{"id":3114,"date":"2009-01-18T14:13:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-18T19:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=3114"},"modified":"2020-12-21T14:14:45","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:14:45","slug":"who-are-you-sermon-talkback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/who-are-you-sermon-talkback\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Are You? Sermon Talkback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermon Talkback<\/strong>\u2014January 18, 2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 139\u2014Who Are You?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal Notice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this well-known psalm, the writer expresses his awareness of God\u2019s profound knowledge of him, that is due to, among other things, the fact that the Creator formed him in his \u201cmother\u2019s womb.\u201d He marvels at God\u2019s creative work, of which mortals are the crowning achievement. God\u2019s thoughts are \u201cweighty\u201d and more numerous than the \u201csand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outline<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The psalm is divided up into four sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1. You Know Me, Lord (1-6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            This is not a theological assertion about omniscience but rather a statement of faith that the Lord knows everything about the particular individual who is praying. This knowing includes knowing one\u2019s actions (vv. 2-3) as well as one\u2019s words, even before they are spoken (v. 4). After reflecting on such knowing, the psalmist reacts with amazement and praise: \u201cWonderful!\u201d (v. 6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            2. I\u2019m Never Away from You (7-12)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Like in the case of Jonah (1:3), it is impossible to escape the Lord\u2019s presence. Verse 8 speaks of vertical extremes: one cannot escape the Lord by running to heaven or down to Sheol, the region of the dead as in Job (26:6). Verses 9-10 express the impossibility of escaping from God in the terms of the four points of the compass. The \u201cwings of the morning\u201d is to the east, where the sun rises, and the \u201climits of the sea\u201d is to the west. \u201cYour right hand\u201d would be the south, and \u201cyour hand\u201d\u2014that is, the left hand\u2014the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            3. God the Knitter (13-18)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            In verse 13, God is portrayed as a knitter! The notion also occurs in Job 10:11: \u201cYou clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.\u201d Think about how complicated knitting a sweater is with different threads, patterns, and colors, you would be amazed how wonderfully we are made: \u201cI praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made (v. 14). Verse 16 expresses the notion of a book where the psalmist\u2019s days have already been recorded. Is this a basis for a doctrine of \u201cpredestination?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            4. Deal with the Wicked, Lord! (19-24)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            It appears that the psalmist and the Lord together have been falsely accused. The psalmist expresses hatred against his accusers, viewed as enemies of the psalmist and of God (vv. 21-22). In this difficult personal situation, the writer declares himself innocent of these charges and asks for God\u2019s guidance (vv. 23-24). These are hard words for Christians since we are taught to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matt. 5:44). Though these are human words of the psalmist, ultimately vengeance is left in God\u2019s hands (v. 19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creation Psalm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this psalm doesn\u2019t speak about creating the heavens and the earth, it speaks rather of God creating an individual, or more accurately, it says to God, \u201cYou created me. You knit me together in my mother\u2019s womb\u201d (v. 13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Do You Think?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of trying to be someone else, who do you think you are according to God\u2019s creation? How has God knitted you together to be you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermon Talkback\u2014January 18, 2009 Psalm 139\u2014Who Are You? Personal Notice In this well-known psalm, the writer expresses his awareness of God\u2019s profound knowledge of him, that is due to, amongContinue readingWho Are You? Sermon Talkback<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-3114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermon-talkbacks","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3114"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3115,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3114\/revisions\/3115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}