Psalm 139, verse 17. How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with
thee. Again, the 17th verse in this
139th Psalm, how precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God,
how great is the sum of them. The clear statement of this verse
is not my thoughts of God, but rather his thoughts of me. And that's our message this morning,
God's precious thoughts unto me. There's a story of a powerful
king who summons one of his peasant subjects to be brought into his
presence. The poor man was overwhelmed
with fear and anxiety. Why would the king want to see
me? What do I have that he could
possibly be interested in? I have nothing. He has everything. I am nothing,
a nobody going nowhere. What could the king possibly
want with me? Well, come to find out the king
Treated the man with nothing but kindness, mercy, and graciousness. Took a great interest in the
man's welfare. Highly favored him with no ill
motive in mind, whatever. I suppose some of you may have
recognized that picture. The poor man was Mephibosheth.
in 2 Samuel 9, whose mind was then so full of
wonder and amazement that the king's thoughts of him could
be so precious rather than painful. The king who thought such thoughts
of Mephibosheth was David. the same man who, by divine inspiration,
penned down this psalm. And what David is saying here
as he meditates in this verse, my thoughts toward Mephibosheth,
they're really nothing. It was my best, it was the best
I could do, but it's really nothing in comparison to God's thoughts
toward me. David had a reason for his thoughts
unto Mephibosheth and God had a reason for his thoughts unto
me. David's reason was Jonathan.
God's reason was Christ his son. Now the psalmist David uses in
this verse the descriptive word Precious. You know that means
of great value, almost priceless even. Precious. Precious. When you and I consider the corruption
of our hearts and our fallen nature, the sin and shame of
it, it is quite inconceivable to
you and I that the thoughts of an infinitely holy God toward
us could be precious. They must be anything but precious.
And yet David declares that God's thoughts about him are precious. This could hardly be possible
let alone pleasant, except as David understood that God's thoughts
of him were not him in himself, but rather him in Christ. For me to think for one moment
that Almighty God could have a single pleasant
thought of me. The thought that He could have
a thought of me outside of His Son is devastating to my soul. I'd be without hope. Such a single thought of God
toward me outside of His Son would damn me forever. Therefore, we are not hesitant
this morning to declare that our acceptance with God is in
Christ alone. We cannot make too much of that.
We cannot. I've never improved on that.
Neither have you. Neither has anyone. But yet in
our unbelief, We tend to think so often that
God looks at us as nothing more than distant failures, a million miles from him with
nothing to show for ourselves. Our inability to contribute to
our own salvation has magnified our nothingness. And we would be nothing and we
would be without hope if God looked at us in us. But he never
thinks of his children as distant failures. He never thinks of
us in ourselves, but he thinks of us only in our surety, our
redeemer, our savior, his son, He sees us in Christ. He thinks
of us in Christ. So I would consider this subject
of God's precious thoughts unto me under several headings this
morning. And we'll move quite swiftly
with these thoughts we trust. God's thoughts unto me, number
one, are plentiful. No, first they are pre-existing. Let's go with that one. God's
precious thoughts unto us are pre-existing. You see, it was
not after I got here to be something, to do something, to prove something
that he thought well of me. But it was before he created
the world. One preacher said recently, God
is angry with all men until they decide to accept Christ. Well,
he's wrong. He's wrong. God is immutable,
which means unchangeable. His thoughts toward his children
were good thoughts, precious thoughts, even from eternity. Christ was commissioned to come
and die for my sin from everlasting. That little verse in the prophet
Micah chapter 5 and verse 2 talking about Christ, his goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting. Goings forth where? Where was
he going from everlasting? He was marching his way into
this world before there was a world. He was coming to be made flesh
before there was any flesh. He was coming to be born of a
woman before there was a woman. He was coming to be a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief before there was any sorrow or
grief. He was coming to die for sinners before there were any
sinners. He was coming to redeem His people
even before His people needed redeeming. His thoughts were
precious toward us from eternity, pre-existing thoughts of kindness
and of mercy. Secondly, God's thoughts unto
me are plentiful, are plenteous. Mr. Spurgeon of the 1800s, he
pointed out concerning this verse of scripture that seldom do preciousness
and plenty go together. Normally, what constitutes preciousness
is rarity. The absence of plenty, the scarcity
of a thing, is what constitutes its preciousness. And normally,
plenty of something makes it of little value, not precious. But God's thoughts of us, Spurgeon
said, is the exception. They are both precious and plenteous. How great is the sum of them,
David says. You hear somebody say, such and
such is precious to me. I just think about them all the
time. When you hear that, we interpret all the time to mean
very often. It doesn't really mean all the
time. But with God, All the time is
all the time. This knowledge he has of his
own, the attention he gives to his own, David points out in
the first verses of this psalm, O Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought.
afar off. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. He knows you
better than you know yourself. 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. The greatness of God in His consideration
and His thoughts of His children. God's children are not out of
His thoughts day or night, every day and every night. Listen to
this verse, Psalm 40 and verse 5. Many, O Lord my God, are Thy
wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which
are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered." Oh, God's thoughts
are plentiful. I think about Hagar, Sarah's
maid, back in the book of Genesis. You know this story after she'd
been run out of the house and she's out in the wilderness?
pouring her heart out to the Lord. You know what she said?
She said this, Thou, God, seest me. He sees you today, no matter what kind of mess you're
in. His thoughts of His children
are constant, continuous, plentiful. Not only plentiful, but number
three, his thoughts toward us are thoughts of pity. He considers us where we are
and what we are. Psalm 103, 13 and 14, like as
a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. For he knoweth our frame. He
remembereth that we are dust. Oh, I'm glad that he don't expect
out of me what a lot of religious folks expect out of me. He knows
what I am. His thoughts are thoughts of
pity. Psalm 40 verse 17, but I am poor
and needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Poor in my sin. poor in my filthy
rags of unrighteousness, poor in my mind of self-righteousness,
poor in unbelief, and very needy, needing a Savior. I am poor and
needy, yet the Lord thinks about me. As old Rothbarnard said,
I didn't just need a little shove in the right direction. I needed
a Savior. I didn't just need a little fine
tuning to my religious scheme. I needed a Savior. When David heard of Mephibosheth's
condition, Down in Lodomar, it was in David's heart. I will
do something about that. And so it is with our Lord. He
has pity. James chapter five, verse 11,
the Lord is very pitiful. That is, he shows pity and of
tender mercy. Knowing what our condition would
be, knowing what our need would be, fallen in Adam, our God,
before he created this world, showed great pity toward his
elect and appointed his son a sacrifice for our sin, a lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world. How precious are thy thoughts
unto me, O God. Next thing, number four, God's
thoughts toward us are possessive. Notice what David says here in
verse 13. For thou has possessed me. Thou has possessed my reins. Thou has covered me in my mother's
womb. That is before I was ever heard
of. or thought of in this world,
the Lord took possession of me and that forever. Before even
my mother knew that I was in her womb, my God knew it. Verse 15, my substance was not
hid from thee. When I was made in secret, curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, thine eyes did see
my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members
were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet There was none of them. God didn't need an ultrasound
to see the progress and development of his unborn child. He didn't
need a picture to see if it was a boy or a girl. He decreed it a boy or a girl
so he knows Nothing is determined by what God sees. He sees what
He decreed. And it never develops otherwise.
So David is saying here, Lord, You knew everything about me
before there was anything about me to know. Lord, You're the one that Paul
said this in Romans, you're the one that calleth those things
which be not as though they were. He that saw and thought of Nathaniel
under the fig tree. He that saw and thought of Elijah
in the cave. Came to the rescue. He that saw
and thought of Peter in his trial and said, I have prayed for thee.
This same God sees and thinks of his children all the time. He was thinking of Job long before
Job was thinking of him. He told Satan what he could and
could not do with Job. He tells Satan what he can and
cannot do with you. Believe it or not, our God does
that for every single one of His children every day we live. He's possessive. He's protective. Here's how possessive He is.
Isaiah 43, verse 1, But now thus saith the Lord that created thee,
O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have
redeemed thee. It's not your problem. I have
redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. I've claimed you." Zechariah
8.2, the Lord says, I was jealous for Zion with a great jealousy. We all know jealous people. He's
jealous. She's jealous. I'll tell you,
our God's a jealous God. He's jealous for his children.
His thoughts of his children are very possessive thoughts
and precious thoughts, never ending. Number five, God's thoughts
toward us are peaceful thoughts. Jeremiah 29, 11, For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts
of peace. and not of evil, to give you
an expected end. Now, if you've got a modern version
of the Bible, and a lot of them do say this, where the Bible
says, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you. A lot
of them say, I know the plans I have for you. And you see this
on the little wall plaques and on the coffee cups, and I don't
like that because God don't have plans. Plans fail. Plans change. Plans get interrupted. God don't
have plans. He has an everlasting, eternal
purpose. And He's working that purpose
in the world. So we don't say plans. I know
the thoughts I think toward you. saith the Lord, thoughts of peace
and not of evil. Oh my, David's thoughts concerning
Mephibosheth were thoughts of peace. And if you're not familiar
with that, I challenge you to go read that story, 2 Samuel
9. David's thoughts concerning Mephibosheth
were thoughts of peace before he ever saw the man. before he ever saw what he looked
like, acted like, smelled like, David's heart was fixed. His thoughts toward Mephibosheth
were never to do him harm, but rather thoughts of peace. Such
were God's thoughts toward his elect children from the eons
of eternity. I'll say it again, from eternity,
Christ our Lord was chosen and appointed and willing to come
into this world and die for his people. And what he did, Ephesians
2 says, abolished in his flesh the enmity so making peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. God's thoughts were of us from
eternity, thoughts concerning our peace with Him. He decreed
it, He accomplished it, and we have it. Number six, God's thoughts toward
us are purposeful thoughts. Part of his purpose. Why would
an infinitely holy God think good thoughts, pleasant thoughts,
or David's word was precious thoughts. Why would he think
such about such creatures as you and I? And again, we look at King David's
kindness to Mephibosheth. There was a purpose. There was
a purpose. David's kindness to Mephibosheth had nothing to do with Mephibosheth. It had to do with Mephibosheth's
father, named Jonathan, who had died years earlier, who was David's
dear friend. And the story begins there in
2 Samuel 9 with King David inquiring, is there any left of the house
of Saul? Does my friend Jonathan have
any kinfolk still living that I might show kindness to? Not
for their sake, certainly not for Saul's sake, but for Jonathan's sake. David's
purpose, David's motive was his love for Jonathan. God's thoughts,
God's precious thoughts toward us are not without purpose, not
without motive. And that purpose is Christ. For Christ's sake, he does it
all. For Christ's sake. Were that
not the case, God could do nothing else with sinners like us, but
put us in hell. But for Christ's sake, he could never have a pleasant
thought, a peaceful thought, a precious thought about you,
but for Christ's sake. Can we ever make too much of
Christ? Never. Never. The more I learn of His preciousness, His purity,
His perfection, His sacrifice, His accomplishment for us, the
more vile and blasphemous does human merit appear. God is so holy. Christ is so
precious. And we are so vile. It's no wonder
God is insulted at the mention of any sinner doing anything
concerning his own salvation. That is to spit in the face of
God's Son. No wonder God puts people in
hell who make their own way. God's thoughts of His children
all spring from an eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Number seven, God's thoughts
toward His children are providing thoughts. In the record of 2
Samuel 9, David never brought Mephibosheth all that distance
just to see what he looked like, give him a lecture, and send
him back down to Lodabar on that long, hot journey. No. What David did beforehand, he
told his servants, this man is to be treated as one of the king's
sons. And it is emphasized in that
chapter four times that Mephibosheth was to eat at the king's table
continually. This provision was in David's
thoughts and intentions before he ever met the man. It wasn't a matter of, let me
see if I like him or not. And it's not a matter with God
See if He can find anything in you to like. He can't. It's not
there. It's hard enough for you and
I to find anything in one another to like, let alone God. No. His love for us is in His
Son, in Christ. This provision was made before
David ever laid eyes on Mephibosheth. How much more has our Heavenly
Father given forethought in His thoughts of us and love to us
in Christ. He's provided for us all the
way. He who feeds the birds and clothes
the lilies of the field How much more does he provide
for his children? Number eight, and I'll be through
with this one. This is what we really need to
get a hold of as individuals this morning. God's thoughts
toward his children are personal. I get my feelings hurt and somebody
will say, don't take it personal. I'll tell you something. God
takes it personal. His thoughts toward his children
are personal. And I will challenge you right
now. No need you thinking about anybody else. This is about you. No need thinking what anybody
else has. This is about you. And here's the bottom line, we
can whine all we want to, and we do. We can make all the excuses
we want to, and we do. But the bottom line is this,
God will not forsake you. He will not leave you. What you don't have, you don't
need. What you can't do, you don't
need to do. Where you can't go, you don't
need to go. You see, you don't have a God that
answers your whims. That's Santa Claus. You have
a God that cares for you. And if we think these things
through, as David did here in this psalm. No wonder, he said,
how precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is
the sum of them, if I should count them, if I could count
them. He's saying, Lord, you thought
of everything concerning me. Thy thoughts, thy precious thoughts,
are more in number than the sand, how great is the sum of them. So I'll close with this. When
circumstances in your life are something less than pleasant, when you're having bad days,
lots of bad days in a row, it is nice to receive a card
from a friend that simply says, thinking of you, thinking of
you. Well, God's Word is His be of good cheer card, encouragement card, and He tells
us Over and over and over. Thinking of you. Thinking of you all the time. Thinking of you when you're not
thinking of me. Just letting you know, I care. How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, O God.