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Hear the devotional here: https://anchor.fm/eradio-valverde/episodes/Three-Os-e1n80nb
1 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. 2 I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking. 3 You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight. 4 You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. 5 I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too - your reassuring presence, coming and going. 6 This is too much, too wonderful - I can't take it all in! 13 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. 14 I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation! 15 You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. 16 Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day. 17 Your thoughts - how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them! 18 I couldn't even begin to count them - any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you! (Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 The Message Bible)
Okay, some of you will think I'm showing off my very expensive seminary education by naming the three O's as being omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. These are awesome attributes of God. To be fair, these thoughts come from a book by Charles Swindoll, famous radio preacher, in a book he wrote, "Living Beyond The Daily Grind." He says that the question of how well does God know me are answered in the first six verses. The question of How close is God to me in verses 7-12, and How carefully did God make me in verses 13-18; and how much does God protect and care for me in verse not in this passage, verses 19-24. If we start with these in order, verses 1 through 6 indeed answer the question of how well does God know us by what the psalmist wrote. How close is God to us do come from the verses 7-12 read, "7 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? 8 If I climb to the sky, you're there! If I go underground, you're there! 9 If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon, 10 You'd find me in a minute - you're already there waiting! 11 Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I'm immersed in the light!" 12 It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you."
In terms of our creation, the psalmist says, in verses 13-18: 13 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. 14 I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation! 15 You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. 16 Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day. 17 Your thoughts - how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them! 18 I couldn't even begin to count them - any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you! And how does God protect us and care for us? Here it is, verses 19-24: 19 And please, God, do away with wickedness for good! And you murderers - out of here! - 20 all the men and women who belittle you, God, infatuated with cheap god-imitations. 21 See how I hate those who hate you, God, see how I loathe all this godless arrogance; 22 I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred. Your enemies are my enemies! 23 Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I'm about; 24 See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong - then guide me on the road to eternal life.
You may have had, like me, a question of who we truly were, during our adolescent period. It's around that age that we seek to know who we truly are. We are created by God, and God knows us by name, and God cares for us in unique ways. These verses attest to that. Then we sometimes find that we are lonely, and these verses say to us, God is with us and we should not feel alone. We've seen enough movies to know that prisoners fear solitary confinement; some have come close to losing their minds because of the intense loneliness of such a placement. No view of the sunlight, no trips to fresh air places; no other human voice available for long periods of time, all work together to make such a punishment harsh, even cruel and unusual. These verses also help us deal with self-image, another issue during our teen years that can, in some, carry over until older ages. The psalmist believes we should know that God made us, so God loves us just as we are, for God cares about our souls. God's thoughts are, "rare," and "beautiful." And as the psalm closes, we hear that God knows about our fears and worries and so we should entrust all things to Him.
PRAYER: Loving God, thank You for Your love and care for us. Our prayer is for all whom are struggling and searching for answers in their lives. Bless the lonely, the confused, the ones longing for meaning, and all who need to hear and receive, "God loves you and cares for you, just as you are." In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! YOUR CALL TO ACTION: Spread a message of love to those who feel unloved; Christ will show you whom they are.
Receive my blessings of joy and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
