by Sharla Guenther
This week you won’t be hearing a story about someone from the Bible. Instead we’re going to tell a story about you and God.
In the Bible there is a book called Psalms. David wrote some of the chapters in this book when he was feeling happy, sad and scared. In the story of David and Goliath you might remember that David was a shepherd and when he was out in the fields he would play music and write some of these songs and poems to God.
This psalm was added to the Bible (like all the other books of the Bible) because what he wrote was given to him from God. God gave David a talent for writing songs and He gave David the words and thoughts to write it down.
This psalm tells us a lot about God and how powerful He is. It also shows us just how much God is involved and cares for us.
David starts the psalm by praising God for always being there for him. He knows that God knows him inside and out and even what he’s feeling, thinking and what he’s going to do before he does it!
David knows that God is all around him cheering for him and giving him a hand along the way.
Knowing how much God cares about him and everyone else this way, David feels like smiling and crying at the same time because he can’t believe how great God is.
Have you ever seen your mom or dad crying at a kindergarten graduation or after you did something really great? This was how David was feeling and I can imagine him thinking these things and crying big happy tears!
Next David thinks about where he could go to get away from God. He’s not trying to get away but he’s trying to think if there’s any place that God wouldn’t be able to find him.
Do you think there is a place you could go where God wouldn’t be able to find you?
The way David describes it, I think of superheroes. Imagine you could fly as high as the moon or even higher; God would be there. Imagine if you could drill a deep, deep hole right to the middle of the earth, God would be there too!
What if you hid in your darkest closet. Would God find you? Yes! We might think it’s dark and no one can see us but God is light, He doesn’t see the darkness at all!
There is no place on earth or beyond that you could hide that God wouldn’t find you. He is always keeping track of you! Hide and seek won’t work with God, He knows where you’re going to hide before you get there!
The next part David discusses is about before we were born! Do you think God knew you BEFORE you were born? The answer is yes!
God put you together when you were as tiny as a marble and even smaller! He had big plans for how you would look, what you would be like; He was part of it all.
He knew all about you when you were still inside your mother’s tummy. Every tiny freckle, the color of your hair, even that one funny birthmark that you have that no one else has, is all the work of God.
Even now God knows how your growing and changing, what you like and don’t like. He has big plans for your life and He’s hoping you’ll keep looking to Him so you can be the very best you can be.
And another thing, God doesn’t make junk! He made you beautiful and precious and in His perfect way. So don’t let anyone make you think that you’re not good enough or smart enough or pretty enough. You were planned and made by the God of the universe who made you special and different from everyone else!
God is amazing! David started to think about all of God’s thoughts. How many thoughts He must have. If you took all the sand from all the world and counted each small grain of it; God would still have more thoughts than all of that!
As David gets closer to the end he starts talking about the wicked people in the world. I think it bothers him more and more because he understands how much God loves us, how wonderful and amazing He is, but there are still such wicked people that hate God.
David wants all the wicked people that make fun of God and the people that don’t use God’s name in a nice way to be taken off the earth. He doesn’t want to be near them.
The last two verses David asks God to do some things for him. He asks God to search his thoughts and his desires. He wants God to see his loyalty and love for Him.
David wants to stay strong and be challenged by God. When we face difficult times these challenges can make us grow stronger and count on God more. David welcomed these times so he could have a better relationship with God.
The last thing he asks God is that if there’s any bad thought or sin in him that God would lead him away from doing that and help him find his way to God in heaven.
Throughout this chapter David talks about God’s knowledge about every part of us from beginning to end. Realizing this, he accepts and asks God to search him and to keep him true and on the path to knowing and seeking God.
So whenever you’re feeling bad about yourself or alone remember Psalm 139 and how you can never get away from God, He is always with us, cheering for us along the way.
Shalom Talk 