So we started out talking about how God is our Creator (Acts 17, Genesis 1). And then talked about sin and how it entered the world (Genesis 3, Romans 3). Why look at Psalm 139? How does that fit?
Well, we see in Psalm 139 that God is everywhere, from the heavens to Sheol (v. 8), from east to west (v. 9), inside our bodies (v. 13), and even in our heads! (v. 2). We cannot hide in the darkness (v.12), there is no secret place where he cannot go (v. 15), and he even knows our words before we say them (and knows more about why we said them than we do! - v. 4). He knows everything about what we think, say, and do!
This is both a comfort and a terrifying thought. Comforting when we need his help and terrifying when we have done wrong; sinned; broken one of his commands. What is a typical response we can have to our sin? Have you ever done something wrong and then tried to hide it? Or maybe you tried to hide yourself, or run away. That's what Adam and Eve did in the garden. After they broke God's command, here is what happpened:
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
It's interesting because that word for presence is literally "face" - very intimate! And it is the same Hebrew word that David uses in Psalm 139:7:
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
Once again, presence is literally translated "face". And David recognizes that he can not flee from God's face. I wonder if he was thinking about Adam and Eve when he wrote that line?
So, how did hiding work out for Adam and Eve? It didn't help them one bit! They still had to suffer the consequences of their actions. What about you? Did hiding things from your parents or others ever work out well for you? I know it didn't work well for me!
The truth of God's word says:
Numbers 32:23 "...be sure your sin will find you out."
We cannot hide from God and he knows everything about us, all of our sin, and that is such a good thing! It is his grace and mercy. Because, unless we come to him and admit our sin and ask him to forgive us, we cannot be forgiven. And if we do not admit our sinfulness to him in this life, we will experience his judgment in the next. But God's word promises us that:
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1)
So, if you have a sin that you are hiding from God, now is the time to confess it to him and restore or start a right relationship with him. And all of us sin every day. So we need to be confessing our sins daily and praying this prayer from Psalm 139:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
139 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 afar. 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, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall 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 dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a] Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it 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 saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me! 20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain.[b] 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 complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts![c] 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! |
