Difference between revisions of "Sermon for August 23rd, 2020"

Revision as of 19:02, 21 August 2020

Psalm 139:1-24

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
    O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is so high that I cannot attain it.

7 Where can I go from your spirit?
    Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is as bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
    Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
15     My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
    all the days that were formed for me,
    when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
    I come to the end—I am still with you.

19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
    and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
20 those who speak of you maliciously,
    and lift themselves up against you for evil!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
    And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
    I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psummer of Psalms III: Psalm 139

Long, long ago, back in the days when children went to school in person and ate lunch together in a crowed room known as a cafeteria...at the beginning of the school lunch line there was a large pile of apples. A clever lunch lady, in a desperate attempt to improve the moral standing of the students, had put a sign next to the apples that said, "Take only ONE apple. God is watching you." Further down at the other end of the lunch line was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies, and next to this pile, a clever student had added his own note. It read, "Take all the cookies you want. God is watching the apples."

Psalm 139 is a hymn to the "inescapable God"--the God who sees everything, knows everything, and brings everything into the light. If you're a take-two-apples or a take-five-cookies kind of person, this psalm might be terrifying. But if your'e the kid at the end of the lunch line who arrives only to find an empty plate of cookie crumbs, I imagine this psalm might be kind of comforting.

Actually, most people who read this psalm take great comfort from it. It is one of the most popular and often quoted psalms after the 23rd psalm. It is some of the most beautiful and familiar poetry in the entire Bible. It has inspired countless works of art, music, and literature. Just ten days ago, I read these words to the family of church member Merci Goff, as we paid our respects and laid her to rest beside her husband, Dean. Merci Goff loved the psalms, and this one was one of her favorites.

What is it about this Psalm that speaks so powerfully to so many people? Let's jump in and find out.

The first section of the psalm, verses 1-6, are all about knowledge.

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
    O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is so high that I cannot attain it.

In America today, we are obsessed with privacy, probably because we have less and less of it with every passing year and every new technology. Between Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.com, someone is keeping track of almost every aspect of your life--what you purchase, what you read, where you go, what political party you belong to, and even what you say in your most intimate conversations via email, text message, and anywhere in the vicinity of your smart phone. Someone is always listening, always watching. And yet, despite that, most of us have a growing sense that no one really, truly knows us, understands us, at least not in the way we long to be understood.

Amazon collects your information because they want to sell you more things--something that is in their best interest, and not necessarily yours.

But Psalm 139 teaches us that God searches out our paths, and is acquainted with all our ways...why? There is nothing we can offer to God that he doesn't already have. The answer to that question comes later, in the third section. But first, listen to the second movement, verses 7-12. If the first section was about God's knowledge, the second section is about God's presence.

7 Where can I go from your spirit?
    Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is as bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.