Well, I’m glad to be here together with you. Welcome to Big Valley Grace Community Church — if it’s your first time, we’re glad you’re here, and we hope today is a great encouragement to you. We’re continuing a series called Real People, looking at historical biblical characters who, in real space and time and real life circumstances, experienced a lot of things — and God met them in the middle of their real life. That’s so we can understand that in the real time, location, and circumstances of our own lives, with the real issues we have going on, God can meet us right where we are as well, and he can impact our lives right here, right now. Today we’re looking at the character of David, and we’re going to be in Psalm 139. If you have a Bible, I’d encourage you to turn there; if you don’t have one, there’s nothing to be ashamed about — we want to help solve that problem. We have a prayer room with Bibles, purchased at no cost to you, because we want to make sure everyone has a copy of God’s word.

Something I want to explain as we look at David: we are not going to have a comprehensive look at his life. If you want to understand David’s life in totality, you’ll need to open your Bible to the books of Samuel and start reading for a very long time, because King David’s life covers multiple books, and after his life it’s referenced over and over throughout Scripture. What we are going to do is look at one subject regarding his life — and not even the whole subject, just one chapter that addresses it: Psalm 139.

To get us into Psalm 139, I want to ask this question: what does a deep relationship with God look like? In the church world, we really love that word “deep.” People say to me all the time, “I’m really trying to understand how to have a deeper relationship with God,” or “I’m looking for some deeper teaching on the Bible,” or “I’m trying to get into some deeper relationships with other people around Jesus.” Let me explain to you what is not deep: the three-and-a-half-foot swimming pool my son works at this summer as a lifeguard. That is extremely shallow — to get all the way wet, I have to lie down in the pool. What’s deep is God. God is what is deep. We are incredibly shallow compared to the depth of God, and what I’m going to put forth today is not how you are deep or how I am deep or how David is deep, but how God is deep — and how a deep relationship with God actually depends on his depth, understanding him in his depth. Jesus said in Mark 12:36 that David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared. Jesus was talking there about how David had been prophetic regarding the coming Messiah — but in that moment, Jesus acknowledges that David had a relationship with God and that the Holy Spirit of God impacted his life when he declared things. So as we read what David declared in Psalm 139, we can understand that David had a relationship with God and was significantly impacted by the Holy Spirit as he wrote.

Here’s how we’ll address it: I’ll read and explain portions of the psalm, make a point, share a question from my own life, and then we’ll look at a Beatitude — something Jesus taught — and we’ll do that section by section. Psalm 139:1–6 says: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”

In verse 1: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me.” Imagine there’s an issue happening in a house in your neighborhood, and you call the local authorities to check it out. They pull up with a bunch of vehicles and people, surround the house, take everyone inside, search every individual, search the entire house — every nook and cranny, every door, every cupboard. Everything is unearthed, every person is interviewed, and they complete an investigation with a lot of people and a lot of effort. The difference between the way the local authorities search and the way God searches is that God has completed his search of your life, and it took him no effort. He knows everything about your life; there is nothing about your life God doesn’t know, and it took him no effort to have that knowledge. The investigation about your life has been completed by God already. You know when I sit down and when I rise up: God knows when you get tired and need to sit down, when you need a break. God knows that time you fell asleep during church — and then did it again and again. God knows that at minute thirty-four of that one message your brain spaced out and you were thinking about lunch. God also knows when you rise up — he knows how you turned your alarm off and stayed in bed, then hit snooze, and snooze again. My young adult children are home from college, and they were discussing the alarms on their phones — one of them shared how many alarms he has set: like every three minutes of the day. It was an incredibly strong commitment to alarms. God knows when you rise up. God discerns your thoughts from afar — distance has no impact on God’s ability to know what you’re thinking. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways: every step you have taken, God knows exactly where your foot went; God knows every moment you’ve laid down, every moment you’ve slept, the way you go about living your life — he has full knowledge of it. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. We would all do really well to know what words we’re going to say before we say them — we’d probably solve a ton of issues in our lives. But you don’t even have to speak, and God already knows your words. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Imagine a prisoner detained in high security being transported, with guards all around him. God knows everywhere we’ve been — our entire past; he’s seen it all, and he offers forgiveness and grace for where we’ve been. And God knows where he’s going to lead us — our future, our destination. And he doesn’t do this in some impersonal way: “You lay your hand upon me.” We are within reach of God’s hand. And David says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” He can’t even wrap his mind around how much God knows him.

So, what does a deep relationship with God look like? We’re not deep — God is deep. And number one: God knows everything about us. When I look at this fact, I have to ask whether I’m willing to be honest about it: am I willing to confess to God the exact nature of my life — the specific details of what have happened in my life? My wife and I have friends, a couple named Matt and Ingrid. On Tuesday night at Celebrate Recovery, Ingrid shared her testimony — it’s public, on our website; you can go to valleygrace.org or search Big Valley Grace Community Church Celebrate Recovery and watch them. Matt has also shared his testimony publicly. Matt and Ingrid have both surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ, and they have very publicly confessed to God the exact nature of their lives, sharing how God has done a work in their lives through recovery. It is extremely powerful to hear someone be that bold, with that much courage and bravery, stand publicly and confess to God the exact nature of their entire life. I’d encourage you to take advantage of the testimonies in our Celebrate Recovery ministry — there are two a month, and they’re public on the website. It’s really powerful to be around people who are confessing to God exactly what’s happened. This is what Jesus said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It’s the first Beatitude. When I come to the knowledge that God knows everything about me, I have two options: I can be proud and in denial, or I can humble myself and admit my wrongdoing before God. To humble myself puts me in a place of being poor in spirit — and Jesus says there’s a blessing for that person: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. David knew God knew everything about him. David had to humble himself before God multiple times, and David firmly believed he was part of God’s plan and God’s kingdom.

The psalm goes on, verse 7: “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” David, in all the locations he had been — whether public or private — kept having God find him; he kept having the Holy Spirit working in his life. And he comes to the conclusion: I can’t get away from him. To even ask “where shall I flee from your presence?” makes me think he tried. He tried to hide, tried to flee, tried something that brought him to the conclusion that he can’t get away from God. If I ascend to heaven — if I go up into the glorious throne room of God, he’s still there. If I make my bed in Sheol — Sheol is the Old Testament word for where the dead go; if I go to where the dead people are, he’s still there. It doesn’t matter how high I go; it doesn’t matter how low I go. But it’s not just up and down. “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea” — if I’m looking out at the ocean, seeing the birds fly early in the morning, I can’t fly far enough or fast enough to get rid of God. I can’t go into the depths of the ocean, as far from land as I can get — I can’t get away from God. Even there, God’s still there, and he’s leading me: “Even there your right hand shall hold me.” The term “right hand” is imagery for God’s power. He’s saying, even as far away as I can get, your power is still right there with me. I can’t escape you — you’ve got me.

So, what does a deep relationship with God look like? God’s the one who’s deep, and number two: God is always present with us. David knew God was with him. So I come to this question about my own life: am I willing to confess to God the specific ways I have avoided him? Because not every moment of my life have I wanted God present with me. There have been times I wanted God not to be with me because I wanted to do things that had nothing to do with God. It’s easy to point to blatant sin — but what about the times I’ve avoided God by just being distracted or busy? We love the word “busy.” I ask people all the time, “How was your week?” “Busy, busy, busy.” Maybe being busy is just a way we’ve chosen to avoid having to think about God, having to walk with him. Am I willing to confess to God the specific ways I have avoided him? Jesus said in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” The mourning here is being repentant that we have offended a holy and righteous God. When we acknowledge that and want to repent of our sin, there’s a blessing — comfort. David knew God was always present with him; David had to mourn over his sin, and David also received comfort from God.

Verse 11: “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.” David is saying his experience changes when it’s light and when it’s dark. Think about this in context: there’s no electricity — when it’s dark, it’s dark; then the sun comes up and it’s light. His experience changes when it’s day and when it’s night — and his experience also changes when the inside of him is dark or light. But he’s acknowledging: no matter what change of circumstance I experience, God, it’s all the same to you. God shows up in darkness. God shows up in night. God shows up when the inside of us is darkness and night — and he sees everything clearly. Darkness and night do not prohibit God from seeing perfectly — unlike me, who tries to walk around my house in the middle of the night with the lights off and trips over all the things I forgot I put there the day before. Can anybody relate to that? I get messed up with light and dark, with day and night, when the inside of me is light or dark — but it doesn’t mess with God, because God remains in control. God remains in control as our circumstances change. So I have to come to a hard question: am I willing to confess to God the ways I have tried to control myself and others — where I decided I knew what was best, where I was going to play God and fix or solve or be the solution for someone else’s life and tell them what to do, where I tried to take over my own life and be God in my own life instead of submitting to the leadership of God? Jesus said in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Meek means power under control. God is the one who has true power and true control — so for me to experience that, it has to be in God. To be meek means I submit my life not to my control and my power, but to God’s control and his power. And Jesus says there’s a blessing when you operate out of that, because you’ll inherit the earth. The crazy thing is, we can think that through our power and control we can go after an inheritance for ourselves — but God says no: operate under my power and my control, and there will be an inheritance for you.

Back in our psalm, verse 13: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. 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. When I awake, I am still with you.” You know what David didn’t have? He didn’t have any technology that shows a picture at conception, week one, week two, month one. He didn’t have sonogram technology showing what a developing baby looks like in the womb. But you know what he had? Total trust and confidence that God had made him. He didn’t need a doctor to tell him he had a relationship with God — it was clear to him: I can’t be alive if God didn’t make me alive. And that leads him to worship: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” What is he saying? I’m not a mistake. I’m not an accident. I’m not a mess-up. My life is valuable. I was crafted by God — he made me, and it is good. Wonderful are your works, and I know it deep down in me. My life matters because of God.

“My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret.” Listen to the imagery — he’s talking about being in his mother’s womb. “Your eyes saw my unformed substance.” I met with a family two weeks ago, and the dad made a great statement: “I know God loves my children more than I do, because he saw their face nine months before I did.” I thought, that’s a great perspective as a dad — God has a nine-month head start on me seeing my kids’ faces. He’s the first one who saw their faces. “In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” That is a verse I have shared at many of my family members’ funerals and memorials, where we have a start date and an end date to a person’s life that I loved — we didn’t know the start and end dates, but God did; he had it all written down. And you know the difference between the way I journal and the way God journals? When I journal, I talk about things that have already happened. When God journals, he talks about things that are going to happen. “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” We can think that if God knew the sick, dirty, nasty secrets in my life, he would hate me, want to get rid of me, want to eliminate me, want to condemn me. And David says: when God thinks about me, it’s precious. How vast is the sum of them — he’s thinking about me all the time. “If I would count them, they are more than the sand.” Do you think AI could tell you how many grains of sand are on this planet? How could anyone possibly know? And David says God thinks about me more than that. There’s no way to calculate it. And he says, “When I awake, I am still with you” — whether I’m dead or alive, it doesn’t matter; I’m with God.

So, what does a deep relationship with God look like? We’re not real deep, but God is. Number four: God created us, which gives our lives purpose and value. So a question I have to ask myself: am I willing to confess to God the various ways I have denied my God-given identity? Every time I have tried to find my identity apart from God, I have denied him. Every time I have tried to find purpose for my life apart from God, I have denied him. Every time I have tried to find value for my life apart from God, I have denied him. Look at our culture right now: our culture is saying, “We reject that God is our creator,” and it is trying to discover identity, purpose, and value apart from God. And what’s happening? Our culture is failing miserably. It is wandering aimlessly in a search for identity. It is hurting and crying out, “I want purpose for my life.” It is screaming, “Will somebody please value me?” And God is saying, “I do. I gave you purpose. I gave you value. I gave you your identity, because you have been made in my image.” What does Jesus say in the Beatitudes? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Every time I have tried to be satisfied by something this world has to offer, I have been very unsatisfied. The Scriptures say that Jesus is our righteousness — so hunger for Jesus and thirst for Jesus. And when we do, there’s a blessing: we shall be satisfied. It is possible to be satisfied — but only in Jesus Christ, hungering for him, coming after him, and following him. David knew God had created him, and David knew his life had purpose and value. David found his satisfaction in God. It didn’t mean the road was easy — but he found his satisfaction in God.

Verse 19: “Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent, and your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.” David’s just going off here. He says, “God, I want you to kill the people who don’t like you. They’re bloodthirsty men; I don’t want them around me.” Then he asks God some questions: “Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? Do I not loathe those who rise up against you?” Why is he saying this as a question? Who can answer the question David’s asking? Can David himself answer, “Am I hating the right people?” Can the people David hates answer, “Yes, you’re hating the right people”? The reason I think David asks it as a question is that it acknowledges David is not the judge. There is a judge who can answer this question — and David is acknowledging that the judge is the one he’s speaking to: God. So a deep relationship looks like acknowledging that God is the only perfect judge. He’s the only one who’s going to judge David’s life. So for my own life, in the place of honesty that’s very difficult, I have to ask: am I willing to confess to God the times I have been judgmental and condemning — where I chose to be the judge of somebody else, decided their sentence, and condemned them? Am I willing to confess the times I didn’t trust that God is the only perfect judge, but took that judgment into my own hands and acted like I was the one sitting on the throne? This is what Jesus says in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Scripture says vengeance is God’s — it’s a really risky business to get into the business of vengeance; that belongs to God. But God does ask us to be merciful, to show mercy to others, so that we can be people who also receive mercy.

Number six, in verses 23 and 24: “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!” This is a prayer you can pray every day. Let me explain how. Search me, O God — hey, it’s been twenty-four hours since we talked, God. We met yesterday, and now we’re back again; I was wondering if you could check my life again. Can you know my heart? My heart has felt a lot of things in the last twenty-four hours. God, can you help me understand what’s gone on in my heart in the last day? Try me and know my thoughts — my mind has been all over the place in the last day; can you help me process through what I’ve been thinking? God, I know we talked yesterday, but today’s a new day, and I was wondering: have you seen anything that’s offended you? Has there been any grievous way in me? God, I’m going to need your help to make things right. Can you lead me today? I know you led me yesterday, but I actually still need you to lead me today. Could you lead me today, please? Because I need someone to lead me in the way of everlasting. What does a deep relationship with God look like? Number six: God guides us into the way of eternal life. A question I have to ask: am I willing to confess to God all of my sins so that I can live free and forgiven in Jesus Christ? Let me tell you a lie the enemy wants to shove down your throat: “Don’t confess your sin. Don’t do it. It’s better if your sin stays hidden and covered up. Your life is better if you don’t confess your sin.” But that’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says that if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. If I say I have no sin, I lie and deceive myself, and the truth of God is not in me. The Bible says that when I confess my sin to God, I have the opportunity to be free and forgiven of my sin in Jesus Christ. I can’t carry around the weight of my sin — it’s too heavy for me. But Jesus Christ has done what is needed to take care of my sin; he paid for my sin on the cross — all of my sin. So, am I willing to confess to God all of my sin so that I can live free and forgiven in Jesus Christ? This is what Jesus says in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The purity doesn’t come from me or from you; it comes from the work of Jesus Christ to pay for my sin and yours. The blood of Jesus Christ is what cleanses us from our sin. When we accept the blood of Jesus Christ onto our lives — when we believe that it is enough to pay for our sin — there’s a blessing: blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

So what does a deep relationship with God look like? It looks like understanding this about God: God knows everything about us. God is always present with us. God remains in control as our circumstances change. God created us, which gives our lives purpose and value. God is the only perfect judge. And God guides us into the way of eternal life. These are some of the things David understood about God. If someone were to ask you, “What do you understand about a relationship with God?” — how would you answer? If somebody asked you about your relationship with God, what would you share with them? What have you learned about who God is as you’ve been in relationship with him?

I want to share two verses as we close. The first is for you if you’re trying to go after God — you want to have a relationship with God, you’re following Jesus and taking steps toward him, but there are just some things you don’t quite understand and can’t figure out. Here’s a verse to encourage you: 1 Corinthians 13:12 — “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall fully know, even as I have been fully known.” Right now we are all fully known by God, but right now we don’t fully know. We see in a mirror dimly. It’s okay if what you’re experiencing right now is that the mirror is a little fogged up — as you’re trying to follow the Lord, you can’t see it all clearly. It’s okay that the mirror is foggy. Don’t quit. Keep following God. Keep coming after Jesus. There’s going to come a time when we are face to face with God, and some things are going to make more sense. But until that moment, there will be times when the mirror is foggy and we can’t see it all — and it’s okay. Don’t quit. Keep following Jesus.

To a second group of people: maybe you’re here, and if I asked what kind of relationship with God you have, you would say none — zero, because you don’t have any relationship with God. I want to share a verse with you, because maybe today is the day you’re going to start. The verse is Ephesians 1:7 — “In Jesus Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” This verse explains that what Jesus Christ did on the cross to pay for our sins was enough to redeem us back to God. In Jesus Christ we have redemption through his blood, and what did the blood of Jesus accomplish? It accomplished us being forgiven for the sins we have committed against a holy and righteous God — the forgiveness of our trespasses. And it’s not because we’re good, not because we’ve done anything; it’s because God decided to give a gift to us that we didn’t deserve and didn’t earn, according to the riches of his grace. So if you’re here and thinking, “I want to start a relationship with God” — this is your verse. And I want to give you the opportunity to start, to pray together. Let’s bow in prayer. If you want to start a relationship with God today, I’m going to pray, and I’d encourage you to pray too — you can use my words if that would help. Dear God, I want to have a relationship with you. I want to be forgiven of my sin. God, I know that I have done wrong, and I want to repent — I want to turn away from my sin. God, I need your help to turn toward you. I want to believe that the blood of Jesus can cleanse me. God, would you help me to believe in Jesus Christ? Would you help me to believe that the blood of Jesus can cleanse me? God, I want to experience freedom. Would you please remove the weight of my sin? God, I want to experience forgiveness. Can you help me trust you? Can you help me follow you? I’m going to need your help, God, to have a relationship with you. Would you help me trust in Jesus Christ as my Lord, and trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior? We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, and all God’s family said, “Amen.”

If you just prayed to start a relationship with Jesus, I’d love to meet you — I’ll be standing right here, and I would love to know that today is the day you’re placing your faith in Jesus Christ. If you need prayer, our prayer room and team are available to pray. Church family, we love you. We have one more week in our Real People series, and we look forward to being back together with you next weekend. Happy Memorial Day, church. We love you. Have a great day.