Psalms 139:17

[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon upon verses 17 and 18 is #2609, Volume 45—OUR THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD'S THOUGHTS.] IT is very comforting to us to believe in a personal God and to be able to confide in One who condescends to think lovingly of us, considers our needs and supplies them. It would not be very comforting to us to believe in a mere abstract Deity, or in what some people call, "the laws of Nature" acting by themselves apart from God, or in a fixed fate that would crush us like some colossal car of Juggernaut.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! He is not alarmed at the fact that God knows all about him; on the contrary, he is comforted, and even feels himself to be enriched, as with a casket of precious jewels. That God should think upon him is the believer's treasure and pleasure. He cries, "How costly, how valued are thy thoughts, how dear to me is thy perpetual attention!" He thinks upon God's thoughts with delight; the more of them the better is he pleased. It is a joy worth worlds that the Lord should think upon us who are so poor and needy: it is a joy which fills our whole nature to think upon God; returning love for love, thought for thought, after our poor fashion. How great is the sum of them! When we remember that God thought upon us from old eternity, continues to think upon us every moment, and will think of us when time shall be no more, we may well exclaim, "How great is the sum!" Thoughts such as are natural to the Creator, the Preserver, the Redeemer, the Father, the Friend, are evermore flowing from the heart of the Lord. Thoughts of our pardon, renewal, upholding, supplying, educating, perfecting, and a thousand more kinds perpetually well up in the mind of the Most High. It should fill us with adoring wonder and reverent surprise that the infinite mind of God should turn so many thoughts towards us who are so insignificant and so unworthy! What a contrast is all this to the notion of those who deny the existence of a personal, conscious God! Imagine a world without a thinking, personal God! Conceive of a grim providence of machinery!—a fatherhood of law! Such philosophy is hard and cold. As well might a man pillow his head upon a razor edge as seek rest in such a fancy. But a God always thinking of us makes a happy world, a rich life, a heavenly hereafter.

This Psalm dilates upon the Omniscience of God. In the most forcible manner, it shows that God's eyes have always rested upon us and are resting upon us now. We are here made to see that God knew all about us before we were born, that He now reads our most secret thoughts and that our unspoken words are all known to Him. And I want you to notice that the Psalm is not at all in that mournful strain in which we sometimes speak of the Omniscience of God. It is a very solemn thing that God should be everywhere. "You God see me," is a note of the most serious kind when sounded in the sinner's ear, but, to those who are the people of God, there is nothing dreadful in the thought that God sees us. There is nothing to cause us to despond or to make us feel gloomy in the fact that God compasses our path and our lying down. In fact, in proportion as we are fully reconciled to God, love Him and rejoice in Him, it will become a cause ofjoy to reflect that our best Friend is never away from us—that our Protector's hand is never removed, that the great observant eyes of Divine Love are never closed! Oh, dear Friends, could we ever go to any place where God is not to be found, that would be the Hell of hells to His people! And if there could be a period in which the Lord did not look upon us, we might say, "Let that day be blotted out from the calendar." It is a joy, a bliss, a foretaste of Heaven to know that— "Wherever we seek Him, He is found" and even when we are not seeking Him, yet still He is above, beneath and all around us! He is never far from any of us.

[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon upon verses 17 and 18 is #2609, Volume 45—OUR THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD'S THOUGHTS.] IT is very comforting to us to believe in a personal God and to be able to confide in One who condescends to think lovingly of us, considers our needs and supplies them. It would not be very comforting to us to believe in a mere abstract Deity, or in what some people call, "the laws of Nature" acting by themselves apart from God, or in a fixed fate that would crush us like some colossal car of Juggernaut. Yet some people seem to be always struggling to get away from the thought of one true personal God—Creator, Preserver, Redeemer and All-in-All to His people. Those who deny the Inspired record of the Creation would have us believe that we are descended from monkeys, or from something with even less intelligence than an ape possesses! But I could gather no comfort from such a belief as that if it were true. It fills me rather with pity or contempt for those who can be so foolish as to cherish such a delusion. But when I come back to the Revelation of the Bible concerning a personal God—a Revelation which has been confirmed by my own spiritual experience—and when I realize that this personal God takes a special interest in me and thinks of me with tender, loving, gracious consideration, then I lift up my hands in adoring wonder and say, as David did, "How precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!" Yes, there is great comfort in being able truthfully to say, "Our Father, who are in Heaven"—and those who are really the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty find it to be their chief delight that He thinks about them and plans all that is for their present and eternal good! I. Coming to our text, I ask you to consider, first, HOW PRECIOUS ARE GOD'S THOUGHTS OF US AND HOW PRECIOUS IT IS TO US TO THINK ABOUT THESE THOUGHTS.

This Psalm dilates upon the Omniscience of God. In the most forcible manner, it shows that God's eyes have always rested upon us and are resting upon us now. We are here made to see that God knew all about us before we were born, that He now reads our most secret thoughts and that our unspoken words are all known to Him. And I want you to notice that the Psalm is not at all in that mournful strain in which we sometimes speak of the Omniscience of God.

How precious also are thy thoughts - רעיך reeycha, thy cogitations; a Chaldaism, as before. How great is the sum of them! - מה עצמו ראשיהם mah atsemu rasheyhem; How strongly rational are the heads or principal subjects of them! But the word may apply to the bones, עצמות atsamoth, the structure and uses of which are most curious and important.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! - On the word “thoughts,” see the notes at Psa 139:2. Compare Psa 139:23. The remark is made here doubtless in view of the numberless “thoughts” involved in planning and forming a frame so wondrous, and in the care necessary to bring it to perfection; to develop it; to provide for it; to guard and defend it. How many “thoughts” of a parent are employed in behalf of his children, in providing for them; teaching them; counseling them; anticipating their needs. How manymore thoughts are needful on the part of God in reference to each one of us: for there are numberless things necessary for us which cannot occupy the mind of a parent, since he cannot accomplish these things for us; they do not lie within his province, or in his power. How great is the sum of them - literally, “How strong are the heads of them.” That is, The heading of them, or the summing of them up, would be a task beyond the power of man. And who “could” estimate the number of the “thoughts” necessarily bestowed on himself by his Maker in all the care exercised over him; all the arrangements for his development and growth; all that is done to defend him from danger; all that is indispensable in providing for his needs; all that was necessary to secure the salvation of his soul! See the notes at Psa 40:5.