We give thanks to God. We give glory to His name. We are in full agreement with the rest of the church in saying that God is worthy of all the glory, praise, adoration, acclaim, and worship. He inspires awe, He motivates us, and He excites us.
Why do we give so much attention to God? Why is He such a huge deal, if not the real deal to us? How can we even think of God beyond the theoretical, so all that the world categorizes as theological has such a significant impact – That is, how can we allow God to have this much of an impact, beyond our minds, and in the rest of our being?
We give thanks to God, because we are able to – through no less than His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Him we call Lord, for He has saved us – above and beyond what our finite minds can comprehend, the salvation that our Lord has paid for in full for all who would believe is more trusted than it is figured out.
It’s from this awe that we have all come to agreement in my congregation, as to a statement of belief – A Creed, if you will:
We believe in God, Creator of all things seen and unseen.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.
We believe in the complete and finished work of Jesus Christ – His birth, death, resurrection and ascension.
We believe that when Christ died, so we died. Our old self corrupted with sin and the flesh has died and is cut off from us.
We believe that when Christ rose again, so we rose again, as new creations – Righteous unto eternal life, forever reconciled and connected to God.
We believe that when Christ ascended to heaven, so we received the Holy Spirit, and we now have the mind of Christ.
Pretty sure we can add to that, but I don’t think we could subtract from it. That’s a foundation I believe we can stand firmly on, even when the world tries to move us – and consequently, it’s a rock that I believe we can move from, that we would move the world.
And speaking of adding to it, we have been doing that these past few days, haven’t we? Through the springboard of Christ and His finished work we have come to realize, recognize and appreciate more facets to the precious gem who is our God, through Psalm 139.
Over the past days we’ve spoken about how our God is so mindful of us – that is, He is not only aware of all there is to know about our entire beings, but He knows the depths of our minds, so much so that He knows all our thoughts, all the words we say and think, and all the possible paths we could take at any given moment. He is aware of all of these things, and at the end of it all, He still chooses to ‘hem’ us in – that is, He fortifies us and protects us ‘behind and before’; and, being the complete God that He is, who is completely good to us, He also lays His hand upon us – He chooses to bless us in spite of all that He sees about us.
We’ve spoken about how God is present to us – whether we are in pleasurable moments, as if we are high in the heavens, or whether we are in the literal heights, God is with us. Consequently, when we are in the dumps and the lowest of lows, both literally and/or figuratively, much so that we say we are in the gates of hell, behold… God is still with us. Never choosing once to step away from being with us, He is as close to us as He could ever be, whether we are at the top of the mountain or in the bottom of the deepest valleys.
Finally, most recently, we’ve talked about how God is so precise in all His dealings – Clearly it’s not enough for us to say that He is very mindful of us, though that’s already a lot to take in, I understand. No, we also talked about how our God is not only so aware of all that we are NOW – no, apparently, before even the thought of us came into existence, He already knew all there was to know about us. The point here being, we weren’t created for creation’s sake – No, God WANTED us that much that He ensured that we were created with the greatest of attention given to even the most minute of details, according to the standards of a God who is not merely holy, but THRICE holy. Not merely set apart, but absolutely superior to us, and THREE times so.
And that’s what I can gather off of all I said from the top of my head. No doubt I’ll be coming back to all of this at different time, but for now, let’s keep on going with Psalm 139:
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.
The God who covered all the details there were in our creation is the same God who is fully aware of all details concerning our entire being – our physical state, the entire worlds that our minds are able to conjure; all things we’re aware of, all things we’re not aware of, all things nobody else knows about us, not even ourselves – God knows all of these things.
Here the Psalmist comes to the conclusion that it’s but natural that our God also has complete and full thoughts about us – that is, when He thinks about us, He thinks with full intention, putting everything about us into consideration. Therefore when we think of, say, the plans that God has for us as mentioned in Jeremiah 29:11, those are some pretty comprehensive plans! When we think of the salvation we have through Jesus Christ, well, I suppose it’s an absolutely complete salvation, that not only covers but saturates our entire being, now and beyond time!
We like to spout out Scripture such as Romans 8:31: ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’; But in the light of all we’ve seen about Him so far, I pray we’ve been led to believe that there’s so much more to our saying that God is for us.
Our God left nothing to chance in ensuring that each and every one of us were designed and made with His full focus and attention, and according to the highest standards – His standards. Because we were created so lovingly, we can say that He is fully aware of who we are, who we think we are, and what we think is best. And with all this in mind I am led to believe that He is for us in a way that He has all our best interests completely in His heart, and He responds to us completely, according to His full and complete wisdom and power – so much more than a pat on the back!
Friends, we have a Mindful God, a Present God, and a Precise God – and through this small part of Psalm 139, we have reason to believe, receive, and celebrate that our God is a Supportive God. Let it be said that when He saves us, He saves us completely. When He plans for us, His plans are complete. He encourages us, nurtures us, uplifts us, empowers us, inspires us, motivates us, affirms us, heartens us – and He does all this, completely. Our God is a completely supportive God.
(From here, I’ll skip verses 19-22, as I will save them for the second part of this… series.)
In closing, I’d like to share something. The following is the Oath of Office that newly elected officials of the United States of America would declare, according to US Senate’s official website:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
I had this in mind, especially considering that we just recently observed US Independence, last July 4 – or, for many of us, the REAL Pride Day. It states that these men and women of authority swear that they will support and defend the Constitution ‘against all enemies, foreign and domestic’
I don’t see anything wrong with that. In fact, I think it’s pretty comprehensive. However, when it comes to those of us in the body of Christ, I believe we have yet another reason for us to praise God here.
For the longest time we’ve stood our ground in protecting monuments around the world, that have their ties to religious Christianity. Many of our brothers and sisters have taken precious time to ensure that a certain statue of Christ isn’t demolished, or that the Ten Commandments aren’t taken out of government buildings. Here in the Philippines, those of us who have more Evangelical or Pentecostal exposure complain that the Ten Commandments that ARE in our own government buildings lack the one commandment that states that we shouldn’t make any graven images or idols.
Now I’m not bashing any of that. We are, after all, defending the Bible against all enemies, foreign and domestic. But might I have us consider that before we even set out to protest, or to lobby the protection of these proclamations of Scripture – It was Jesus Christ, our Living Word who loved us first. It was Jesus Christ, our Word – or, Constitution, if you would – made flesh who set off to protect and save us from our enemies, foreign and domestic.
What I wanted all of us to take in here is that then we are assaulted by the enemy of our souls by way of thoughts and words being put in our head, we probably shouldn’t spend energy on rebuking it, more than we should focus on the fact that Christ paid the greatest price to save us. He was born, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, just so that we would not only see God, but we would be able to run to His throne – and when we do, we see and understand how our God is as a Father to us – He is Mindful, He is Present, He is Precise, and He is Supportive!
And friends, this is the Truth we ought to run to, no matter what destructive thoughts we entertain, no matter what condemnation we fall victim to. Christ is the Truth we stand upon, and we could run to Him, no matter what sort of depression, fear, or anxiety assault us, no matter what threats to our mental health pop up.
The enemy may attack us from within, but take heart! Christ is the Living Constitution that supports and defends us against all enemies, foreign AND domestic.
We end with the final verse of Psalm 139; A fitting verse for us, especially those of us who are struggling with enemies from within.
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
By Christ, let us remind each other, especially in this day and age, that we are fully aware that the enemy may try to tear us down from within. It may win some battles, but Christ has won the war – and nothing in this world could ever separate us from our Father, who is mindful, present, precise, and supportive.
Amen.
Until the next post, God bless us all.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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