Know~Love~Lead Me…

I’m not sure how you can hear something so many times and still not apply it to yourself. But I know you can.

To apply yourself to words like these is to trust the voice of God above roars of the accuser, the world’s constant whispers, and life experiences that tell you otherwise.

I do! I do now, and here’s my challenge to you…

Find yourself here, in these words. See yourself this way:   

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. (Psalm 139, NIV)

I love the picture this scripture draws. Can you imagine God’s hands, weaving you together like delicate embroidery? He made you to the depths of you, inside and out. His eyes saw you; He formed you.

What do you do with that? There’s really only one thing to do when we truly get it…praise God. Praise God because His works—because you—are wonderful.

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, O 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.

God has written your days, and He wrote you into this moment in history. But there’s more. He thinks of you more than you understand.

Once again, He draws a picture. Imagine you’re at the seashore, standing on warm, white sand. You bend down, scoop up a handful, and let it slip through your fingers. Each of those tiny grains of sand represents one of God’s thoughts of you. But look around, as far as you can see. God’s thoughts of you—outnumber the grains of sand.

Oh, and by the way, when you wake up each day, He is still thinking of you.

The psalm shifts then, and David turns to the trouble he faces, wicked men who pursue him. He expresses both impatience with his situation and loyalty to God. He wants God to just wipe out the wicked, but his heart softens when he ends with this prayer:

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.

David goes to God, asking to be searched (for hidden sin) and tested. Because God knows Him better than he knows himself. He says, Prove that I trust You. And lead me Your way.

Friends, we are known—loved—understood—planned—exposed—and thought about. What do we do with this?

Praise God.

Repent.

Be led (by Him).