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Psalm 139 is where we’re going to be together today as we go into the the story of the Book of Psalms. And we’re getting to the end of our time in Psalms together. We’ll have one more next week, and then we’re going to start in the book of revelation. Uh, the reason we’re turning to revelation, so you’re aware, is because we just got done with a study out of the book of Genesis. And so we looked at the first book of the Bible. We’re going to look at the last book of the Bible, and we’re going to see through how through the books of the Bible, how God tells one grand story throughout Scripture and over 1500 years, and one story of his redemption for humanity. Revelation is an incredible book. I know many of you, probably many of you, probably look at revelation and think it’s like a doomsday apocalyptic worlds coming to an end. Let’s hunker down because it’s over, right? And you think we hold like a newspaper on one hand with Fox News and CNN in the background, and we talk about how everything’s just going to pot and Jesus come back quickly. Right. That that part is true. We want Jesus to come back quickly, but we’re not going to do it with newspapers and news stations in the background. The book of Revelation is different than that. And I want us to see the beauty of the book. I think it’s the most beautiful book in all of Scripture, honestly.
And and I think people have kind of ruined it in what they choose to do with it. But God’s got a far better picture. So we’re going to talk about that. It’s just an added bonus. It’s during a political season, so we get to talk about it with greater zeal okay. But but now we’re in Psalm Psalm 139. And this psalm is a powerful psalm in understanding who God is. You know, this is called the Omni Psalm. And some of you might ask, well, why in the world are we that’s such a weird name. Why call this an Omni Psalm? What does that even mean? Well, the the omnis are dealing with the attributes of God. There’s the, the omniscience. Omni means all or or um, yeah, all knowing or as omniscient is or omnipresent, which is everywhere. Omni can mean everywhere, everywhere present or omnipotent, all powerful. This is the nature of who God is. I mean, we could also refer to this rather than the Omni Psalm. We could refer to this as the doctrine Psalm. And I got to be honest with you when I was thinking about sharing this this morning, I didn’t really want to title it either, but I think it’s far more important to know how this psalm has been traditionally viewed. And the reason I didn’t want to title it the doctrine Psalm or the Omni Psalm is I know how human nature tends to respond to that idea.
If I said to you, everyone show up today, we’re going to talk about doctrine, right? People would look at that and be like, ah, I’ll see you next week, right? I don’t want to. That sounds boring. I don’t want to. Are we just reading from, like an encyclopedia or a phone book or something? That sounds. I don’t want to. A lot of people don’t like the idea of of just understanding doctrine or just reading through doctrine. Some of you love it. Some of you geek out on it. Others are like, no, thank you, I don’t I don’t really want to dive into this. It sounds it sounds boring to us. And, and, and one of the reasons I should tell us it sounds boring is people have done a terrible job of really telling you why. Why doctrine should matter. In fact, Psalm 139 is written in a way to help you understand how doctrine is such a powerful tool in your life. Because what you’re going to see in Psalm 139 is that David is writing this Psalm, and he’s talking about the identity of who God is, but he’s helping us understand how the identity of who God is shapes who we are, and therefore how we live. And so the doctrine of God is foundational for for the reason you do what you do, because everything you do as a human being is driven by some sort of belief.
And if you have an incorrect understanding of who God is, you’re going to have a poor understanding of who you are, and therefore the way you live your life will be contrary to the reason which God has called you. Or if you do live your life, the reason that God has called you. It’s only by happenstance. You just kind of lucked into it, right? But rather what’s important is that we we understand who God is and therefore through that, be able to to understand who we are and live that out in life. You know, some people, when they hear the word doctrine, uh, immediately want to run away from it because in their lives they’ve experienced how doctrine has been used, sort of as a power move by someone else to manipulate you or force you into something you may not have necessarily wanted to do. And some people, there’s a there’s a fine line sometimes between zeal and and anger. And sometimes it becomes easy, maybe sometimes a mistake. It. But but there’s this passion that when you know the Lord that you certainly want to have in him. But but it’s important to distinguish the difference between zeal and anger. And I hope you have zeal for the Lord. It’s good to learn how to temper that in a healthy way in your relationships, right? Not not to hide from truth, but but to help people understand it in a loving, compassionate way. God cares about what you believe, and he also cares about the way in which you believe it, right? God cares about what you know and also what you do.
So it’s certainly wonderful to be passionate about your walk with the Lord, and also to think about how that then shapes the way you live in this world. Anyone that comes to you with doctrine, in order to kind of stiff arm you into embracing what they believe is saying to you, they have no confidence in what they really hold to what they’re telling you. And in fact, they’re trying to force you in order for you to validate themselves. And that’s not healthy or good, right? But but that’s not a reason to run away from doctrine. In fact, I think it’s it’s more of a reason to figure out what real doctrine is. So some people have have gone through terrible experience with others trying to force them into something and then have used that as a, as a way of just moving away from it. Always and forever. And that is not a healthy place to be, because what you believe shapes who you are. And so just because someone has been terrible to you in the area of doctrine doesn’t mean you should walk away from it, but rather that we should be mindful of people as people, that that sometimes people will take beliefs and use it to to abuse others. And those beliefs may not even be accurate, but it’s more important to discover what is accurate so that you can help people walk truthfully in it, or at least have the opportunity to understand it.
In fact, some people will say this well, you know, why teach people doctrine? As long as you’re good, that’s all that matters. But I think it’s helpful for us in thinking, thinking through that for a minute to give a little pushback on that idea. It doesn’t matter what you believe. Just let people figure it out for themselves. And as long as you’re good, that’s all that matters. Look, that in of itself is a doctrine. There is something driving that thought. I mean, we do it in our in our schools. We’ll say things like, well, beliefs. You know, we don’t really want to teach that. I just want to teach the basics. Uh, you know which which I love. You know, we want to we want to learn the basics, right? But but in saying that, we’re we’re also declaring a doctrine. We’re showing the the where we find faith or truth. Uh, the priority it should have in our lives. It is Impossible not to have a doctrine or a belief. Everything you do as a human being is driven by a belief. It’s just a matter of if that belief is accurate and what’s really driving it. And so when you look at a Psalm like this, what’s important to know is, you know what what we need to ask is, what do we need as people? So, so in light of all that, what is it that we need? A.w.
Tozer said it like this. He said, what comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. He wrote this in his book knowledge of the Holy and What he’s helping us understand. This knowledge of the Holy is an incredible book. If you’ve never read it, it’s one of the, I would say, Christian classics. It’s only about a hundred pages. It’s a very profound book and shaping your understanding of who God is, because we have this tendency to diminish him and elevate ourselves rather than understand the greatness of who he is. But but A.W. Tozer is wanting us to understand at the very beginning of his book how essential your understanding of God is, because it shapes everything that you are as a human being, and therefore how you live. And so when we come to a topic like this one, we want to understand the importance of who God is and what that how that matters to us practically. Um, but but we also want to do it in a way that is not only honoring to God, but but caring about people around us, right? Meaning, we don’t want to hide away from truth. Truth is important. And also we want to give other people the opportunity to understand what truth is. Which means we’re not here to force you to embrace what we believe as a church or what we say.
Rather, we want to be honest in sharing what we believe, where it comes from, and give a reasonable explanation for why we believe what we believe. And let the Spirit of God work in your heart and life and for you to discover him. And we work hard as a church to to try to help anyone that comes a part of Alpine Bible Church to to feel the freedom to ask any question. Uh, to to understand. We believe that who you are as a human being matters, and the only way you truly discover it is to know who God is. And you need the freedom to ask some questions in order to to validate or solidify that truth in your life. In fact, you’re going to see this in Psalm 139, that David, when he was writing this Psalm and he’s vacillating throughout this Psalm in his own personal walk as he grapples with who God is and what that means to him, especially in verses 5 to 8, he’s struggling with the idea of who God is. And then again, in verse 19 and 22, he struggles with the idea of who God is and what that means, and the practical outworking of his life. And that’s that’s true for all of us. We need that space to, to to understand what truth is and then respond to it. Not because someone else is pressuring me, but because the Spirit of God is working in me.
Especially if I’ve ever come from a background where you’ve been abused, spiritually speaking, where someone’s tried to just lord over you and force you into what you think you know, we need that that freedom to be able to to ask questions and to and to learn and grow and and so this Psalm is really walking us through understanding what that looks like. I mean, this is the reason why many people don’t like politicians, because there’s what they say to you in order to get your vote. But then you think to yourself, but what do you really think? And what are you going to do? Right? No one wants to be a part of a religion that’s like, I’ll join this group, and then you find out a little bit later that behind the curtain, they believed all sorts of crazy things. And you’re like, man, that would have been nice to know up front, right? Like, like the idea of doctrine helps you understand who God is. Hopefully a reasonable explanation why and then what are you going to do about it? And this is what David’s doing in Psalm 139. So let me I belabor that for a while. So let me give you a point. Number one, it’s important to recognize the harmonies of God. It’s important to recognize the harmonies of God. We already called it out. How important the foundation of who God is is for you.
And the practical outworking of your life. And if you want to know why the Psalm is called the Omni Psalm. If you look at the Psalm ten, it tends to be in most and most Bibles that they break this down into paragraphs, and these paragraphs are broken down according to the omnis. Verse one O Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise, this, this word known is the omniscience of God, the all knowing ability of God. In verse seven, where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? This idea of presence is the omnipresence of God everywhere present. And then verse 13, it doesn’t say power directly, but it implies it here. For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. This is expressed expressing the omnipotence of God, the all power of God he possesses. He owns you. He he created you for his purposes. So this is certainly showing us the the omnis of who God is. And so in light of that, then the psalmist starts to navigate what does this mean for me and understanding God in this way, this all knowing, everywhere present, all powerful God that he doesn’t depend on anything. He is the only thing created that is truly autonomous, that nothing in this world he he is reliant upon, even even you and me.
And sometimes people come to church and think, the reason you got to be here is because God is up in heaven, so desperate to get your praise right. Like, and I think it’s wonderful to praise the Lord because he’s worthy of that. But it’s not because he’s sitting there on Sunday morning every week, like, okay, I showed up. I can’t wait till they get to church, you know, like, that’s not that’s not who God is. He is not dependent on anything. And so what does that mean? In verse two the psalmist says, you know, when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways, even before a word is on my tongue. Behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. So here’s what the psalmist is saying. In light of the omniscience of God, he’s saying, man, God knows everything happening in me inwardly. That’s what he says in verse two. You discern my thoughts from afar. And then he says, and also God knows everything that I’m doing outwardly. So much so that God already knows the beginning from the end of my life. Like he foresees everything in front of me before I’m even there. And it’s not saying God can predict the future, but rather what it’s saying is when God looks at us, he doesn’t look at us in sort of a linear way.
That’s how we operate as human beings. We kind of move forward on the in time. But for God, God is beyond time and he sees the beginning and end all at once. He is he is not bound by time. He transcends time. And so the psalmist is thinking about this, that God, God knows it all. My in inside everything that’s happening in me, outside. I mean, think about that today. Like if someone could see every thought that you had today. If we just would put that on the screen and not just the good ones, right? Not the ones that you get to pick, but. But also the bad ones. Right. Your your anger, your your your lust, your frustrations, whatever. We just we just put it. Could you imagine if you were that was exposed? Right. If people could see that and what people might think about us when they know the the depths of what you wrestle with in your heart, it may not come out outwardly, right. But to know it was even a thought inwardly. And God sees all of that. And when you look at a verse like this, how do you initially respond to the idea of who God is? Could you imagine if this was a human being? I know everything you think like that is creepy, isn’t it? It’s like, man, how could I get away from this? Like I’m okay with people. Don’t know some things about me, but everything about me.
My word that is. That sounds unsettling. It’s a little bit. A little bit confining. Right. But but this is exactly what the psalmist says. You might think in light of God this way you might look at God and be like, man, I don’t know if I like this. Is that okay that I don’t like this? How do I deal with this? This is a little bit a little bit frustrating. Maybe a little bit spooky to me. A little bit scary. Like how how do I embrace this? Well, this this is exactly where the psalmist goes. If you wonder if that’s okay, the psalmist lets you know it’s totally okay, because in verse 5 to 7, that’s what he does. And so let me give you point number number two in your notes. It’s it’s rewarding to wrestle with the awesomeness of God. It’s rewarding to wrestle with the harmonies of God. The psalmist kind of goes to this place of feeling a little suffocating. He’s he’s struggling, panicking, feeling a little trapped. And look, he says, you hem me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence is like saying, man, you are everywhere. Like, give me a break. Just where is that one spot I could go? Where you’re not God.
Like that is a lot of spots to be in at one time, and I can’t seem to find one. And he describes this as as being hemmed in by the Lord and and wanting to know what. What this means for him. He wants, you know, freedom. I want to break free. I want to get out of this. God let me know that one spot I can get away from you. But but he’s starting to learn something about the nature of humanity. God is the only being completely autonomous. Everything else created is dependent upon something. In fact, we should say everything else created is dependent on someone. And he made us dependent on things of this world as well. I mean, you can’t really go more than a few days without eating or drinking. You can only go a few seconds without breathing. We’re created as dependent human beings, and it’s not really freedom to just divorce ourselves from God That’s not real freedom. That’s anarchy. And the reason it’s not freedom is because you weren’t made to be separated from God. You were made for God. And so the psalmist is walking through this, trying to discover what does this mean for me? Because in this moment, it’s kind of got him in a conundrum. And really, it puts all of us in a bit of a conundrum, because in one hand, we as people, we want to be known. We want to be loved.
We want to know we’re important. We want to live for a purpose greater than ourselves. We want those things. We want to connect. We want to know we matter. Right? But but then there comes a part, as you’re known, that you were like, well, not everything about me, because there are some things about me that are broken. And when you know those things about me, it makes me vulnerable. And when it makes me vulnerable, it’s saying that you have power over me. And so when people start to see the the depths of your heart and it brings this place of vulnerability, they see your flaws and they can leverage those flaws against you. And this is where the psalmist is with God. God, you know every detail about my life in your omniscience and your power. God, what are you going to do about that? Because I’m broken and you’re perfect. And God, how how will you leverage that? As human beings, because we’re dependent, we often get to places in life where things get beyond us and we need to ask for help. We’ll look for experts to help us. And if you’re something as simple as maybe a little project in your home, it might be a particular area of a project in your home that you’re just not accomplished in. And so you’ve got to call someone, call an expert, and bring them in to be able to help with that task, because, you know, you might be good at some things, but you’re not good at everything.
Or maybe you’ve got a health battle and and you need to call in an expert to, to help with that because, well, you’re not a doctor and you need to know what’s going on to get ahead of what’s happening to you. Or maybe financially you need some help or different things. Your car breaks down. You call in an expert because, well, you’re not an expert in everything. And so you need someone. And and when you go to find an expert, depending on how important it is, you want to look at the credentials. You want to say, okay, why should I trust in you? And can I see some hands of your work to know whether or not you’re you’re worth trusting in so that when I entrust myself to you, I’m not disappointed in you. Because you are worth the trust that I extended to you. And this is what the psalmist is doing in verse six. He’s saying, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. He’s saying, look, I’m out of my league in this. I can’t run the world. I don’t know what this is all about. I’m just I’m trying to discover this as I’m working through this Psalm. And so I need to lean on an expert and God, that is who you are. But I’m trying to figure out how this works in my life. And so you see in the in these next verses that he he moves on from here to, to sort of work this out.
And you, you see him in these next verses begin to move from this place of. I’m a little reluctant because it makes me vulnerable, knowing your power over me. And he starts to see how God leverages that power, that omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, and and what his intentions are behind it as to whether or not the psalmist should entrust his life to him. And so, point number three in your notes, let me give you this, and we’ll read the next verses. It’s it’s healthy to revel in the omnipotence of God. It is healthy to revel in the omnis of God. And in verse eight you see the psalmist say this. He goes, if I ascend to heaven, you’re there. And if I make my bed in Sheol, which is the place of the dead, you’re there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. So he’s saying, if before the morning sun rises, if I jump on, on the wings of a bird. And I’ll just fly fast to get away from the sun, or if I go to the depths of the ocean. It doesn’t matter You’re No matter where I go, you’re there. Verse 11, if I. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me.
And the light about me be night. Even the darkness is not dark to me. The night is bright as the day. For the darkness is as light with you. Verse 13. For you formed my inward parts. And you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 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 they were there was none of them. I mean, God knows your life before you even lived it, and he’s been intricately involved in the shaping of you. And this Psalm is practically helping us that through the understanding of who God is, that we start to understand who we are, and it helps us understand then how we live in this world, and God caring so intimately for our existence that he would be this involved, and God shaping us in the Psalm. And so this Psalm is starting to teach us the value of every human from from conception to death. It doesn’t matter your your age, your, your race, your education, your economic background. This Psalm starts to help shape for us how we live in light of who God is. I mean, he even speaks to things like today, like abortion.
You know, when the Psalm was written, abortion was not a thought they had. David had no concept of that America was going to exist. And this would become a a political battle for us. But but this is telling us that the importance of of who you are being shaped by God from the point of conception, this is teaching us as human beings how how we should navigate in this world in light of who God is. I mean, this Psalm even even demonstrates for us how it starts to communicate for us. I should say how we can respond to the idea of if God is good in a broken world. And some people look at the brokenness of this world and think, how can God be good? Because this world is sinful. But you look at this Psalm and it starts to reveal the heart of God towards us and his care for us. And so as you, as we navigate the complexities of life and the brokenness of life, one conclusion that we cannot get to as God’s people is that God doesn’t love us. God doesn’t care about us. Because what you see in this Psalm is, is the very idea of God leveraging the power of who he is and the beauty of who we are. God certainly cares. He shows us in our creation, and he shows us in our recreation that God became flesh and gave his life for us.
There’s nothing more valuable and sacred than the life of God. So when we try to figure out how there’s a good God and a broken world, one conclusion we cannot make is that God is a bad God. God is an evil God, or God doesn’t care about us because you see his concern. Now, certainly there’s complexity to that, that I don’t have time to get into all that today. But you see the psalmist shaping for us the idea of God, for an understanding of who we are and therefore how how we live in this world. And it’s all seen in whose hands you’re in. You know, the value of everything in this world is really determined by whose hands you’re in for. For example, this morning, if I had a basketball and I was holding it in my hand, I can tell you the value of that basketball is never more than what Walmart will sell it for, right? I will not impress you with my basketball skills. I have some and they’re they’re getting older. Okay. So not great at basketball. I’m okay at basketball. In fact, if I had a ball, I’d probably drop a little bit in value just because I have it. But you put that ball in this guy’s hands, it’s worth millions, right? It’s all a matter of whose hands it’s in. Same thing. Same thing for something like a sweater like this, you put a sweater like this in my hands.
The only thing that’s going to get me is my wife will be turned off by it, and it will go to goodwill, right? That’s that’s it. But you put it in this guy’s hands, and it is magic, isn’t it? Like everyone becomes a neighbor or or a paintbrush. You put a paintbrush in my hands. No one’s going to be impressed. You put a paintbrush in this hand as he says, there is no mistakes with a paintbrush. Just happy accidents. And you put those happy accidents next to happy trees and happy clouds. That’s that’s how Bob Ross does it, right? It becomes magic in his hands. But but but the bigger question when you look at Psalm 139 is, is honestly, whose hands are you in? Whose hands is your life really in? The value of who you are is determined by what you’re entrusting yourself to now, practically speaking, now, theologically, it’s always determined by God. I mean, God made you for a purpose, but you’re not going to understand that purpose or walk in that purpose until your life is surrendered to him. And this is where the the psalmist goes in the in verse 17, which let me give you the last point in your notes and read these final verses. It is healing to be resolved in the harmonies of God. It is healing to be resolved in the harmonies of God. And this is where the psalmist finally rests. He says, how precious to me are your thoughts, God? How vast is the sum of them? If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you. Rather than fight against God, the psalmist has learned that the best place for his soul is to entrust himself to the Lord. And so you see in this Psalm, he he rests in him. And here’s why it’s important is because we have given God in our lives every excuse to give up on us. I mean, I don’t even know some of us here this morning, but I can tell you without knowing your past. That is true. All of us give God an excuse, a reason to give up on us. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t. Again and again his mercies are new every morning, which gives us the beautiful privilege to even know him and to walk with him. And this is where the the psalmist is resolved to to trust in this God. He may not know all the details of how this works. I mean, you see this struggle in verse 5 to 7. We’re going to see another struggle here in the next verse. But he certainly he’s saying there’s a struggle, right? And when you come to Christ, you don’t have it all figured out. But what you need to know is who is Jesus and whether or not he’s true. And then from there, you get to walk with God to to discover and figure it out.
And you see the psalmist now, now that he’s resolved, he has this zeal for who God is. And I love it when when Christians get excited and they give their heart to the Lord, they get excited, passionate about God and sometimes I’ve learned over the years that that sometimes Christians will have this misappropriated zeal, meaning they’re really excited about God. They want other people to be excited about God, but they gotta learn how to communicate that excitement in a way that connects to people and not makes it off putting or pushes them away. And so there’s a growing process in that. And I think in these next few Psalms, this is where David is. He’s now passionate about the Lord, and he’s learning. How does he demonstrate that passion in the way that he lives his life? And in verse 19 to verse 22, this is what’s referred to as an imprecatory psalm. And when it comes to Imprecatory Psalms, they’re very unique. The only place you really find imprecatory passages are really in the Psalms. If you look up the word, show me imprecatory passages of the Bible. You’re only going to find them in the Psalms, and sometimes people have a hard time with them because of how how forceful they are. And one of the reasons I think it’s important to remember why they’re so forceful is because as a human being, sharing where his heart is. But it’s not always saying that that heart is a healthy heart, right? It’s not saying.
And you need to emulate this, but rather it’s just acknowledging David’s finding his life in the Lord and not trying to learn how to apply it. Now, there’s something to say about David and being, you know, the lineage of Jesus. And when people attack him defending himself because he is the lion of Christ. From where? From where Christ will come. So there’s there’s something about understanding that when you read an imprecatory Psalm. But I will tell you in this particular verse, I think David overstates his zeal for the Lord and in fact becomes a contradiction to his own self. Because when you read verse 19, it says, oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God, O men of blood, depart from me. Look, I think for brothers and sisters in Christ being martyred around the world, the justice of God is a very comforting thing to them. So I don’t think this verse is necessarily wrong to carry as believers, right? Because I think it can be comforting to know that if someone ever comes against you, God will reconcile. Wrong. But but let God have vengeance. Not not me. He goes on and says, they speak against you with malicious intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? And this is where I think in this passage David’s zeal has gone too far.
Meaning David is looking at his situation and he’s he’s he has a hate for the brokenness of this world. And I don’t think that’s wrong. It’s okay to hate sin. But where I think David becomes a contradiction is that he turns and hates those that are opposed to God. But when you look at this, at this Psalm that was David in verse 5 to 7, I want to run away from you, God. Right. And what David gets is grace. And what transforms his life is, is grace. And so while I see the the ambition of David to want to honor God, I think in this particular passage he overstates his ambition. There needs to come a place in our lives we recognize. Yes, there are things that are wrong, and I need to be confident in the truth that I hold. But at the same time, the book of Ephesians tells me in chapter six, verse 12, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and In spirits that there’s a deeper issue. At root, it’s not me attacking another human being, but there’s there’s a foundation they’re holding to that is contrary to the Lord, and it’s the truth that sets them free. I mean, Romans 1214 it says, bless those who persecute you, bless and and do not curse or or Matthew. Chapter five verse 44 carries the same idea pray for your enemies.
Yes, I think that’s more the heart of God. That’s why Jesus pursued us. We were all enemies of God, and he gave his life. And and so this is why I think in verse 23, this is where David ends, because he knows he’s got this zeal for the Lord now, but he needs to learn God. What does that look like in living it out? Understanding who God is and who you are in light of who who he is, helps us learn to walk with God in a healthy way in this world. Oh, absolutely. Be be zealous. Be passionate about what should matter in this world. Mostly more than anything. Your walk with God and and in that be willing to continue to surrender yourself to God over and over again, that he would shape the beauty of who he is in you. And this is what David does. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. In Psalm 139, you discover who you are because of who he is, and therefore you have purpose in living because of who you are in light of who he is. Whether it’s in days that are on mountaintops or days in the valley, whether you’re going through moments of success or moments of struggle, you understanding who God is helps you understand who you are as you walk through any moment of your life.
Which leads me to this last point. And this is where I’ll end. You know, on September 11th, um, terrorists decided to target three particular points in America First, they wanted to target our economic stability by going after the trade centers. Then they wanted to target our national security by going after the Pentagon. And finally, they wanted to target our political power by going after either the white House or the Capitol. No one’s for sure which which target? The last target was because the flight never made it there. And the reason flight 93 never made it to either the Capitol or the white House was because of brave people like Todd Beamer. On that particular flight, they were able to find out what was happening in the United States, and a group of of individuals on the plane decided to take over that plane. And shortly afterwards, the plane crashed in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. Todd Beamer, we know in those final moments, he he tried to call from the plane back to his home to tell his wife and his boys that he loved them But rather than be able to to to talk to them, his his call was rerouted to customer service for the airline. And he told the the customer service representative to communicate to his wife and children that he loved them. And he asked that representative to pray with him the Lord’s Prayer. And after he prayed the Lord’s Prayer, the woman that answered the phone said he heard.
She heard Todd in the background say, are you ready? Let’s roll. Shortly after that, the plane crashed in Pennsylvania. One of the things that I think made Todd Todd Beamer so brave that day was that Todd was a devout Christian. In fact, he went to a Christian university, and shortly after he passed, this is what his wife said. She said, what made Todd different from many others? Excuse me. What made Todd different from many other men who are merely religious was not the fact that he was willing to die for his faith The terrorists. Did that know Todd was willing to live for his faith? Todd built his life on a firm foundation so that when the storm came on September 11th, he didn’t have to check the blueprints to see if everything he had built his life on was going to stand. He already knew. I know when we think about doctrine, we tend to run away from it as people, or at least some of us can. And there’s sometimes reasons for that, like being abused in some sort of doctrinal system. But guys, can I tell you there is nothing more precious to the identity of who you are than understanding the purity of who God is. Because when we know who he is, we know who we are, and it guides us in this world.