If you want to follow along I
want you to turn to Psalms 139 The hundred and thirty ninth
Psalm I Still want to say chapter 139.
It's okay Psalms 139 beginning in verse 1. Oh Lord Thou hast searched me and known
me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and mine up-rising. Thou understandeth my thought
afar off. Thou compasseth my path and my
lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is
not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto
it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit
or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up
into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. And I'm gonna stop right there. There are those who state that
this may be the best psalm ever written. And you can continue
on with it. And I really can't necessarily
disagree with them. Because this is one beauty of
a psalm. There is one thing I did notice
when I was studying on this. The commentators both They relate
that in this psalm, you will see both the omniscience of God,
his all-knowing, and the omnipresence of God, his being everywhere. And that's true. It's all throughout
this psalm. I mean, this is a psalm by David
to the Lord. This is a prayer of David to
the Lord, and it's a prayer of praise, of what God sees, what
God knows, But they, because like I said, that's certainly
here. God knows all things and God
is everywhere. There's no question about that.
There is no escape from God. I'll go farther than that. There
is no escape from God's presence. Whether you know it or not, whether
I know it or not, And I will tell you this, certainly the
world doesn't know it at all. And that includes the religious
world as well as the secular, either one. Even believers can be unknowing
of God's presence, but that doesn't mean he's not present. God is
everywhere. But the world misses out because
the world doesn't know him. All this is true in this psalm,
but there's one more thing in here that they don't seem to
mention, and yet it's clear as day to me. And it's probably
them too, but they didn't realize, or they just didn't write it
down, I don't know. Because in this psalm, we will see his omniscience,
we will see his omnipresence, but you will also see that God
is absolutely omnipotent. And that's what I want to talk
about today. The title of this, Paul, is called Beset. Beset. behind and before But he starts it out This was
a psalm to the chief musician a psalm of David. Oh Lord thou
has searched me and known me This is David speaking to God This is not David's words David's
prayer to men this is David's prayer to God and it is a psalm
of praise to God We get to read the message. We get to read this. But he says this, thou hast searched
me and known me. You know, David's praying to
God, and this is the thing that a lot of people don't seem to
quite grasp about prayer. You are never going to tell God
anything he doesn't know. Because actually, you wanna leave
that last word out of this verse. It says, oh Lord, thou hast searched
me and known. What's he known? He knows everything.
He knows everything. God has searched David and known. Now you understand, God was not
searching for David. He was searching David. He examined
David. He knew David. And he knew David long before
David ever knew him. God knows who he is dealing with
always. Thou knowest my down sitting
and mine up rising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. God is all knowing. God is all
seeing. He knows what you're doing and
he knows what you're not doing. And he understands. He understands
us in a way we can't understand ourselves. This is the thing that boggles
my mind sometimes. God knows me better than I know
myself. And I think pretty highly of
myself some days. I shouldn't, but I do. I like to think, now this is
a very key word here, I like to think that I'm honest with
myself. But you know what, I turn right
around and I find that I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. You know, I'm
nowhere near as altruistic as I think I am. And I never have
been. But God understands me. God has searched me. God searched
David and known. You know my down sitting and
you know my uprising. Thou understandeth my thought
afar off. Does that scare you a little
bit? It should, it should, it should. Now you understand these
are two verses here plumb full of omniscience and omnipresence. God sees, God knows, and God
is everywhere. There'll be more of the everywhere
stuff in it. But here, with this next verse, we go from omniscience and omnipresence,
not leaving them behind, but we go from that to power. Power. What's it say? Therefore, oh, I'm sorry, I'm
on the wrong verse. There you go. Thou compasseth
my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with my ways.
Now, when I read this, and I read that compasses, when I read that
in English, I'm thinking of, you know, God compasses. He holds together. That's not
what that word means when you look at it in the Hebrew. It's
more than that, because what it says is God scatters my path
and my lying down. This has to do with the power
of God, because here's the point. Even though this is David, even
though this is a man after God's own heart, even though he's praying
and praising God for his work, My way is not always God's way. And David's way was not always
God's way. And my path has to be, and totally
is, subservient to God's way. And the only way I can be in
his way is if he scatters my way. And, not only that, my lying
down. Don't worry too much about your
path. Be concerned with God's way. Because man proposes, but
God disposes. God knows all your ways. God
knows all your ways. And when he has to, he will scatter
your path to put you in his way where he wants you to be. And
he does it by his mighty power from beginning to end. Because
you understand, he says you scatter my path and not only that, you
scatter my lying down. Sometimes you're supposed to
be moving and you're not moving. Sometimes you're lying down when
you should be standing up. Sometimes you're lying down when
you should be walking forward. God will disrupt your way. He will. I can be living proof
of it if you really wanted time to sit down, of what I wanted
to do and I wasn't able to do. And I know y'all can tell the
same story. Because God will disrupt your path. He will scatter,
he'll compass it about. He'll compass it about with thorns.
He'll compass it about with financial trouble. He'll compass it about
with other things. But you understand, It's coming
from the hand of God. And the end reason for it is
so that you are on His way and not your own. What, for, verse four, for there
is not a word in my tongue, but Lord, O Lord, thou knowest it
altogether. God knows what you say. God knows
what you're going to say. God knows what you want to say
and you don't say. He knows it's in your tongue
and whether it comes out or not, he still knows it. You know? Thou understandeth my thought
afar off. He knows what you think and even
when you don't say it. How's that possible? Well, he
knows your thoughts before you think them. That's what omniscience
means. All seeing, all knowing. All seeing, all knowing. This is what, this is the God
of the Bible. He is all-seeing, he is all-knowing,
and he is all-powerful. He has all power. And here in
verse five is where I've been wanting to get. Where he says,
thou hast beset me behind and before and laid thine hand upon
me. Now, I looked at the word beset. So I wanted to be sure I got
it right. What he means by this word beset,
there's another word I like. It's besieged. Besieged. David is saying he was besieged
at the back and the front. Before and behind. You understand,
under siege is David, the man after God's own heart. This is
David as a believer. He was besieged. And that is
the state of every believer today, today. Because remember, you are besieged, you are beset
behind and before by God. This is not circumstance. although
he'll use circumstance. This is not condition, although
he'll use condition. This is by God, you are beset
before and behind. You are besieged by God. And why does he say behind and
before? Well listen, it's not a siege
unless you got nowhere to go. And here's the other thing about
a siege. A siege happens where you live. It happens to you. Because the nature of that word
is a city, a walled city, a fortress, and an army would encamp around
it, and they would lay it under siege, and there was nowhere
to go. But those people, They were where
they belonged. They were where they lived. Put
it that way, not where they belonged. But they were where they lived.
You understand, God besieges you where you live. And he besieges
you before and behind. He besieges you where you are. Just like those Israelites at
the Red Sea. The Red Sea was in front of them.
The Egyptians were behind them. That's being under siege. And
what happened? The Lord made a way for those
Egyptians. But the Lord's the one that put
them there to start with. And what did Moses say? What
did Moses say that day? He said, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. And you will never see the salvation
of the Lord unless you're besieged. And know it, and know it. Because where are you going when
you're besieged? You're going nowhere. Nowhere
without God. And you know what? That's a good
thing. That's a good thing. Because
what's it mean to be beset by God? It means, very simply, that
God has you right where he wants you. This is not me besieging
you. This is not you besieging me.
This is God besieging his people. That's what David's talking about.
Remember what Job said? Well, in the book of Job, Job
didn't say it. Satan said to God, hast thou not made a hedge
about him, talking about Job, and about his house, and about
all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of
his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. You
understand, being besieged by God may mean that you can't get
out, which is still a good thing. but it means nobody else can
get in. It means that God has a hedge about you, behind and
before. God has a hedge about you. Hosea
said it about his wife. Hosea, in this particular instance,
a type of Christ dealing with what? Believers. Therefore, behold,
I will hedge up thy way with thorns. and make a wall that
she shall not find, what? Her path. You understand? God will besiege you before and
behind, and you won't find your path, but you will be in his
way. Because it's his way that matters.
He'll scatter your paths. I like that, I do. Because here's
the point, it is good, it is very good to be beset by God,
behind and before. Because to have God, the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit behind you and before you, in front
of you, is the best place for a believer to be. What does David say next? He's
beset behind and before. What does David say next? You
have laid thine hand upon me. Upon me. What's that mean? Well, it means simply this. God's
hand is upon those whom he besets. If he's built a hedge around
you so that nobody can get at you and you can't get out, his
hand's upon you. His hand is upon you. Now it's
not because you're so wonderful, it's not because you're so great.
It's because of his son. This is David the believer. And
I know we keep talking about that, Well, should you really
call those people in the Old Testament believers like you
do the people in the New? Yeah, yes you should, yeah. Abraham
what? Believed God. And it was accounted
unto him for righteousness. What's that mean? That means
Abraham was a believer. And what did Christ tell us?
I said it last week. You're gonna sit down in the
kingdom one day. Many's gonna come from the east and the west,
and they're gonna sit down in the kingdom one day with Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob. And you know why? Because they're
all believers. And if you're a believer, you're
gonna sit down with them. Because why? You're part of the same
family. You've all been beset, behind
and before, and he's laid his hand on you. That gives me chill
sometimes, think about that. It gives me strength sometimes
to stand here. God has laid his hand on me. And God has laid
his hand on every one of those believers who know and believe
his son. And yes, they are beset. And
they are beset behind and before, but that's a good thing. You
understand, we have to be safe from ourselves. Because if it was up to us, all
we like sheep had gone astray. And we take what, everyone his
own path. How do you keep a sheep from
wandering off? You beset it behind him before.
That's the only way. That's the only way. Yes, we
have the new man. Yes, we have the spirit of God.
But yes, we still have this flesh. And yes, I still want my way.
I'll admit it, I'll own up to it. But thank God, he doesn't
always let me have my way. Sometimes he does to let me learn
a lesson. But I am beset behind and before. and he has laid his hand upon
me. You know, think about it. How
good is that? Well, I'll tell you how good
it is. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Nobody. You know why? He has beset them. behind and
before. It is Christ that has died, yea
rather that is risen again, and what he ever liveth to make intercession
for those that he has beset. I like that, I like that. Because
how good is that? It don't get any better. It doesn't
get any better. You know? How are ya? How are
ya? God's got you. You see, God's
got you. You're beset behind and before,
and he's laid his hand upon you, giving you his Holy Spirit in you. And Christ is in you,
the hope of glory. It doesn't get any better than
this, folks, until we wake in his likeness. but on this earth
while we're walking around, this is it. Never forget. Remember the pit from which you
are digging, but remember where you are now. Ponder about where
you are now. Rejoice in where you are now.
God has beset you behind and before, and he's laid his hand
upon you. And what does David say about
that? It's wonderful, it's wonderful. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Now, he didn't say that knowledge
is too wonderful, he says it's too wonderful for me. It's not too wonderful, it's
not too glorious, it's just too wonderful for me. What's that
mean? We see through a glass darkly. That's it. But here, never forget,
we see. We see. You can understand that
God has a hedge about you. And Satan can't lay a hand on
you unless God gives him permission. There's a hedge around us, we're
beset behind and before, but we're beset behind and before
by God. And he's laid his hand upon us.
And the knowledge of that is too wonderful for me. Because I, oh, I am a rotten,
vile, ungodly sinner. Still, still. Right now, even
as I am beset behind him before and his hands upon me, still
in my flesh dwells no good thing. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. I cannot attain unto it. There's only one reason I
even know it. That's because of his grace.
Because it is wonderful. It's wonderful grace. It's wonderful
grace that he has saved his people. It's wonderful grace that he
besets them behind him before and that he lays his hand upon
them. And here's the other thing, it's a wonderful grace that you
get to know this and rejoice in God that he has laid his hand
upon you, that he has beset you. Grace is wonderful. I can't grasp it, not the way
I should. I can't grasp it the way it is. Just a glimpse, I get an inkling
every now and then. And it says, I cannot attain
unto it. We are incapable in and of ourselves
of knowing the work of God. What part of the work of God?
Any of it. The natural man cannot understand
the things of the Spirit of God. Why? Because they're foolishness
unto him. I mean, there are people that, and you know, if you started
talking about being beset behind and before, being besieged by
God, they'd be complaining because they think they're being restricted.
And here it is, I'm being restricted and I'm glad. It's wonderful. Please restrict me. Save me from
myself. This knowledge of God is unattainable
to man, because man cannot know the things of the Spirit of God
naturally. Yet we know. We see, like I said,
through a glass darkly, but we see the things of the Spirit
of God in us. In us, folks. Not only just around
us, in us. He has laid his hand upon you. And I'm gonna tell you something. When God lays his hand upon you,
he never takes it off. Read the rest of the psalm. You
ain't gonna see none of that. David, verse 13. For thou hast
possessed my reins. Thou hast covered me. in my mother's
womb. He's laid his hand on you back
then. You think he's gonna take it off now? My substance was not hid from
thee, there's a verse 15, when I was made in secret and courageously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. God has known his
people. Now I realize he's gonna go into
it even more. This is gonna be talking a lot about Christ and
I'm not gonna go into that right now because this is what I'm
dealing with. God has known his people from the beginning. From the beginning of what? From
the beginning period. From before the foundations of
the world, he chose them. In His Son, in Jesus Christ,
we were chosen. And because He chose us in His
Son, He's gonna beset you before and behind. And He's gonna lay
His hand upon you, and He'll lay it upon you one day, that
you're gonna know it. You're gonna know it. You understand? He has always led and guided
his people even when they didn't know him. But there comes a day when he's
gonna reveal himself to you. He's gonna give you that spirit
of life, the Holy Spirit of God in you. You will be born from
above. You will be born of God. You
will be born. You will live and you will see
him. You will see the kingdom of God
and you're gonna enter it. And you're gonna hear his gospel
and you're gonna believe it. And you're gonna know about the
work of God for you, to you, and in you. You're not gonna
know it all at once, but you're gonna know it. You're gonna know
it. Why? Because he's gonna set you behind
and before and he's gonna lay his hand on you and you're gonna
think it's wonderful. You understand, believers know
God in the face of Jesus Christ. He gives us the understanding.
He gives us the understanding. We have the mind of Christ, the
understanding of Christ. You understand? This might sound proud or something,
but I don't mean it that way. But I do mean I am sincerely
and gloriously proud in my God. Okay? We know the thoughts of
God. Now we don't know the secret
thoughts. But we know the thoughts of God. Now it's not mystical. It's written right here in black
and white, folks. This is the word of God. These are the thoughts
of God's in this scripture. But he has to give you the understanding
of the scriptures. Then opened he their understanding
of the scriptures. What? That they spoke of him.
That they speak of Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior. The Messiah, the anointed one.
the one promised in the Old Testament, the one that came in the New
Testament, and the one that's promised to come in the Epistles. Yes, God is omniscient, yes,
God is omnipresent, and yes, God is omnipotent. And I'm gonna
tell you something, you can't separate those three. We have
to talk about them separately because that's the way we are.
That's our limitation. God has no limitations. And the beauty of this psalm
is that David knows this and praise God for it. And it's been given to us to
read and to study and to know just a little bit, just a little
bit of God, Father, Son, and Spirit. He has all power and God besets
every one of his people behind and before and he lays his hand
upon them. I love that, I do. But the knowledge
of this, the knowledge of this is something the world doesn't
know. The question is, not do you wanna
know this, Do you wanna know him? You wanna know the one who
does this? That's what I, you know. I wish I could know more. I wish I could know him more. But he's here in his word. More
than we can handle is in here. What was his name, the goofy
guy that was the one that could quote every scripture in the
Bible? Jack Van Shrimpy, the MP? You understand, quoting scripture
is not understanding scripture. The understanding has to be given
by the Son of God. And it is given to those he has
beset behind and before and that he has laid his hands upon. Rejoice. Rejoice in Christ. We have been blessed with spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. And we have been blessed
on this earth by Christ. That's all I got. Heavenly Father,
we're thankful for the, you, You and your son and your spirit
do all things well. Thank you for everything you've
done for us, to us, and in us. Give us thy wisdom to carry on
and to walk in this world. Be with Walter as he comes to
preach your gospel. Let us learn of you. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.