Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / Psalm 139 - God’s Incredible Knowledge Of You

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Psalm 139 - God’s Incredible Knowledge Of You · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. And if you're like Brian,
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  particularly if you're watching the video version of this,
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  you're like Brian, you are wearing a beanie.
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  I am wearing a beanie today. It is a very, very, very cold
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  day. And so I had initially planned
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  when I was recording this episode that I might drop in to
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  get a haircut today, but then ended up having to do 1000
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  different things at the church and for my family.
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  And so that did not happen. So that's going to be another
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  day. Not today, but we are in Psalm
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  139 today. Psalm 139, I mentioned at the
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  end of last episode, this is one of the most well known Psalms in
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  all of Scripture, one of the most well known portions in all
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  of Scripture. I am going to just start diving
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  in right now and reading it because if I don't, we could be
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  here for another, you know, 22 episodes like we were in Psalm
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  119. So let's just start right off.
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  The inscription for Psalm 139 says for the choir director a
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  Psalm of David. Yahweh, you have searched me and
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  known me. You know when I sit down and
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  when I stand up. You understand my thoughts from
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  far away. You observe my travels and my
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  rest. You are aware of all my ways.
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  Before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it.
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  Yahweh, you haven't circled me. You have placed your hand on me.
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  This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
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  It is lofty. I am unable to reach it.
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  Where can I go to escape your spirit?
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  Where can I flee from your presence?
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  If I go up to heaven, you are there.
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  If I make my bed and shield, you are there.
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  If I fly on the wings of the dawn and settle down on the
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  western horizon, even there your hand will lead me, Your right
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  hand will hold on to me. If I say surely, the darkness
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  will hide me, and the light around me will be night.
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  Even the darkness is not dark to you.
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  The night shines like the day. Darkness and light are alike to
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  you, for it was you who created my inward parts.
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  You knit me together in my mother's womb.
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  I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously
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  made. Your works are wondrous, and I
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  know this very well. My bones were not hidden from
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  you when I was made in secret, When I was formed in the depths
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  of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was
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  formless. All my days were written in your
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  book and planned before a single one of them began.
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  God, how precious your thoughts are to me, How vast their sum
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  is. If I counted them, they would
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  outnumber the grains of sand. When I wake up, I am still with
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  you, God, if only you would kill the wicked.
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  You bloodthirsty men, stay away from me who invoke you
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  deceitfully. Your enemies swear by you
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  falsely. Yahweh, don't.
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  I hate those who hate you and detest those who rebel against
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  you. I hate them with extreme hatred.
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  I consider them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my
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  heart. Test me and know my concerns.
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  See if there is any offensive way in me.
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  Lead me in the everlasting way. So what do we learn from this
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  Psalm? First, in verses one through 6,
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  we see that God knows everything about us.
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  He knows all of our actions. Verse #1 Yahweh, you have
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  searched me and known me. This is the same thing that
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  David says at the end of the Psalm in verse 23.
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  Search me, O God, and know my heart.
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  Test me and know my concerns, my anxieties.
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  He says, see if there is any offensive way in me.
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  Lead me in the everlasting way, if you will.
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  The end of the Psalm echoes the beginning to say, God, you know
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  all about me. You have searched me entirely.
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  Would you show me what you know to be true about me?
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  Like, you know, Brian really is impatient or Brian is super
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  selfish. Brian is, he doesn't listen to
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  other people. Would you show me what you
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  already know to be true about me so that I can walk God's way,
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  not just my own way? That is a scary prayer to pray
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  because very unfortunately, most of the time God will not just
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  drop it into your mind to say here's all of your failures and
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  you will get this totally fixed all on your own.
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  No, most of the time He brings situations in that show us what
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  we are truly like. We're like God, you know, search
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  me, know me, try me. And then God will bring along
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  that sibling that you just can't get along with.
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  He'll bring in a customer that just drives you Batty.
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  He will have you have an argument with your spouse that
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  shows you where your failures truly are.
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  And in those moments, we have to go, oh Lord, thank you for
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  showing me who I truly am, not just who I imagine myself to be,
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  but God, would you please like transform me that I am not this
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  person anymore. So I love that in verse one,
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  that God has searched us and known us entirely.
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  And the fact that he has searched us and known us and yet
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  has not rejected us is such a welcome truth.
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  It's not that God has affection for you.
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  It's not that Jesus died for you because God doesn't know what
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  kind of person you really are. No, my friend, God knows you
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  entirely. He knows the faults that you
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  don't even think are faults. He knows the sins that you
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  possess, that for many of us, we will still have large character
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  flaws at the end of our days, like when we die and we will not
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  realize the depths of our sin. But God realizes the depths of
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  our sin and it doesn't cause Him to run away.
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  It doesn't cause Him to abandon us.
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  What a joy that is. It brings comfort to us that God
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  knows us most intimately, but God doesn't just know us and our
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  character. Verse 2 we read that he knows
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  all of our actions. He says, you know when I sit
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  down and when I stand up, you understand my thoughts from far
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  away. You observe my travels and my
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  rest. You are aware of all my ways.
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  What a thought that I can't even like I I sat down in this chair.
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  I did a whole lot of standing up today.
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  I was doing stuff for music. I was doing stuff for like some
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  church tax form things. I was helping out my wife with
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  an appointment that she had. I spent time with my kids and
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  taught them about dandelions and and trees and seeds and all of
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  that. Every action that I took today
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  my God knows intimately and personally.
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  Like God cares about me. I love, I, I think I can say
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  this truthfully, I love every person that is sitting on the
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  other end of this microphone, this, this camera.
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  If you are watching or listening to Tabernacle talk or you're
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  somehow reading it, I am so thankful for you.
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  I love you. I care about you.
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  I want to be a part of your walk with Jesus and I want to help
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  you out in that. I want to answer any questions
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  that I can. I don't care if you're standing
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  or if you're sitting down. I I don't care when iota.
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  You don't have to tell me and I have no desire to find out if
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  you're sitting down or standing. But God cares, and God knows and
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  man what a intimate knowledge God has of me and of you, that
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  He just loves us and knows and cares about each iota of our
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  life. It's what Jesus says, that even
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  the very hairs of our head are numbered, and while that might
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  be easy for some bald people, that God's work isn't that much
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  harder, that He knows you don't have a whole lot of hairs to to
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  count. It doesn't matter to anyone
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  else. It doesn't even matter to me how
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  many hairs I have on my head, but God cares, and God cares
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  about the things in my life that I don't even care about.
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  And so God loves me deeper than I love myself.
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  And so that means I can trust in him and I can rely on Him to do
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  what is right. But not only does he know like
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  our sitting up, our standing, our, our travels, He understands
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  our thoughts from far away that God knows what is going on In my
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  mind. That is a probably scarier
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  thought for most of us that we go like, OK, I can do a pretty
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  good job with my mouth where I'm not constantly like gossiping or
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  slandering. I, I need to do a better job
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  about not complaining. But like, I can kind of guard my
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  mouth. I can guard my actions.
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  I haven't punched anyone. I haven't stolen anything.
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  I haven't killed anyone. I haven't committed adultery.
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  Like there's all sorts of great things that I abstain from doing
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  with my words or with my actions, but God knows even my
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  thoughts. And that's what Jesus brings it
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  back to in the Sermon on the Mount where he says, all right,
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  you haven't killed anyone. Great.
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  Have you hated someone in your heart?
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  Well, you're guilty of murder because you did the murdering on
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  the inside of you, even if you didn't do it on the outside.
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  Or have you looked at someone with lust?
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  You haven't committed adultery physically, but you committed
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  adultery mentally. And so this is what Jesus brings
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  us back to is our heart, our thoughts.
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  I'll mention this when the Bible talks about like our thoughts or
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  our thinking. It's so often tethers it to our
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  heart like the core of our being.
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  It it doesn't mention like every thought that I think with my
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  mind. That's not how the the ancient
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  peoples of the world understood human anatomy to work.
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  So they talk about the heart as like your center of emotion or
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  being. So just wanted to mention that
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  as well. But God knows our thoughts and
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  God cares about the things that you worry about on the inside or
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  the complaints that you have on the inside that you never
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  vocalize. Maybe difficulties that you're
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  having with another person that because of either the difficulty
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  that you would have in bringing up a problem with someone else
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  that you'd never say anything. Or because you love and treasure
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  the relationship so much that you would never jeopardize it
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  through through mentioning like a criticism or something of the
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  other person. Like God knows everything that's
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  going on in your mind and in your thoughts, and that can be a
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  comfort to you. It is here, intended as a
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  comfort, that God knows everything going on on in your
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  mind, every worry, every anxiety, every concern, and He
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  cares about it. When we pray to Him, He's not
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  learning about our concerns for the first time.
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  When we pray, we are acknowledging that God is
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  sovereign. He is in control over everything
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  that brings us worry. So if you will, prayer is more
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  an act of worship. It's not an act.
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  Oh, here, let me I, I think I can phrase this a little better.
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  Prayer is an act of adoration. It is not an act of information
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  to God. It's an act of adoration of God,
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  not an act of information for God.
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  And I love, I love that thought. Verse #3 You observe my travels
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  and my rest. God cares when you're on
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  vacation and when you're not. God cares when you're on your
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  commute, and God cares when you are back at the back at the work
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  site. He cares when you're back at
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  home. He cares about both your travels
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  and your rest. He is aware of all of our ways.
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  Verse #4 through 6 Before a word is on my tongue, You know all
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  about it. Yahweh, what a thought.
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  God knows the words that we are going to say before we even say
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  them, when it's just in our mind, before it exits our mouth.
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  For some of us, that's a much, you know, shorter distance.
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  The instant you think of something, it starts going out.
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  But God knows what we are going to say.
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  If God knows it, I think part of us asking for the Lord to search
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  us and know us and and try us and show us who we really are in
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  the sight of God. Pardon me.
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  I think that should prompt us to be equally cognizant and aware
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  of the words that we speak. Like God knows what we're going
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  to say, so shouldn't we care about what we're going to say as
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  well? Verses 5 and 6, you have
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  encircled me. You have placed your hand on me.
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  This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
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  It is lofty. I am unable to reach it.
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  Hear God encircling us. This is I am surrounding you to
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  protect you. This placing his hand on us is
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  blessing. It's if perhaps my son, if he's
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  scared about something, if I put my hand on him, it's, it's to
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  reassure him. It's to let him know you can do
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  this. You're going to be OK.
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  I'm in this with you. And God has both encircled us,
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  protecting us, and he has put his hand on us, emphasizing his
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  care and his presence. I echo with David.
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  This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
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  I can't understand how God, the infinite Creator, the one who
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  upholds all of the universe by his power and his might, that he
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  cares about Brian, that he protects me, that his presence
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  is with me even right now. What a wonder that that is.
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  Verses 7 through 12, David says there's nowhere that I can go
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  that I can escape the presence that the Spirit, the breath of
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  God that has gone out to all creation generally that there's
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  nowhere you can go where God's presence is not as well as now
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  for us as New Testament believers permanently and dwelt
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  by the Spirit. This is so much more true says
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  where can I go to escape your spirit?
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  Where can I flee from your presence?
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  If I go up to heaven, you are there, God.
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  If I go into the skies, God's in the skies like Jesus is the one
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  that ascended into heaven says if I go into the skies, you are
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  there. If I make my bed in Sheol in the
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  grave, you are there. Especially now as Jesus has
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  illuminated more of the path of what if you will, the afterlife
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  looks like we know that when we die, to be absent from the body
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  is to be present with the Lord. If you know Jesus as your
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  Savior. Verse #9 If I fly on the wings
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  of the dawn and settle down on the western horizon.
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  So basically if I start off where the sun rises in the
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  morning and I go all the way to where it sets, He says even
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  there your hand will lead me, Your right hand will hold on to
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  me. God, I can go furthest east to
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  West and you are still there. If I say surely the darkness
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  will hide me and the light around me will be night.
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  He says God can I like hide from you at night time?
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  He says even the darkness is not dark to you.
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  The night shines like the day. Darkness and light are alike to
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  you. Says it makes no difference to
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  God. Like God doesn't have to have a
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  specific amount of photons in a place for him to be able to see.
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  Like he knows everything that happens everywhere.
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  He knows what happens in the light just as much as he knows
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  what happens in the dark. There is nowhere we can go,
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  nowhere we could run to. There is no grave.
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  There is no rocket ship that we could take that would take us
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  away from the presence of God. And then I love verses 13 and
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  14. Actually 13 through 16.
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  It was you who created my inward parts.
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  You knit me together in my mother's womb.
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  I will praise you because I've been remarkably and wondrously
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  made. Your works are wondrous, and I
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  know this very well. This is one of the precious
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  truths of Scripture that we would read here.
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  We would read about John the Baptist.
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  We would read about even the prophet Jeremiah, that God cares
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  about life within the womb, and specifically that life does
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  begin inside of the womb, and that God is the one that is
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  putting us together. Our creation is not merely by
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  human generation. It is not merely something that
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  is done kind of automatically. And so you can interrupt the
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  process, and that's fine. No, my friend, God himself is
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  the one that created you. Every iota of you, all of your
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  bones, your eye, all of your like Sinews is kind of an older
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  word for it. That would mean you know your
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  your tendons, your ligaments, your organs, everything was put
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  together, yes, by your parents and by the DNA that you received
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  from them. But the fact that you exist,
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  that you look the way you do, that you have, the personality
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  that you do, that you have, maybe the health difficulties
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  that you do, is because God put you together in a unique way
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  that He has put no one else together exactly like you.
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  If you're a twin or triplet or quadruplet, then we can have
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  that discussion. But I don't think most of you
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  are that. But you are totally unique and
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  that is because God himself put you together.
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  Even the natural occurrences of life are not untouched by our
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  God working. And so This is why as Christians
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  we believe in what would be called pro-life, that someone
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  should never terminate, especially electively terminate
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  a pregnancy, have an abortion. We would view that to be a
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  taking of a life that God himself is creating.
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  Now, there are many questions and concerns.
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  Sometimes when there's health difficulties and things like
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  that, that is a, if you will, that's a separate discussion.
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  That's a kind of a triage thing of all right, what can we do?
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  Who can we save? Can we save everyone?
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  Can we only save one person? What all will go into this?
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  And that is a different kind of conversation, one that frankly
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  often requires understanding, patience, prayer, determination
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  of God. What do you want in this
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  situation? How much do we go by like sight
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  and assumption? And what, what do we think is
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  possible versus OK, I think God might work in this way or in
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  that way. And so I'm going to choose, even
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  though there's a risk here, I'm still going to choose to pursue
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  life and I'm going to try. And if you will roll the dice
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  for both myself and my child in this moment, because I believe
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  that God will will take us through there, that's a whole
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  different kind of conversation. That is not the main opposition
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  of Christians. Christians would say there
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  should never be a time where we just say, oh, there's a baby.
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  I don't want the baby I'm going to, I'm going to terminate this
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  pregnancy. We from these verses and many
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  other in scripture would view life being formed in the womb as
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  sacred, placed there by God himself that He is knitting and
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  so it has inherent worth and value.
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  If you have any questions on that, please let me know.
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  Given the sensitivity of the topic, feel free to message me.
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  Feel free to text or call me if you happen to have my number.
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  If you need that, let me know. Would love to have a further
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  conversation with you about that.
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  But the most important thing is God is the giver of life and so
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  God should be the only one that takes life.
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  We should never take that into our own hands as created beings.
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  Verse #17 God, how precious your thoughts are to me, how fast
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  their sum is. If I counted them, they would
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  outnumber the grains of sand. When I wake up, I am still with
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  you. God, you have so many thoughts.
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  You have so many if you will even cares about me.
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  Like you know every iota of my life.
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  You know every iota of who I am as a person, of the words that
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  are that I haven't even spoken yet.
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  And so God, this is a precious thing to me.
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  This is something that I value because you know me better than
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  I know me. And so God, thank you that when
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  I go to sleep, you're there. When I wake up, you're still
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  there with me. Verse 19, verses 19 through 22,
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  here's another implication. This is God, You know everything
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  about me, and God, you see the wickedness, the violence, the
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  desire to kill and to harm that is present in other people.
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  And God, you know that my desire is not to go along with them.
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  I don't want to be a violent person.
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  I don't want to be one that inflicts harm on other human
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  beings. And God, for these people that
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  are bloodthirsty, you know that I hate them, especially as
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  they're trying to bring God's name into their violence and
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  their bloodthirstiness. That David says this is totally
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  against the way that God would have them to live.
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  And so Lord like, would you they're seeking to kill other
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  people, God, would you kill them?
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  Would you bring back onto them what they are inflicting onto
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  others? If you have any questions about
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  that, look back at Psalm 137 and some other Psalms that have also
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  dealt with this thought process of God.
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  You be the just one. You are the one that is worthy
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  to take away lives. I'm not saying God help me to
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  destroy all of these people. David says, God, you deal with
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  these people as you know what is right and what is fit.
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  And then the Psalm ends with this.
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  Search me God, and know my heart.
• 24:24
  Test me and know my concerns. See if there's any offensive way
• 24:29
  in me and lead me in the everlasting way.
• 24:33
  This word offensive can also mean idolatrous.
• 24:37
  God, is there something I'm putting in front of you?
• 24:40
  God, you have all of me laid in front of you, and you care care
• 24:44
  about every iota of my existence.
• 24:47
  God, do I care about you? Do I care about your word and
• 24:51
  your character and your spirit and your presence and your
• 24:55
  commands and all of that? Like, do I care about you nearly
• 25:00
  as much as you care about me? That just makes sense.
• 25:04
  It is reciprocal that if God has so loved us, then we ought to
• 25:09
  love God as well. If God knows everything about
• 25:13
  you, then shouldn't you and I try to know everything that we
• 25:17
  possibly can about God? Frankly, that's one of the
• 25:21
  reasons that I'm a pastor is that I want to devote my life to
• 25:25
  know God more and to help other people get to know God more.
• 25:31
  Thank you for tuning into this episode.
• 25:33
  Again, if you have any questions in particular as it relates to
• 25:38
  abortion, pregnancy, termination, health things, any
• 25:42
  of that, I would love to have a conversation with you.
• 25:45
  If I misspoken anyway and you're like, wait a second, did Brian
• 25:50
  just say this or did he mean this?
• 25:52
  Don't go tattling to other people.
• 25:54
  Come talk to me. I, I would love to set the
• 25:57
  record straight if I said anything of this, but would love
• 26:00
  to have a conversation with you. Frankly, it's something that our
• 26:04
  nation desperately needs is a greater recognition of how God
• 26:09
  thinks about babies, really about children in in general,
• 26:14
  that God has a love for children that we do not often share, but
• 26:17
  that we ought to. Thank you for tuning in.
• 26:21
  Have a great day.