God Is Here Always Near Page 1 of 8 God Is Here: Always Near Psalm 139 Today is the first Sunday in the season of Advent. The word advent simply mean arrival; this is the season that leads up to the arrival of Jesus on Christmas day. So, for Advent this year, we re calling our sermon series, God Is Here. Each week we ll explore a different aspect of the good news of Christmas the good news that when Jesus was born, God arrived on earth in a new and decisive way. The aspect of God s arrival that we re looking at this morning is that since God is here, God is always near. That is good news, right? God is always near. We want our God near. We don t worship a God who s sitting on a cloud somewhere way up in the sky looking down on us. We worship a God who came to us in Jesus, who made His home among us so that we could have a personal relationship with Him or as the New Testament calls it, so that we could be friends with God. In a way, that s what we re all about here at Williamson s Chapel. Our mission is to change lives and change the world through Jesus Christ. Lives aren t changed by some distant deity way up in the sky. The world isn t changed by someone sitting on the clouds watching like a spectator. No, our lives are changed by a personal encounter with Jesus. The world is changed by God s Kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven in the person of Jesus. On that first Christmas, everything changed because God came near. Today, we re going to look at Psalm 139, which is a song or a poem written by the great King David all about the nearness of God. It s not a typical Scripture reading for Advent. It doesn t actually mention anything about Jesus birth. Yet what I hope we ll come to see is that this psalm only makes sense, is only true if God has come near to us in a new way in the birth of Jesus. Let s take a look at how this psalm begins: Psalm 139:1-6 1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
God Is Here Always Near Page 2 of 8 Here King David is marveling at the fact that God knows everything there is to know about him, even more than a best friend. The great thing about God s nearness is that because God is always near, God knows us inside and out. God has seen everything we have ever done, everywhere we have ever gone, because God has been right there with us at every step. In fact, God knows us so well that He knows exactly what we are going to say before we even say it. Even before a word is on my tongue, says David, you know it completely. Have you ever had a friend like that? Someone who has spent enough time around you to know you fully, someone who knows you so well that you even finish each other s. (I was going to say sandwiches, but I guess you don t know me very well.) A couple of weeks ago I got to spend some time with friends like these. Mackenzie and I went down to Florida to attend my college roommate s wedding. We spent the weekend with old college buddies of mine, some of whom I hadn t seen since graduation, but almost immediately we fell right back into our college days. It was like we picked up right where we left off, ragging on each other, telling stories about each other. Even for the guys I hadn t talked to in years, it was like we d never been apart. When we left that weekend, I found myself realizing how much I had missed those guys, and I heard some of them express the same thing. We went away wishing we could spend more time in that kind of easy friendship that you can only have with someone who really knows you. Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever wish you had more friends who were close enough to really know you, whom you can be fully yourself around because they know you fully? Deep down I think we all feel that. Whether we recognize it or not, we all desire to be known. What else could explain the explosion of social media over the last decade? Facebook and Instagram give each of us a platform to put ourselves out there, to be known by others. Even if you re not on social media, and you re a lay-low kind of introvert just think about how good it feels when someone you ve only met once remembers your name the next time you see them. There s something about us as humans that we just want to be known. Even if we don t want to be famous, we want to be known by someone. The amazing picture that Psalm 139 paints is that God is the one who knows you the best because God is right here with you, because God is always near there s no one who knows you better. St. Augustine, one of the greatest Christian thinkers in history, said that all of our desires deep down are actually
God Is Here Always Near Page 3 of 8 desires for God. Our desire to be known by others really stems from a desire to be known by God. The joy we feel in the company of our friends who know us best is just a taste of the joy we can have in the company of the God who knows us completely. David says, O LORD, you have searched me and known me Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. Because God is here, always near, God knows us better than we know ourselves. Of course, isn t there such a thing as being a little too near too close for comfort? After my roommate s wedding the other weekend, my college buddies and I sat around a hotel room and told stories late into the night. We took turns laughing at each other s embarrassing moments from college. But then they began to tell stories about me. And I started to realize maybe it s a good thing I don t live near these guys anymore. Maybe I m glad they re not here to tell all of you about my most embarrassing moments. Maybe I wish they didn t know me quite so well. I wonder how many of you have felt like that like you re glad not to be surrounded by people who know everything you ve ever done, because you re not very proud of everything you ve ever done. I wonder how many of you have thought that if someone really knew you fully and completely then they wouldn t really love you. I wonder how many of you have felt that way about God. Maybe that s why Psalm 139 seems to take a sudden turn at verse 7: Psalm 139:7-12 7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night, 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. In the first part of the psalm, David seemed to be glad for God s nearness; it was wonderful and comforting to him, but now it s something he wants to escape: Where can I go from your spirit? he asks. Where can I flee from your presence? What s he running from? I thought we wanted a God who was always near; I thought we wanted to be known. Well, sometimes. Other times we wish we could grow wings and fly far enough away that no one, not even God, knows where we are. Sometimes we want to find comfort in the cover of darkness,
God Is Here Always Near Page 4 of 8 hoping we won t be seen for who we really are because who would love us then? There s this strange paradox in our lives: On the one hand, we all want to be known. But on the other hand, we think that if anyone really knew us, knew everything we ve said or thought or done, then there s no way they would love us. And we all want to be loved, don t we? So, we live with this tension between wanting to be known and wanting to be loved. In every relationship we have, we re constantly trying to balance these two desires. I bet every first date you ve ever been on has brought with it an inner struggle over how much you can tell your date about yourself without ruining your chances of a second date. And I bet you don t post about everything you do on Facebook just the things that might get a like. Kids worry that if their parents knew everything about them, they wouldn t still love them. Parents worry that if they tell their kids everything, they wouldn t still respect them. I imagine that the god many of you grew up with was a god you d want to hide things from, too. Maybe you were threatened as a child, God is watching. Or, Is that what you want to be doing when Jesus comes back? Or my personal favorite, Quiet! The preacher just walked in! So maybe we want a God who s always near, but not too near. Maybe we want a God who knows us, but not too well. Because we fear that a God who really knows us won t really love us. Every experience we ve ever had confirms that you can t have it both ways. Either you can be fully known or you can be fully loved, but not both. Perhaps now we can see why, in this psalm, David is both amazed by God s nearness and afraid of it. If God really knows me, David thinks, he can t really love me. But here s the thing. Christmas is where these two desires come together. The birth of Jesus is where we learn that we are fully known and fully loved. One of the most famous verses in all of Scripture says, John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. But then the passage goes on to say, John 3:17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
God Is Here Always Near Page 5 of 8 Why did God send his Son at Christmas? What was the purpose of Jesus coming? That you might be known and loved. Everything else in this world tells us that we can t have it both ways; we can be known or we can be loved. But God has given us His Word that we are fully known and fully loved. There s no way to hide from God; God has become one of us. There s nowhere to run from God; God has sent His Son to live among us. The good news is, you don t need to hide. God already knows it all, and He loves you all the same. Toward the end of Psalm 139, after 18 verses devoted to God s nearness and knowledge after David realizes how useless it is to try to flee God he pulls out a classic deflection move. He starts pointing his finger at others. He says, Psalm 139:19-22 19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me 20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil! 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. David s saying, Hey, at least I m not as bad as those other guys, right? But he s also trying to wrestle with this puzzle: if God knows everyone completely, if He knows everything we ve ever done, then what about the wicked? What about those who are far worse sinners than me or you? If God knows them inside and out; surely, he can t love them, can He? Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? asks David. His point is, Why, Lord, don t you hate them? Almost as soon as he says it, though, David seems to realize the truth of the matter. God doesn t grade on a curve. We should be glad that God doesn t hate our enemies, or He d very likely hate us, too. Left to our own devices, we are God s enemies. In just a few minutes, we re going to celebrate communion together, which begins by each one of us saying together the Prayer of Confession, which could very well be summarized as, God, I have been Your enemy. I have done things that mean You shouldn t love me. But you know what comes after that Prayer of Confession? Silence. That is always the most powerful moment of worship to me, the silence that comes after the Prayer of Confession. It s this moment when we ve finally put ourselves out there to be known. We ve aired our dirty laundry. We ve said to God and before one another, Okay, the jig is up. I am not who you think I am. I don t have it all together. I don t have a perfect past; I don t even have a perfect life now. I m a sinner.
God Is Here Always Near Page 6 of 8 Then there s this silence when we re just waiting to hear what God s response will be. If you ve ever had to make a serious confession, had to tell someone what you ve done when you know you ve really messed up, then you know what I m talking about. That agonizing silence when you ve laid it all out there and you re waiting to see how they ll respond. And I am almost moved to tears every time we get to this point in the communion service, when that silence is interrupted with these words: Hear the good news: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners; that proves God s love toward us. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven! When you hear those words, do you feel a sense of relief? Do they give you a break from the exhausting work of trying to make yourself known and make yourself loved by everybody else? Do they remind you that you have nothing to hide? These words are meant to give us permission permission to be ourselves before Jesus because we know we are loved by Jesus. And that gives us the freedom to be changed by Jesus, to let Jesus redeem us from the past that we re ashamed of and give us the future we long for. Early in Jesus ministry, He came across a woman who had come to a well to draw water in the middle of a hot day. He began to talk to the woman and offered her the gift of eternal life. The woman was thrilled and said she wanted to receive that gift, but first Jesus got personal: John 4:16-18 16 Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come back. 17 The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You are right in saying, I have no husband ; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true! Before Jesus granted this woman what she asked for eternal life He dug up the most personal, painful, perhaps shameful part of her life. He showed her that He knew things about her she thought He would have no way of knowing. He knew something she wished no one knew. Most amazing of all, though, is that after they finish speaking, the woman goes back to her town to tell everyone about her incredible encounter with this man named Jesus. Here s how she describes it: John 4:28-29 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!
God Is Here Always Near Page 7 of 8 What I find amazing about that response is that, of course, Jesus didn t tell her everything she has ever done. In fact, He only told her one thing about herself, but it was the one thing she didn t want Him to know. It s funny how the things we re most ashamed of often consume our energy more than anything else. The things we wish no one knew about us are the things we think about the most. This woman is relieved to find out that He knows this and yet He s still offering her eternal life. If He knows this one thing and can still love me, then He might as well know it all. I ve got nothing to hide. David ends Psalm 139 with these two verses: Psalm 139:23-24 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. 24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Do you hear the difference? David knows there s no use in trying to hide. David knows there is nowhere to run. Wherever he goes, God is here, always near. Perhaps David has finally realized that God not only knows all but loves all. And that gives him all the confidence he needs to say, Search me, O God, and know my heart. I m not proud of what I ve done, but I ve got nothing to hide from you. David ends on a note of trust that God will not condemn him for his past, but He will lead him in the way everlasting. CONCLUSION You know what else David did in these last two verses? He stopped pointing his finger at the wicked. He stopped trying to deflect God s attention to someone else. What if we, as Williamson s Chapel, decided to stop trying to hide our own faults and stop trying to judge each other s faults? What if we decided that God has given us the gift of being known and being loved, so this Christmas we are going to give that gift to each other? Imagine what this church would be like if everyone outside these walls knew that this was the one place where they could be known and be loved because God is here. Are you tired of managing your image? Aren t you worn out by trying to hide the worst parts of you and show off the best parts of you? Isn t it exhausting trying to balance that tension? Don t you want to be known and loved? Then hear the good news of Christmas: God is here, always near. And that means, Peace, good will toward all.
God Is Here Always Near Page 8 of 8 Life Application Questions: 1. Do you ever feel like you have to hide things from God? 2. Do you have anyone you can be honest with about your struggles and shortcomings? 3. How can you make others feel comfortable being honest with you about their struggles? 4. God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way. What sins or struggles do you need to invite Jesus to transform in your life today?