LIFE IS CHANGE
We are wrapping up our study in the Psalms today. I hope you’ve been encouraged as we have studied the Psalms this summer. I think it’s appropriate to close with this Psalm, one of the greatest psalms in the Bible. Life is about change. From the moment you are born, things change. You come into the world as an infant and you are being fed every few hours, within months you are changing. You can recognize people and hear and respond to sounds; soon you are walking and talking. In a few years you are off to school. [I can remember clearly when Liz and I took our girls to kindergarten and all the moms cried in the parking lot that first day of school when their babies went into the school building. Twelve years later those same parents were crying when they graduated from high school and went off to college. It happens in an instant.] Change. From your birth until your death, life is a constant motion of change. And our world is changing. Technology changes so fast, by the time you buy that phone or computer, it’s already out of date. Cities change. Organizations change. People change. For some of you this fall is about some big changes in your life and your family. Sometimes you wish things would not change for a while. Sometimes you would like something to stay constant. Maybe this was on David’s mind when he wrote this psalm because He describes some truths in this psalm that never change. David was the greatest King in Israel’s history and he was called a man “after God’s own heart.” He loved the Lord. He had issues for sure, he made his mistakes, but at his heart he wanted to know and follow God with all his heart. And this psalm is actually a prayer David is praying to God. You can tell a lot about a person when you pray with them. You can tell what’s on their mind and heart, you can tell the depth of their walk with God. As we read these words we are listening in on David’s conversation with God and we find out why David trusted God through all the changes in his life. These truths we are going to see this morning will sustain you through all the changes and challenge you will face in life.

GOD KNOWS ALL ABOUT YOU
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!You know when I sit down and when I rise up;you discern my thoughts from afar.You search out my path and my lying downand are acquainted with all my ways.Even before a word is on my tongue,behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.You hem me in, behind and before,and lay your hand upon me.Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;it is high; I cannot attain it.
Psalm 139:1-6

David is on his knees praying to God and he starts off saying, O Lord, you have searched me and known me! One version says, Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. God knows everything. Theologians call this the omniscience of God. He knows all things. Isaiah 46:10 says God declares “the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done.” What God knows now he has always known and he will always know. God never has to learn anything and God never forgets. He doesn’t change, he doesn’t have to go to school, he doesn’t evolve. God knows everything and He knows everything about you! You might say, “What does God know about me?” David wrote a few things down. He knows what you do (v2), He knows where you go (v3), He even know what you say and what you are thinking (v4). There are some things you may think but you would never say, right? You might mumble it under your breath, but God knows. The Bible says that “man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:7). There isn’t anything about you that God doesn’t know. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10.14).Picture a shepherd that knows each one of his sheep by name. He knows their personalities, tendencies, needs, and he cares for each one down to every detail. Jesus said, “That’s what I’m like. I know you and I care for you!” On another occasion Jesus said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7). If God keeps up with sparrows and the hairs on your head, then surely God knows and cares for you. In fact, in Psalm 56:8 it says that God knows what happens in your life, he has kept your tears in a bottle and recorded your sorrows. God knows. Hey, there isn’t any hurt from your past, any fear for your future, any struggle you are enduring now that God doesn’t know about and doesn’t care about and that will never change.

GOD IS ALWAYS WITH YOU
Where shall I go from your Spirit?Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there!If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!If I take the wings of the morningand dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,even there your hand shall lead me,and your right hand shall hold me.If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,and the light about me be night,”even the darkness is not dark to you;the night is bright as the day,for darkness is as light with you. Psalm 139:7-12

David said, “Where can I run from your presence?” The answer: nowhere. Years ago the British pastor Dean Stanley told the story of a young girl living with her grandfather. She was a sweet girl, just learning to read. But he was a hardened man, bedridden from an illness, and he hated God. Soon the girl began to go to church with some of her friends and there she learned about this God who knows her and cares for her. She learned about Jesus and how he died on the cross for her. But when she told her grandfather, he was furious. In anger, he took a piece of paper and wrote on it the words, “God is nowhere,” and put it on his bed. He said, “You are learning to read, right?” “Yes,” she said. “Then read this!” She looked at the words carefully and slowly began to sound out the letters. Then she said, “I got it! It says God is now here! God is with you, Granddaddy!” That was what David remembered on his knees. There is nowhere you can go to run from God. He is here! He said, “If I could go up to heaven, God is there. If I could go down the Sheol (the place of the dead), God is there too.” If I got on a plane and flew to the remotest part of the globe, God is there too. If I take that job transfer, attend a new school, venture off to a big city, live out in the country, if I go off to college…God is still there. He said “…even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” He’s leading you by the hand with his protective arm around you. You can’t leave him. You can’t abandon him. You can’t out maneuver him. You can’t outwit him. You can’t outrun him. And you can’t shake him! God is with you wherever you go. C.S. Lewis said, “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him.” Even in the dark, God is there. [I can remember when my girls were little and we would tuck them in bed, many times they were scared of the dark. We would try nightlights, leaving the bathroom light on, you name it, we tried it. But I can remember lying in bed with one of my girls and saying, “Did you know that God can see in the dark? Night time doesn’t bother him at all. He sees you just like it was day outside, and he’s watching over you!” That’s what David was saying, “…the night is as bright as the day…” Listen, God knows you and God is with you. Hebrews 13:5 says, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” This is written in the emphatic sense, “I will never, ever, ever, ever leave you, I will never, ever, ever forsake you!” Jesus said, “I will be with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Aren’t you glad for that? No matter what changes, Jesus Christ will always know you and be with you. Joshua 1:9 says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go!”

GOD MADE YOU PERFECTLY
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Psalm 139:13-15

Not only does God know you and not only is God with you, but God designed you for a special purpose in mind. David said, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The word “wonderfully” means distinct, special, unique. Advances in technology over the past 50 years have given us more information about life in the womb than any other generation. At 21 days from fertilization a baby’s heart begins to beat. By 30 days, just two weeks after the mother’s first missed period, the baby is one quarter of an inch long and with a brain, eyes, mouth, kidneys, liver and an umbilical chord pumping blood he has made himself. 40 days after fertilization, brain waves are already recorded, by eight weeks the baby’s skeletal system begins to turn to bone. By 9 weeks a baby is formed well enough to bend his fingers around an object and in response to a touch on the foot he will curl his toes and the baby can feel pain. By 12 weeks he can suck his thumb (www.spuc.org.uk). Fearfully and wonderfully made! [By the way this is why Christians have for thousands of years been fiercely pro-life. Because that Bible tells us that each person is made in the image of God and for his glory (Genesis 1:27). Every person matters to God. Every person has unlimited potential to know and follow God.

Listen, God made you. He created you in your mother’s womb as a unique work of art, one of a kind, there is no one on earth just like you. There is no one with your DNA, with your combination of looks and talents. You are completely an original! Look at the words David used to describe his birth - “formed,” “knitted,” “woven,” “made.” Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. You were hand crafted by God as a masterpiece, uniquely and specially made to do a specific work he has for you to do! Now you may think, “I don't feel like a masterpiece! I don’t like my hair (just be glad you have some), I don’t like my weight, my eye color, my nose, my voice.” You may say, “I don’t have any talent, I don’t have anything special God can use.” You could even spend your life comparing yourself to others or wishing you were like someone else. That would be a waste of time and a waste of your life. To not be you, would be to rob the world of something special! These things will never change: God knows you, God is with you, God made you…

GOD HAS PLANS FOR YOU
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them,the days that were formed for me,when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!How vast is the sum of them!If I would count them, they are more than the sand.I awake, and I am still with you. Psalm 139:16-18

Underline those words …in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me… When God made you, he determined the days of your life. He marked off the boundaries of your life. He determined the time you would live, the days you would have, the places you would be (Acts 17:26). And within those boundaries He placed you so you could know Him, worship Him, serve Him and give Him glory. You don’t know how many days you have, but God does. This is why Psalm 90:12 says, Teach us to number our days… I have an hourglass in my office, the kind that slowly drains grains of sand from the top chamber to the bottom one. My daughter this week pointed it out to me. She said, “You’ve had that hourglass as long as I can remember. It must be important to you.” As I thought about her words, it reminded me why I have it there. Time is short. My days are numbered – your days are numbered. We all have an expiration date stamped on our lives. And if we are not careful, days turn to weeks, weeks turn to months, months turn to years and we can miss the purpose God has for us. That would be a tragedy. To spend your one single solitary life on things that don’t matter, that don’t satisfy, that don’t last. Listen, God has a plan for your days. He’s got a purpose for your life. His plan begins right now and it stretches to the next. I was listening to a pastor this week, challenging young leaders. He said, “No mortal man can take for you what God has purposed for you.” That is true. No person can take for you what God has purposed for your life. But you have to take hold of it for yourself. Are you taking hold of it? Are you living out God’s purpose? David closes with these words. The Living Bible translates it: How precious it is, Lord to realize that you are thinking about me constantly1 I can’t even count how many times your thoughts turn toward me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me! That is how God feels about you. He knows you. He’s with you. He made you. He’s thinking about you and the plans he has for your life. Those things will never change. No matter what you are facing today, no matter what you will face tomorrow, God will never stop thinking and moving toward you. The question is, are you moving toward Him? Have you placed your trust and faith in Him? Are you letting Him lead your life?