The Story of Your Life

Have you ever been forgotten by someone you remember so well?

A little over a year ago we were in a hiring process and we received a good resume from someone who had served in two different churches whose pastors I knew. What a coincidence, right? I had participated in a coaching group with both of these pastors about ten years before. In the coaching group, we met with about twenty pastors once a month for a couple of days each time. We were probably the only pastors from our denomination in the group. We had conversations during breaks and, I’m sure, a meal or two together. With one of the pastors we talked about his church situation, some of his leadership challenges, some of his ministry wins. With the other we had conversations about family, his hobbies, his favorite vacation spot. I felt a personal connection.

I was really happy to be able to reconnect with these two pastors and get their thoughts on our job applicant. So I contacted them and guess what? Neither one of these guys remembered me at all! One of them even said, “I looked you up on Facebook to see if it would jog my memory.” I was so disappointed! We handled the business I needed to handle, but it felt bad not to be known at all. 

Not so with God. 

People might forget you, but God doesnʻt. He knows me! He knows you. The good thing about that is that God knows you, and he still likes you! A guest speaker we used to have would often say, “God not only loves you, he likes you.” He really does!

We can look at the big ideas presented in Psalm 139 to understand how personal God’s relationship with us is.

Big Idea 1: You know me and it’s wonderful.

You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Psalm 138:1-6

David, the author of this psalm, recognizes Godʻs omniscience, but he also personalizes it. We get to know God, but even more important is that God knows us! “I never knew you” was Jesus’ statement to those rejected (Matthew 7:23). In Galatians 4:9, Paul clarifies that the main point of your relationship with God is not that you know him, but rather, he knows you. Being known by God is a key to a relationship with him.

Being known by God is wonderful. This is not just saying that he knows all the hardships you’re going through. He does, of course, and that’s a good thing, but this is pointing to the more powerful truth: God knows you relationally. For David, this truth is “too wonderful,” “too lofty.” Itʻs beyond human comprehension that we are personally and relationally known by God. God knows David and wants to be with him.

Big Idea 2: Your wonderful presence is always with me!

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Psalm 138:7-12

David recognizes that God is omnipresent, but he also personalizes it. God is not just everywhere in some cosmic sense; he is with us personally. You may have run from God, but you can’t go anywhere that God’s presence doesn’t reach you there. Many of us, like myself, have a testimony of knowing God and then wandering from him in our youth. God had a way of getting us back. Verse 10 points out that even in our wide wandering, from as far east or as far west as we could possibly go, “even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” We tried to flee, but God brought us back!

But hereʻs a good question: Why would you want to flee? The psalmist is not trying to flee from God’s presence. He’s counting on God’s presence, wherever life may take him. There’s nowhere that you can go that God’s presence won’t reach. You can count on Godʻs presence. A little warning is in order, however: donʻt rely on your feelings. We don’t always feel the presence of God. The darkness feels like it hides us from God sometimes, but it can’t! We can often feel that God can’t or doesn’t see what we’re going through–but he does. David says, “The night will shine like the day”! I’m anticipating that God will make your night shine like the day. So God knows us and God is always with us.

Big Idea #3: God has power to shape your life in wonderful ways.

The third stanza lets us know that God has a wonderful plan for us, and he has the power to bring it about. David recognizes Godʻs omnipotence, and he also personalizes it.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts,  God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Psalm 139:13-18

God has a place for you in his story. You are not an afterthought. He doesn’t have to look you up on Facebook to jog his memory. He could no more forget you than you could forget your own child. He made you–and you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

God’s works are wonderful, and you are one of his works. The Bible shows that God’s wonderful work in us has been corrupted by sin, but the great thing about being a follower of Jesus is that God is working in you by the Holy Spirit to restore the wondrous creation that is you. Paul says this:

 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Psalm 139 really invites you to make this personal. We often make the mistake of individualizing biblical concepts that should be corporate. We too easily see ourselves as disconnected individuals, rather than as members of one family whose identity is tied together. We take promises to the family of God and make them individual promises. We take plural and make it singular. We are often told to personalize Scripture by inserting our names into the text. Usually, that’s a bit misleading. But here, it is definitely individualized! “I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” David says. You can put your name in there, too. David says in Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Do you know it full well? In previous verses in this psalm, David indicates that some of the things he writes about are too wondrous and lofty to grasp, but here David says, “I know that full well.” We should be like little children in this! When Lisa and I got married almost 34 years ago, my nephew was our ring bearer. He was dressed up in a little suit–something Iʻd never seen on him before. So I told him, “Derek, you look good!” His response was not a polite “thank you.” It wasnʻt a denial. His response was not even a deflection, such as, “Itʻs a nice suit.” When I said, “Derek, you look good,” his response was an enthusiastic, “I know it!” Yes, God gets the praise that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. God wants you to recognize that you are HIS handiwork. That will help keep you appropriately humble. But he also wants you to be able to say, “I know it!”

Big Idea 4: God is holy.

David wraps up in a way that seems out of alignment with the rest of the psalm, but it fits what the psalm tells us about Godʻs nature. We have seen Godʻs omniscience, his omnipresence, and his omnipotence–his power to make wonderful things with your life. One more attribute: God is holy. Godʻs holiness is his most distinctive attribute. On that basis, David says this:

If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
Psalm 139:19-22

We aren’t to hate people, but we are very mistaken if we make light of sin, if we don’t hate sin. We aren’t to hate people, but evil doesn’t just exist out there somewhere; it is lived out by people. Though we are to love people who are bound by sin, and we know the Good News of Jesus offers the hope of salvation, we also must be aware that sin and evil will be judged. Sin and evil are what sent Jesus to the cross. We should hate sin, even if we donʻt hate sinners.Being fearfully and wonderfully made is not a license for rebellion against God. Being known by God is not a license for going against the will of God. Knowing that you can’t flee from God’s presence, that he will be anywhere you could go, is not license to go anywhere you want, without regard for God’s will. Knowing that your life is written in God’s book doesn’t mean we get to introduce any story line that is contrary to God’s plan. David personalized Godʻs omniscience by saying, “God knows me!” David personalized Godʻs omnipresence by saying, “God is always with me!” He personalized Godʻs power by saying, “God is in charge of my life!” Now, David personalized Godʻs holiness.

God’s Holiness is Personal

We have to be careful about asking for God’s judgment against evil if we have evil in our own lives. The psalmist is confident that he’s not among the evil, but he knows he’s not perfect, either. 

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24 

I understand that a lot of young Christians are exasperated with the church in America today. They rightly point out that we have a list of sins that we emphasize as most important, but we too easily neglect other sins. We evangelicals have emphasized personal piety and too often minimized corporate responsibility. But I urge you that we not replace one set of sins with another, more politically acceptable set of sins. Letʻs hate sin, period. Letʻs not excuse either individual sin or corporate sin. And let each one of us start with our own heart.

I canʻt just hate sin in others. I have to hate sin in my own life! So much of what we do, so many of our problems, come from head trash–wrong ways of thinking. Much of our wrong thinking is wrong thinking about ourselves, wrong thinking instilled in us by bad experiences, by hurts from the past, by self-inflicted wounds, and any number of lies from the devil that we have believed about God or ourselves. Much of our wrong doing comes from our wrong thinking, our head trash. I think much of that head trash is like that funky smell coming from our pantry or refrigerator: something stinks, but we canʻt quite find it. Well, God knows what it is, and God can fix it! David is open to letting God fix him. I know itʻs hard to admit that we have things that need to be fixed, but weʻre better off when we invite God to repair whatʻs broken in us.

So, “search me, God,” is a good prayer! I have to let God deal with the offensive ways in me. God isnʻt interested just in exposing your sin, though. God wants to lead your life in a way that matches his greatness! Davidʻs final line in this psalm is “lead me in the way everlasting.” Thatʻs a big story! Thatʻs the story of your life. God knows you. God is with you. God is for you. God will lead you into the life you were wonderfully created to live.

Pastor Ed’s Notes:

Our individual stories fit into God’s story. Listen or read more from The Big Story series here.