0:00 There are over eight billion people on this planet.0:03 Yesterday, we talked about God's steadfast love, how it feels new every single morning.0:09 But it's easy to wonder if that love can really be personal… if God can truly see one person in such a crowd.0:17 The Bible has a beautiful and profound answer to that question.0:22 It’s found in Psalm 139.0:23 Let's listen to it together.0:25 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.0:29 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.0:34 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.0:39 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.0:44 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.0:48 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.0:53 Where can I go from your Spirit?0:55 Where can I flee from your presence?0:58 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.1:04 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.1:14 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.1:28 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.1:34 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.1:41 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.1:50 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.1:58 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!2:01 How vast is the sum of them!2:03 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.2:10 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!2:13 Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!2:16 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.2:21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you?2:27 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.2:31 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.2:36 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.2:41 That is such a dense and beautiful piece of writing.2:45 It can feel like a lot to take in at once.2:48 So let's just sit with two simple truths from it this morning.2:53 First, you are completely known.2:55 The psalm begins, "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me." It talks about God knowing your thoughts before you even speak them.3:04 Knowing where you're going and when you're resting.3:08 Here’s what that means if you're heading into your day.3:12 It means you don't have to pretend.3:14 You don't have to put on a show for God.3:17 He already knows your anxieties, your hopes, the things you're proud of, and the things you wish you could hide.3:25 There is a profound peace in being fully seen and fully accepted.3:30 You can just BE.3:31 There’s no performance necessary.3:34 That knowledge isn't for judgment; it's the foundation of relationship.3:39 Second, you are constantly accompanied.3:41 The psalmist asks, "Where can I go from your Spirit?" And the answer is… nowhere.3:47 Not in the highest moments of success, not in the lowest depths of sorrow.3:52 Not even, he says, in the darkness.3:55 Here's what that means for you today.3:58 It means you are never, ever alone.4:00 When you walk into a difficult meeting, He is there.4:04 When you're sitting in traffic feeling frustrated, He is there.4:08 When you feel isolated and like no one understands, He is right there with you.4:14 This isn't a promise of an easy day.4:17 It's a promise of constant companionship THROUGH the day.4:21 His hand will hold you fast.4:23 That is a promise you can hold onto.4:25 The whole psalm builds to this final, vulnerable request: "Search me, God, and know my heart." After twenty-two verses describing how completely God already knows him, the writer turns and invites God to do it.4:40 He isn't afraid of being known.4:42 He's leaning into it.4:44 Being known this deeply isn’t something to fear.4:47 It’s the very ground you can stand on today.
