Our Value to God

We have been made by God and that makes us special. We have been created in His image. His desire is that all of us become His sons and daughters and join Him in heaven for eternity. In God’s eyes we all have importance. In God’s eyes we are precious and valuable.

This week in my devotions, God opened Psalm 139 up for me and I want to share with you some thoughts that I received.

God knows all there is about me.

O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
--Psalm 139:1-4, KJV

Now I want to compare this scripture with the Message Bible.

God, investigate my life, get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back ; I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence.
--Psalm 139:1-4, The Message

God is eternal, holy, all-loving, all-wise, omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), omni-present (everywhere at the same time). Yet he knows Darrell Allen Ezell.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. --Genesis 1:27

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. --Ephesians 2:10

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. --Luke 12:7

God you search me and you know me. --Psalm 139: 1

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. --Psalm 139:14

I came across these facts not long ago and I am not sure who complied them but it speaks to that fact that the God who created us knows us.

• In a square inch of skin, you would find: 20 blood vessels; 65 muscles; 78 nerves; 78 sensors for heat, 13 for cold, 160 for pressure;650 sweat glands; 1300 nerve endings; and 19,500,000 cells. The skin serves several purposes including providing a protective shield against bacteria and viruses and the absorbing of bumps and bruising that might otherwise damage your bones and internal organs.… and in that inch of skin, your sweat glands in your body do double duty, helping to eliminate wastes and cool your body.
• Then, there’s your brain. Your brain does all this and uses less power than a 100-watt bulb. Your brain is serviced by about 45 miles of nerves that send impulses through your body as rapidly as 325 miles per hour.
  
• Your nervous system is so sensitive you are able to feel on your fingertips (or face) a pressure that depresses your skin a bare- roughly the weight of a bee’s wing falling on your cheek.
• Then, there are your ears: A piano has 88 keys, but each of your ears has a keyboard with 1500 keys. They are so finely tuned that you can hear the blood running through your vessels.
• Your eyes are capable of seeing a small candle flame from 30 miles away on a clear, dark night. And can distinguish among more than 300,000 different color variations.

Yet I don’t think that’s what the Psalmist was talking about when he said “Lord you know me!” Not only does God know about our physical but more important He knows the soul. His point is not that God knows all the mysteries of history and the riddles of the universe. Rather, David’s point is that God knows me. He knows everything about me. He know the inner me! Because God knows the inner me he knows the needs that my soul cries out for, and He responds to us.

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. --Isaiah 55:2-3

God holds us in His hands.

God not only leads us but He makes a hedge about us and He holds us in the palm of His hand.

Thou hast beset (hedged) me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell (grave), behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. --Psalm 139:5-10

He holds us with His righteousness.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. --Isaiah 41:10

His banner over us is love.

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. --Song of Solomon 2:4

Think about sitting in the hand of God and being hedged in on all sides and being covered with His love. No wonder the Psalmist said in verse six, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”

God shows us His creating power.

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. --Psalm 139:13-16

This does have something to say about the value of life before birth. But especially here David is saying, "Even before my mom gave birth to me, you were present, your Spirit was there. You were knitting me together, it wasn’t just some outgrowth of evolution. But you were right there in the womb. I couldn’t get away from you even before I was born."

Have you ever wondered why God created you? Well, I have. But I want you to know that God never wondered why He created you at all.

Rick Warren says in his book The Purpose Driven Life, “The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were made by God and for God, until you understand, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny.”

From before you are born, even after you die God has plans for you. Now that is powerful!

God probes us with His thoughts.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. --Psalm 139:17-18

I got to thinking about the thoughts God has about me. I wonder what they are? Perhaps He thinks about how much He loves me and wants what is best for me. How he wants me to live for Him and how He can help me to live for Him.

The thoughts that God has concerning me I believe are precious and great, says the Psalmist.

Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. --Psalm 40:5

We are never out of God’s consciousness. He never forgets us!

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. --Jeremiah 29:11-13

The Psalmist, realizing that God’s thoughts were always toward Him, began to ask God to probe His heart.

Search (probe) me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. --Psalm 139:23-24

Look at verses 19-22. Here the Psalmist is asking God to slay the wicked and to tells the Lord how much He hates them. But then we see in verses 23-24, he turns his thoughts towards himself. As if to say, “It not the wicked that I should be thinking about but my own heart.”

If God’s thoughts are toward me and He knows all that there is to know about me then I want to know what He knows about my heart so I can ask God to led me in the way everlasting.

Now, it is one thing to ask God to search us, but what we do with what He shows us is another.
When God probes us and begins to reveal things to us how do we react? If we respond to God’s leadership as we should, then we can sing the song Haldor Lillenas wrote:

What a blessed peace we know
as we travel here below,
while we are walking
in the beautiful light of God.
Brighter, fairer grows the way,
as we journey day by day,
while we are walking
in the beautiful light of God.

I won’t take time to read all of it but it has a wonderful message for those who respond to God’s probing thoughts that He has toward us.

Avis Christiansen wrote a song I think we can understand if we are living within the truths of this Psalm:

It Is Glory Just to Walk with Him

It is glory just to walk with Him
Whose blood has ransomed me;
It is rapture for my soul each day.
It is joy divine to feel Him near
where’er my path may be.
Bless the Lord, it’s glory all the way!

It is glory just to walk with Him,
It is glory just to walk with Him,
He will guide my steps aright
Through the vale and o’er the height,
It is glory just to walk with Him.

It is glory when the shadows fall
to know that He is near.
O what joy to simply trust and pray!
It is glory to abide in Him
when skies above are clear.
Yes, with Him, it’s glory all the way!

’Twill be glory when I walk with Him
on Heaven’s golden shore,
Never from His side again to stray.
’Twill be glory, wondrous glory
with the Savior evermore,
Everlasting glory all the way!