to lock on to that which brings it the greatest pleasure. It may be negative. It may be positive. But whatever it is, the areas where our minds dwell reveals the core values of our hearts. I don't know where your minds are, but I do know where God's mind is. He delights in you! He satisfies His pleasure by continually thinking about you, Christian! Remarkable! His thoughts of protecting you and perfecting you and educating you and renewing you and upholding you and encouraging you-and that's only the tip of the iceberg! As a redeemed object of His benevolent care, He continually thinks about you and every one of those thoughts is for your good!

Of God's thoughts about him, David says in verse 17, "How vast the sum of them." The number was beyond calculation-although in verse 18 David tried his best to produce a figure. He says, "If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand." Outnumber the grains of sand on Belmar beach? Yes, outnumber them! Outnumber the grains of sand along the Jersey shore? Yes, outnumber them! Outnumber all the grains of sand in the world? You get the point!

Think about that!

In Psalm 73:28 we read, "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good." Our Lord's continual thoughts of us is an indication of His nearness, His intimacy in our lives. If we are in Christ, we have an inseparable relationship, one in which He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will always love us. We are forever in Him as He is forever in us.

So after speaking of God's love for him, David now speaks of his love for God in verse 18: "When I awake, I am still with You." As God loves fellowship with His children, His children love fellowship with Him right from the start of the day. As the puritan Stephen Charnock said, "The thought of God were the first visitors David had in the morning. God and his heart met together as soon as he was awake, and kept company all the day after." Another older author said, "The saints are wont to leave their hearts with Him over night, that they may find them with Him in the morning" (Thomas Case).

We cannot deny that God is a great God. It is seen in the way He fashioned this world together. It is also seen in the way He fashions a baby in the womb. And it is also seen in the way He fashions an intimate relationship with His children.

In Chariots of Fire, Olympic Champion Eric Liddell said, "Jenny, God has made me for a purpose-for China; but He has also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." The more we understand, the more we contemplate, the more we wonder, the more we see God's marvelous work in our lives. We are the most special part of His creation. We are uniquely crafted by His hands. We have purpose, and when we find our purpose in Him we will feel His pleasure.

For I believe God's greatness is best seen in the intimate and personal love He has for His children.