How precious are your thoughts
David has a very honest and open heart. He tells the Lord what he feels and what he is thinking and then the Lord speaks to him and helps him to see things as he should! When we talk to the Lord we can be honest and we can be ourselves. He wants us to be honest and open with Him.
Sometimes we just think our thoughts but other times it is good to write them down. Whichever way it is good to give them to the Lord!
In this psalm David is aware of God's infinite greatness and power, that is His omnipotence (All powerful). Also He knows absolutely everything. That is His omniscience (Omni Science!). We cannot hide from Him and we cannot hide anything from Him. He knows it already! He knows when we sit down and when we get up! He knows what we are about to say before we say it! (Whoops!) We cannot get away from Him. He is behind us and before us. Even if we dwell in the depths of the sea, such as Jonah did in the belly of the great fish, even there He is with us and keeps us! We should find these thoughts comforting in these dark and perilous times. However dark the days become or however light, it makes no difference to God because He is Light and in Him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5) If we start to fear and panic like David saying, ‘Surely the darkness will fall on me', David says that even the night shall be light about him and the darkness shall not hide from, or cover, him. He knew that God was with him at all times and that God was greater than his fear.
Verses 13-16 are wonderful verses telling us how God formed us in our mother's womb, even our inward parts. David says that He ‘knitted us together'. What a lovely image! He says we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made'. God knows every detail of our lives, even the number of hairs on our head! It says He ‘saw our substance being yet unformed'. How incredible! He knew how we would look even before we were formed! And He knew how long we would live and what each day of our lives would hold! He knew it all because He is God and, don't forget, He made us!!
It is wonderful to think on these things because it brings peace to our hearts in these troubled and anxious times. As David says in verse 17, ‘How precious are Your thoughts to me O God.' There are so many! They are more than the number of grains of sand on the seashore! (I used to sing that as a chorus many moons ago!) It is beautiful how David worships God in this way for he is obviously sleeping peacefully during this time and discovers God's presence with him even when he wakes!
We have a God Who loves us and He is always with us, promising never to leave us or forsake us.
David finishes this psalm with a prayer which we can make our own.
‘Search me , O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting'.
Jesus died for us that we might be forgiven and cleansed from our sin as we put our trust in Him.
Jean Holland
