Jeff Overton
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Jeff Overton, lead pastor
Beulah Baptist Church, Douglasville
There is a difference between knowing about someone and truly knowing someone.
There are many people who know about me as Jeff Overton. Some will say they know me as a pastor or a friend; others may say they know me from high school or college. However, no one knows me like my wife does. She has lived with me for 33 years and knows all there is to know (Yes, you can stop and pray for her now.). She knows all the little details that no one else can know.
To me, that is what is exciting about our text this week – God knows us. I mean, He really knows us. He knows more about me than anyone else – including my wife.
The text tells us that He knows when we sit down and stand up. He knows my thoughts. He knows my words even before I say them. The real thrill is to know that God loves me even though He knows me! He knows me at my worst; He knows me at my best and yet, His love for me is the same in either situation!
The neat part is that He does not love me less on my bad days or more on my good days. He simply loves me.
Reading on in our text, we will find that not only does God know all about us. He has known us from before we even drew our first breath. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. That one verse should bring great value to our lives. It should mean something to us in the fact that it is God that has made us and we are wonderfully made.
God made us as He saw fit. He has a purpose and a plan for each one of us. Many of us struggle with how God can have a plan and purpose for us. We look at our limitations and try to say no to His plan. God looks at what He created and He says, “Yes, you can.”
I think of the short stature of Lottie Moon and yet God used her in a powerful way to the Chinese people and continues to use her today to reach the world for Christ. I think of Fanny Crosby. Blind at six weeks old, she could have said, "There is no way I can be used of God." Yet, she would be used of God to write over 9,000 hymns, including such favorites as “Blessed Assurance” and “I Am Thine, O Lord.”
God knew what He was doing when He ‘fearfully and wonderfully’ created these dear ladies and He knew what He was doing when He created you.
Our text shows God knows us. It shows He has created us. It also shows in verse 18, He is with us.
One thing God has made clear in His word is the fact that He is always with us. Not only does He know our sitting and our rising; He is there with us in it all. Jesus told us the very same thing when He said He would be with us to the end of the age! This is our God! It should be our passion to get to know this God Who knows us, loves us, has a purpose for us, and is with us. The psalmist understood this when he cried out later in this chapter in verses 23, 24"
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts![a]
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
When we come to understand how much we mean to God and His involvement in our lives, we realize that the life He has given us has value. We mean something to God and have a purpose He has placed in us. When we see that He has "searched me and known me," He has "fearfully and wonderfully made" me. Our natural response is to call to surrender to His plan and ask Him to guide our steps.
When we learn to do this on a continuous basis, we will see the hand of God leading us to do the work of God in our lives. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and your life counts – make it count for Him.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
• What does it mean to you that God is acquainted with "all of your ways" and how does this impact the way you live your life?
• How do you feel knowing that God “knitted you together” and has a purpose for your life?
• What are ways we can make sure our lives line up with the purpose for which God created us?
