Fall 2018, 40 Days of Prayer, Day 30
“ 1O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. 5You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. 7Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. 11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” 12Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.” Psalm 139:1-12
The Presence, Knowledge and Power of God
Spurgeon describes this Psalm as “One of the most notable of the sacred hymns. It sings the omniscience and omnipresence of God, inferring from these the overthrow of the powers of wickedness, since he who sees and hears the abominable deeds and words of the rebellious will surely deal with them according to his justice. The brightness of this psalm is like unto a sapphire stone…it flames out with such flashes of light as to turn night into day…this holy song casts a clear light even to the uttermost parts of the sea, and warns us against that practical atheism which ignores the presence of God, and so makes shipwreck of the soul.” By “practical atheism” Spurgeon means when we profess that God exists and the He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present, and yet live like it doesn’t matter to us.
Knowing and contemplating these incredible truths about God overwhelmed David. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.” It is overwhelming. Just think about this for a moment. Even before you read this sentence God knew in eternity past that at this very moment you would be doing this. Think about His presence. Even as you read this, God-almighty is everywhere around you. He is not contained in any one place, but every place is subsumed in His presence. Think about His power. We are overcome by a cold, a flat tire, bad weather, or a bad hair day. God has absolute power over every electron that spins around every single atom at every single point in the universe. He tells them where to go and when to go there. He could, at His very whim, crush every galaxy and grind them into dust. His knowledge, presence, and power are more glorious than the psalmist can tolerate to even comprehend. It seems this would be terrifying. I suspect there is an element of fear in the words of the writer. However, hope stirs far more prominently in these words. “Even the darkness is not dark to You” and “Your hand will lead me” express ideas of trust and hope. The psalmist clings to the greatness of God. Hope, joy, peace, security, and compassion are found in God because He has the knowledge, presence, and power behind His incredible love for us.
Prayer Focus
Help me dear Lord to not fear anything. I know You are with me. I know Your knowledge of my life and situation is complete. I know You have the power to bring about Your glory demonstrated in my life, Amen.
Sermon by John Wesley “Awake, You that Sleeps”
"Awake, you that sleeps, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light." Eph. 5:14.
By one who sleeps we are, therefore, to understand (and would to God we might all understand it!) a sinner satisfied in his sins, contented to remain in his fallen state. To live and die without the image of God. One who is ignorant both of his disease (sin), and of the only remedy for it. One who never was warned, or never regarded the warning voice of God, "to flee from the wrath to come." One that never yet saw he was in danger of hell-fire, or cried out in the earnestness of his soul, "What must I do to be saved?" If this sleeper is not outwardly vicious, his sleep is usually the deepest of all. Whether he neither cold toward God nor hot toward God but a quiet, rational, inoffensive, good-natured professor of the religion of his fathers or he be zealous and orthodox, and, "after the straightest sect of our religion," live "a Pharisee," that is, according to the scriptural account, one that justifies himself. One that labors to establish his own righteousness, as the ground of his acceptance with God. This is he, who, "having a form of godliness, denies the power thereof." And probably reviles it, wherever it is found, as mere extravagance and delusion. Meanwhile, the wretched self-deceiver thanks God, that he is "not as other men are; adulterers, unjust, extortioners." No, he does no wrong to any man. He "fasts twice in a week," uses all the means of grace, is constant at church and sacrament, and "gives tithes of all that he has." Does all the good that he can, "touching the righteousness of the law." He is "blameless," wants nothing of godliness, but the power. Nothing of religion, but the spirit; nothing of Christianity, but the truth and the life. But do you not know that, however highly esteemed among men such a Christian as this may be, he is an abomination in the sight of God, and an heir of every woe which the Son of God, yesterday, to-day, and forever, denounces against "scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites"? He has "made clean the outside of the cup and the platter," but within is full of all filthiness. "An evil disease cleaves (sticks fast) still to him, so that his inward parts are very wickedness." Our Lord fitly compares him to a "painted sepulcher," which "appears beautiful without," but, nevertheless, is "full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." The bones indeed are no longer dry, the sinews and flesh are come upon them, and the skin covers them above. But there is no breath in them, no Spirit of the living God. And, "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." "You are Christ's, if the Spirit of God dwells in you." But if not, God knows that you abide in death, even until now.