A Reflection on Psalm 139

[Music] [Voiceover] Churchy fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a Godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tech Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Let us pray. We said everybody lives a long fulfilled life. Long fulfilled life simply means that you have fulfilled your purpose. Once your purpose has expired, then your life is fulfilled. People think of long life in terms of the way they count calendar years. I went to school for two semesters, and now I am in 200 level. Two semesters is not 24 months. You are already in second year. That second year is not 12 months. It can be seven months. So, it is the same thing when you say a semester, then a year is over, you move to the next year. You do not necessarily mean 12 calendar months. Is that not so? So, when we say God grants us fulfilled life, that God grants us to live into full old age and fulfill our days, we are the ones counting calendar. What God is counting is the purpose He has for your life and whether that purpose is finished. Once the purpose is finished, then your life is fulfilled. You have lived a fulfilled long life. And that was why at 33, we did not say Jesus—people still say Jesus died an untimely death. Did Jesus die an untimely death? Did Jesus die prematurely? Was it untimely? It was not untimely. It was a timely death. Why? He simply said, what was the statement on the cross? "It is finished" [John 19:30]. He was through with the work. So, if He lived further, He will just—what will He be doing? Living for Himself when there is no more purpose to be done. There is nothing again to do. And that is how we should look at life. And so when God is still granting you life, it is not because, "Ah, God likes me that is why I live longer than somebody." No, it is because our purposes differ. Our purposes determine these things. And I gave a very practical example with plants. If you plant tomatoes, beans, and let us take cassava, then you also have coconut. If you plant the three of them at the same time, what will happen over time? In three months, tomatoes will have fully matured. Is that not true? We would have harvested tomatoes. By the time you continue, after about towards the end of one year, you will pluck and pluck and pluck and then the thing will go. But if you pick something like coconut, by the time that one life is expired, coconut has not started yet. It is still growing. So, it is not because coconut has a longer life than tomatoes. It was because its own purpose and its own making is deeper. If you harvest coconut after one year, you will not get anything inside coconut. So, leaving it, allowing it to keep going on, is not because you love it more than the tomatoes. It is just that for its own making, as at a year, it is still growing, so it still needs to be growing. And if you leave tomatoes after one year, what will be happening to the tomatoes? They start getting bad. That is it. And so let us understand this issue of long life from the point of purpose. It gives us a lot of rest. And that is why it becomes very important—I said something that last month. It becomes very important for us on a daily basis to keep doing everything to understand purpose. The more you understand purpose, the more you know how long or how short you have to live. But if you are not understanding purpose and just pursuing several things, suddenly you are cut off. But go and look at men who have followed purpose. Go and check all of them. Look at Paul. He said, "I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith." Is that not true? [2 Timothy 4:7]. "Now there remaineth for me something something something." He could feel he was following it. So, when they were about to kill him, he was not saying, "Ah, brethren, please pray, so that God will deliver me from this place." He knew that there was no need for deliverance. "I have fought the good fight. I have kept the faith. Now there remaineth for me something. I am about to be offered" [2 Timothy 4:6-8]. So, he was willing to go because he knew the purpose was finished. It is because we are living for something else today, that is why it looks as if suddenly we are cut off. But if you understand purpose—Jesus when the time was coming, what did He tell Judas? "What you are doing, do quickly" [John 13:27]. He knows. And then when He was going, He said, "Now you enter a time of darkness." Pilate wanted to save Him. He said, "You do not even have power over me. I will put my life down and I will..." Because they were following purpose. And I tell people, if you will begin to live correctly and begin to follow what is purpose and you begin to understand it and begin to live for it and begin to follow it, the more you understand it, the more you know, "Okay, this thing needed to be done." By the time it is finished, you will be knowing that very soon I will be going. It makes life a lot more meaningful than just living for ourselves. I am giving all this background because today's topic is a reflection on Psalm 139. It is actually a follow-up to our discussion last month. So, that is why I am trying to recall what we did last month as we move on to look at a reflection on Psalm 139. What ought to be a Christian outlook to life? A reflection on Psalm 139. In bracket, "What ought to be a Christian outlook to life?" A reflection on Psalm 139. 139. Then in bracket, "What ought to be a Christian outlook to life?" And we move to Psalm 139 to look at it. It is a very, very familiar scripture. And we will try all the translations that we have here for it today. Now let us go to Psalm 139. I am having New King James. You are having The Message and several translations. Okay. Who is having NIV? NIV, good. So, you have Message, NLT, and Amplified. I think we should be okay with those translations that we have with us now. So, let us see Psalm 139. The topic is "A reflection on Psalm 139. In bracket, What ought to be a Christian outlook to life?" Psalm 139. We will begin from the verse one, but the verse of emphasis we will try several translations with them. It says, "O Lord, You have searched me and known me" [Psalm 139:1]. O Lord, You have searched me and known me. So, for God to know us, what does God do? We are reflecting on this Psalm. What does God do to know us? He searched us. Why will God need to search us before He can know us? He knows all things. Jeremiah 17 verse 9. Somebody should just read that for me. It said, "O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You have searched me." Who is reading Jeremiah 17 for us? [Speaker 2] "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve." [Jeremiah 17:9-10]. [Speaker 1] Are you getting something? The heart is deceitful. And sincerely it is incurable. Only God can cure the heart from its deceitfulness. It says, "Who can know it?" He says, "I the Lord, I search the heart. I try the motive. I try the reins. I try it." So, I will now reward every man according to his ways. So, where is the ways of a man? In the heart. In the reins. That is, in the motive behind the motives in the heart. Do you understand me? You know you can be doing something, even the actual motive you do not even know it. Only later, after some time, you now look very well, "Ah, but the truth is that this is the real thing." I remember discussing with a young man one day who had tried medicine about three, four times and could not get medicine. I now said, "Why not some other course?" Then we normally go to university hospital, Christian fellowship, evangelism to the sick. He now said, "It is because he has gone to the hospital and he just sees that if he can become a medical doctor, this evangelism will be able to do it much more better." I said, "That is wrong." I said, "The motive is—what you are saying is okay, but the way you are looking at it is not correct. It is God that determines where He puts us. You are not the one that choose where you will serve Him. Why not ask Him for your placement? You are not thinking that because you are doing hospital evangelism God will make you a doctor. It is not necessarily so." He now said, "That is true too, that is true." He said, "But you know, it is prestigious to be a doctor." Are you following something? You see, one looks at what is presenting to God, so that I can have reasons for my action. But having been taken out of the way, he was not able to see himself. And when he made that statement, I just said, "Okay, I do not know what answer to give again." I am talking of something now that happened in 1988, 89. But I got home that day and slept. As I woke up very early in the morning, the Lord just caught my attention. The Lord caught my attention and said, "Wale." He said, "As for him," referring to the brother we discussed together, he said, "I will withhold him from medicine to hide his soul from pride." I said, "Oh, I see. That is why he was trying and trying and trying but he never gets it." It would have been risky for him to become proud. Wow. I did not tell him anyway. I just watched him. He tried and tried medicine, did not get it. He eventually went for biochemistry. Today he is in Abuja, he is doing well. I have not discussed it with him. But the point I am trying to bring out is that God searches the heart. He was saying something. A man may be praying you see, "Ah Baba, oh Lord, ah I love You Jesus." God will not be moved by that. He goes to search the heart. He may just be doing that because he wants sympathy from people and if people see that sister cry... that may be the motive. You see, man is complex. He is so complex that even when he is presenting a sacrifice to God, God has to look beyond the presentation and go and check the reins, go and check the motive. And that was why I was telling somebody—you notice every time I speak I keep coming back to relationship and marriage because that is one area God has called us into. That is why I was telling somebody. You look at a sister or a brother, he is active in fellowship, he is two by three by four by five. "Ah, he must be good. I do not even know." I said, even God, God normally search. Are you understanding me? There is somebody who is active in fellowship, he is speaking in tongues, he is doing that, he is this, it does not make... because when he is even presenting it to God, God Himself is searching to know the person's ways. You now go and carry one [unclear: igbolugi]. Do you know what they call [unclear: igbolugi]? You that cannot see beyond the physical thing that you can just see because he is two by three by five, he is from your village, he read medicine, and so... in fact, the brother is quiet. No way about him. It is that he is nice. You do not understand this matter. You do not know man. I was discussing with a lady about this matter. He said somebody is trying to go out with her. I said, "So have you prayed about it?" She said, "Yes, she has prayed." She said, "But you know sir, do you know what I like about this boy? It is that he is so caring. He is so caring, sir." I look at the lady. I looked at her. I looked at her. And having done that, I just answered her. You know what I told her? I said, "My sister," because she is not really so young a person, she is about 27, 28. I said, "Look, my sister, a man can be anything when he is still pursuing. And having obtained the object of his pursuit, he reverts back to himself. You cannot say a man is caring because he is pursuing you with his love. You cannot say so. You cannot say so." And she said, "Okay, okay." She told me that he is nice. After some time she said, "But sir, there is one thing though. He has said something." I said, "What?" She said, "Sir, he said that I needed to be pregnant for him before the marriage can be contracted." I said, "But you said he was nice and that he is caring." She said, "I do not even understand again." Are you getting close to the answer that I can be talking with you now? The point I am trying to bring out is that, God... He said, "You have searched me and You have known me" [Psalm 139:1]. That is what I am trying to make you understand about life, is that God searches us and He knows us. He searches us. Do not think God does not know you. Do not ever think that Baba do not know you. He knows you through and through. He understands your tendencies. He knows your inclination. Even when sometimes you tend to do something that look very spiritual, if it is not, He knows. He knows. The first thing I am showing you as we reflect on Psalm 139 is that the Psalm opened with something that is so serious. He said, "O Lord, You have searched me and known me." You have searched me. God daily searches us. He daily tries our motives. He tries us in different ways. He uses different things to search our ways. Can I show you somebody in the Bible that God did that for? Remember Abraham. When God noticed the interaction between him and Isaac, and the interaction was becoming... He said, "Let Me search him. Abraham, take your only son. Not Ishmael. Ishmael is just one of those many things. I do not have the covenant relationship with that one. Your only son." So God, which one is the son? Even though they both came out of him. "Take your only son. That one, Isaac, whom you love. Go and kill him" [Genesis 22:2]. God just wanted to search. I am showing you searching. And then God was watching. He wanted to see what would happen. And then the man went carrying the boy and then he was going on. He was watching. He was checking the thought. He was checking the reins. "If God says I should kill him, what else should I do? Ah, he came from God and God wants him. Heh? Then what will now happen to my future? Ah, God knows." All those thoughts, Baba is following them. He was following them. He was following them. And when the man got there, he carried the knife. And God also saw that he is going to kill. "Abraham! The test is over. You do not need the death of the boy. Now I know that you fear Me" [Genesis 22:11-12]. He said, "Look, in blessing I will bless you." So, He searched him. He knows him. You may just be inside exam hall. God will just let Gabriel blow small breeze on that child. Let us see what he will do. And then the breeze just come. And then you could not remember what you read again for the first 30 minutes. Then Baba begin to watch. Let us see. Was watching. You are sweating. You are looking at the paper. You said, "Ah, this is my final exam. Will I fail? But I believe God will understand. Ah, I cannot fail. Second semester, 500 level." You look back. You look left. You look back. And then you saw a friend that they normally call fellowship because he is sisters' coordinator. He look around. "Godwin! Godwin!" Even Godwin would be surprised that, "Ah, why is sister Funke calling us?" Because she is not Funke spiritual coordinator. But all of that, what does God just do? To see what the person will choose. Whether righteousness or earthly riches. He just wanted to see. You see, God search us with different things. That is what many people do not know. Circumstance, situations, God will just throw one thing just to see. He says, "Lord, You have searched me and You have known me." You may just pass one day and then you get there, you present all papers and everything. And the man say, "No you cannot go. You must do this. Can't you just tell this small lie before you..." And God will just watch you. I mean different circumstances to test us and to know us. People do not know that God tests men. I am telling you, God tests men. And that is why He chose Abraham to make you see that God do search men. Wanting to know whether they fear Him. Wanting to know what and who they will choose in circumstance and situations. Based on His evaluation of the life, He knows what to commit to him and what not to commit to him. He said, "Lord, You have searched me and You have known me." We are reflecting on Psalm 139. "Lord, You have searched me and You have known me." The first thing I am trying to make you see as we reflect on this matter is that the Lord searches us and the Lord knows us. In different way, at different time, with different thing, He searches us and He knows us. And just to tell you how the Lord did that searching and knowing, is everything you find from the verse two. It says, "You know my sitting down and my rising up" [Psalm 139:2]. It is all a summary of that verse one. Are you understanding this? You know my sitting up and You know my sitting down and my rising up. "You understand my thought afar off [Psalm 139:2]. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways" [Psalm 139:3]. Can we try that from another translation? The last sentence in verse three, "And You are acquainted with all my ways." Can we check it in Amplified? NIV, part of verse three. [Speaker 2] "You are familiar with all my ways." [Speaker 1] You are familiar with all my ways. Other translation. NLT. [Speaker 2] "You know everything I do." [Speaker 1] Do you see? You know not many things I do. You know everything that I do. You know everything, everything that I do. You know it. Now, I hope you see that it is just summarizing that verse one. I only showed you in verse one how God gets to know everything that we do. He searches us. He tries us. He tries the reins. He tries this. He checks this. He looks at it. He puts it on. And on and on. He tries to see what could be there. And He tries to look at it. He looks at it through and through. He leaves us to ourselves. Go and check Hezekiah. Bible says God left him to search him to see what he would do. You see God different time, trying the heart and trying the rein of men to know what is there. One thing that struck me of all in this scripture, before He says, "You know everything that I do." You know it. And nobody should be in doubt about that. Now, having said that, you will see how the Psalmist continues some other things. Let us go. Verse four. "For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether" [Psalm 139:4]. Is that not true? "You have hedged me, You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me" [Psalm 139:5]. That is the third thing. Can we see somebody that God did that for? Can you give me an example again that God did that for? God hedged him in behind and before. He wanted to try them and to know them. We saw it in Abraham. But there is another one again in scripture that God hedged them in both ways and God was watching to see what will happen. Job. That is another very good one. God hedged him in. He laid His hand on him. He said, "Go. Go and take everything. Let us see." At everywhere. In a single day, ten children, 11,000 livestock. [sound of a slap]. And God was watching. Let us see. That is the serious hedging. When He hold you here, He hold you here, and He lay the hand on him to see what will happen. You know when you bring anything under pressure, if you press orange and you press orange and you press orange, when you hedge orange in, what will happen to orange? Orange will burst. And then it will give you what? Mango juice? What will it give you? So, when you hedge in, you hedge in and hedge in, what happens? It brings out what is inside. So, pressure do not make us what we are not. It brings out what is in us. That is why sometimes God will hedge us in. He will hedge us, hedge us, hedge you and see what you will do under pressure. And they say, "Ah, actually I do not want to do it. It was because..." No, Baba of only gotten what He wants. It is just to bring out all these things inside. He said, "You have hedged me in, out here. You lay Your hand on me." I am showing you how God, what God does to know us. You can pick the three Hebrew boys also, how God hedged them in. Fire, heat it seven times, tie them, put them inside. And God was watching. And as they were tying them, they were carrying them, He was watching. And as if nothing would happen, He was watching. And they carry the boys. Let us see what they will think in their mind. Let us see how they will change their mind. They say, "Ah, heh? Hedged? No." You see, stay steady, be patient. Baba was trying to, He wanted to see. And He followed them inside. And He was watching. And He did not show up until they were inside the fire. So, inside the fire, God said, "Wow, this ones, they are worth it." And then He showed up in the fire. That is why sometimes God do not, God do not deliver us from. God deliver us in. He waited because He is hedging you in. He will not deliver you from something. He will deliver you in the thing. He said, "We are hedging you in, hedging you in, hedging you in" to see what you will do. He will still show up, but He wanted to show up inside. And that is why some part of the exam, Gabriel blow small hair, just the small breeze on the sister or on the brother. And the brother just forgot, "Ah, mmm. The 'Y' over there? No. The 'X' over the 'Y'? Ah, no." Have you ever done it before? You do like this, you look inside this... Paper is so white and then you begin to work. Baba is through with what He wanted to do. Just checking you. Just hedging you in. Do you not see that happen? Oh my, I am telling you that God tests men to know how to place them. Nobody suddenly take men to work. Every coach know the capacity of every person. Or he may say, "Ah, change that person. Bring Kunle. Kunle will do well here." He knows which one. Nobody takes soldiers into army without being sure of the quality and the worth of who they are. So, I am showing you God. He said, "You have searched me and You have known me." And I am showing you different way we feel God searches us today. What I am trying to make you see as we reflect on this matter is that in Him we live, in Him we move, in Him we have our being. People think God is so far away. God is close. God is constantly around with all His things. He is there. God is not, He is not one person that is watching from afar. And that is why the Yorubas call Him [unclear: Adajola Egbajo]. That is, He just go into judgment without hearing case because He is part of the case. Was He not part of the case? He was part of the whole incident when you were doing it. He will just go into His own judgment. So, You hedge us in in different way, at different time. I can give you practical example as a student of things God has done. I remember writing an exam, ACC 211 and BUS 211. By the time I come back to check my results, second level first semester, they said, "No result." But I know I wrote the exam. They just put "absent." I went everywhere. I went, I run up and down did everything. They said they not find the result and all of that. Not knowing what to do. Mind you, second semester there was nothing like internet. So, what you do is that if you do not complain at a particular time, you cannot register again. And the best you can do is to pick "Add and Drop" form. If you are not sure of a result, you pick, you add it, then by the following time you will drop it. You use "Add and Drop" form for what you are not sure of. So, by time second semester was going in, I had to pick "Add and Drop" form, still wanting result. And as we were there some people now called and said, "Ah, Wale you are not serious. This your pastor thing. Please go to the script room. You have gone to that member two three times now. Give him something. He will go and search the script room and he will bring out your script. Give him something to go and find the script." I said, "I would rather rewrite the exam. If the man cannot do his work without being bribed, let me rewrite the exam." That was my stand then. So, I just went and then... but suddenly the morning of the following day, this word of Samson just came to mind. And it was so strong that morning, "Out of the strong will come out sweetness. Out of the eater will come forth meat" [Judges 14:14]. I just began throughout the day, "Out of the strong will come out sweetness. Out of the eater will come forth meat." My friend said, "Wale go and rewrite." I said, "No, out of the strong will come out sweetness." I was saying that thing over and over and over again. Over and over again. I think by the following day, I do not know what courage just came upon me. I just went to the lecturer who took the course. I had been going all this while and he was just sending me off. I just went to meet him again. I said, "Sir, I wrote this exam and they are telling me missing result." He said, "Heh?" The man who had been sending me off. He said, "Heh? You wrote? Which class?" "Sociology." He said, "Heh? Sociology? Why not searching there?" So, the things were not even in the script room. If I had bribed the man, nothing would have come out. He now took it. And just as He carried it, and He just turned it, I just saw my script. I said, "Sir, look at it sir." He said, "2075?" I said, "Yes sir." He said, "Where is your, where is your ID card?" I brought my card. "Ah, you did well. B. Take it to the department." I left there. I went again to the second one that same morning. I went to the second one. I said, "Sir, I wrote this exam and they said there is no result." He said, "Heh?" He said, "The scripts are here. Just come and search. Come and search." I searched sociology, I did not see it. Suddenly something just said carry that pack. And that was accounting of business part. Carry that pack. I went and I carried the pack. The first script on it was my script. So, they mixed it up. That is why they could not find my result. I said, "Sir, see this one. This script." I said, "Yes, but it is my script sir." He said, "It is okay, it is okay." You just sign again and I went up and I submitted it to the room. So, you understand what I am trying to bring out? God just wanted to see what we would do. You see, I am trying to make you understand this hedging in. He said, "You have hedged me in" [Psalm 139:5]. You have hedged me in here and there. Many of these little compromise we do, they cost us short of placement in divine things. This little compromise we do here and there, they cost us short of placement. You will think it just happened. Let us, let us, let us learn to rest on the Lord. We are looking at, the topic is "A reflection on Psalm 139." Then the bracket is, "What ought to be a Christian outlook to life?" What should be our outlook? And we are just searching. What should be our outlook to life? "You have hedged me in out here. You lay Your hand upon me." I am showing you how God, what God does to know us. You can pick the three Hebrew boys also, how God hedged them in. Fire, heat it seven times, tie them, put them inside. And God was watching. And as they were tying them, they were carrying them, He was watching. And as if nothing would happen, He was watching. And they carry the boys. Let us see what they will think in their mind. Let us see how they will change their mind. stay steady, be patient. He wanted to see. And He followed them inside. And He was watching. And He did not show up until they were inside the fire. So, inside the fire, God said, "Wow, this ones, they are worth it." And then He showed up in the fire. That is why sometimes God do not, God do not deliver us from. God deliver us in. He waited because He is hedging you in. He will not deliver you from something. He will deliver you in the thing. And He said, "We are hedging you in, hedging you in, hedging you in" to see what you will do. He will still show up, but He wanted to show up inside. And that is why some part of the exam, Gabriel blow small hair, just the small breeze on the sister or on the brother. And the brother just forgot, "Ah, mmm. The 'Y' over there? No. The 'X' over the 'Y'? Ah, no." Have you ever done it before? You do like this, you look inside this... Paper is so white and then you begin to work. Baba is through with what He wanted to do. Just checking you. Just hedging you in. Don't you see that happen? Oh my, I am telling you that God tests men to know how to place them. Nobody suddenly take men to work. Every coach know the capacity of every person. Or he may say, "Ah, change that person. Kunle. Kunle will do well here." He knows which one. Nobody takes soldiers into army without being sure of the quality and the worth of who they are. He said, "You have searched me and You have known me." And I am showing you different way we feel God searches us today. What I am trying to make you see as we reflect on this matter is that He said, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain it" [Psalm 139:6]. I hope you know what he is trying to say. That the way God knows him is such that it is so wonderful, that he himself cannot know himself the way God knows him. You get the point I am making? Because he does not search himself. For some of the things I am telling you now, you know you will be wondering, "Heh, so God was even trying to know me." So, are you seeing that even we ourselves, we do not know ourselves the way God knows us? That is why he say, the way You know me is even too much. But he is still going to go to another dimension on this matter. This is the first dimension to it. Searching and knowing. He says, having said that, he was now interpolating some things that we can just read through together. Now, please take your Bible, whatever translation, let us be reading together from verse seven. "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night shall be light about me. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but night shines as day. The darkness and light are both alike to You" [Psalm 139:7-12]. Are you seeing the extent to which this man raised the matter? He said, now I have now come to realize that there is no iota of me, there is no intricate details of me in terms of my deeds that You do not know. And there is nothing I can do to hide anyway from You. What ought to be a Christian perspective to life? What ought to be a Christian perspective to life? In reflection of Psalm 139. What ought to be our perspective and understanding, knowing of this thing? Having said that in terms of our actions and our doing, from verse 14, he now took another dimension. From verse 14, he said another dimension of this knowledge. He says, "I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" [Psalm 139:14]. He is now coming now, he has left works and deeds. What is he coming to now? The art of creation and foreknowledge. He has left our works and our deeds. That, God have all the details. He is now coming back to the art of creation. That is another dimension to God's knowledge. And in saying that, he said, "Look, even my making, I am fearfully and wonderfully made." For those of us, who have a little knowledge of biology because of study, do you know that even the fact that you are born is a miracle? Do you understand that? The chance with which you were born is one in a million chances. What I mean is that, your mom only gave an egg. Your dad released close to 3 million sperm. And only one of them will fertilize the egg. At the end of the day, it was you. That in itself is serious. You are just one in million chances. You could have been somebody else. You could have been a female. You could have... it is just a chance. But God was following that chance. That is what we want to go into now. That is why he said, even my making, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. If you put a million sperm to fertilize one egg, who will follow which one will fertilize the egg? If I use just a million, but I know it is about 3 million in an ejaculation. Now, if they are all traveling, anybody is moving, a chance, just random movement. Who can pick the one? Let us use one million that will eventually be the one to fertilize the egg that they are rushing to. And yet at that point, God was pursuing the one that will go. David when he was to use the sling, it was done at a chance. Who took the stone directly to where it is most vulnerable? You say, "Ah, that is not possible." Let us take another one again. Let me show you God in creation. Do you know that even cock do not crow except as God's permission? He said, "Before the cock crow thrice, you would have denied me" [Matthew 26:34]. Do you understand me? Even the crowing of the cock is part of God's working. Things you see as if they are chance, I see they are chance chance here. I am showing you God in creation. I am showing you how God fill creation in a way that is amazing and awesome. Look at how Ahab was killed. Remember how Ahab was killed? Jehoshaphat came to visit Ahab. Prophets were gathered to prophesy. They were all saying the same thing. They went to call Micaiah. Are you familiar with that story? Are you familiar? Be familiar with Bible stories, even if you do not know the revelation. But know all the story. If you do not know the Bible story, then you have not done Bible appreciation. That is a foundational thing every Christian should do. Bible appreciation. There is no story in the Bible that you do not know. I do not mean you have all the revelation, but there should be no story, no Bible story that you do not know. You might not be able to pick the chapter, the verse, but at least the book, and this is the story. In that story, they called, they now went, he said, "No any other prophet here?" That was by Jehoshaphat. And then he said, "There is one! One stupid one like that that would never tell me any good thing." So, they went to bring Micaiah. When Micaiah came, what did he say? He said, "Ah, you will win the battle and everything." And he said, "Oh goodness, for how long have I told you you should always tell me the truth." He said, "You want to hear the truth? Okay. I see Israel scattered like sheep without shepherd." And then as time was going down, they just slapped the man, shut up. He look, the king will go and turn back. He said, "Okay." He said, "If you go and you come back from this battle, then the Lord has not spoken through me" [1 Kings 22:1-28]. They went for the battle. And when they went, what happened? They changed their garment. Ahab wore his cloth of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat wore the cloth of Ahab. So, when the archers saw Jehoshaphat, they pursued him. But from the way he was running, "No, this is not Ahab." So, they left that one. The Bible now says, please go and check that story. What the Bible says. Bible says about how the arrow was shot. It said, "No, somebody just shot." It said, the Bible tell how the arrow was shot. What the Bible say about how the arrow was shot? The Bible says, "And a man shot a arrow at a venture." That is, [unclear: o kan yin aro soke ni]. He just shot it at a venture, at a chance. He just shot the arrow. He said, "And the arrow hit Ahab by the belt" [1 Kings 22:34]. That is, it was not targeted. Who changed the direction? Your father released sperm at a venture, but Baba was targeting who he wanted to God. I am showing you scripture. I am showing you a reflection of Psalm 139. I see the point in my heart I began to fear God as I was reflecting on this thing before I came to you myself. I see God. The intricacy with which God knows us. The intricacy, the detail. You will now see how this thing will come back at the end. But the intricacy, the detail. By time you say, "Boy or girl," before the boy or girl, Baba know whether it is going to be a boy or it is going to be a girl. All that He programmed and He determined and He was following the venture. When the "X" cells were running too much, "Gabriel, put them this way. Let the 'Y' go." Are you understanding me? And like that, like that He want a male child or He want a female child. All of these were with God. Now, He says, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" [Psalm 139:14]. Even my making. And I am showing you this making. That you are one in a million... I say you a million, but you are one in million chances. So, even from birth, there has been a race about your life, and you are that person that came out. But it looked like a chance. It was not a chance. It was a deliberate chance. Now, he says, "My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest part..." [Psalm 139:15]. When they were putting the frame, how your bone will be, the size of your skeleton, the way it will be arranged, everything. Who was busy working? So, are you seen the intricacy of the detail? Now, he says, "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed" [Psalm 139:16]. He did not say your eyes saw the substance. He saw *my* being yet unformed. Now, what do you see that completes that thing? He says, "And in Your books, they were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there was none of them." Job 14 verse 1 and 2. Job 14:1-2. Man born of a woman. Somebody read for us. We are all due in the same boat. Job 14. How great this man is. "Man who is born of woman... Is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away. He flees like a shadow and does not continue. And do You open Your eyes and search for such a one, and bring me to judgment with Yourself? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one. Since his days are determined" [Job 14:1-5]. Please, what is determined? What is determined? Not only the day. Move on. [Speaker 2] "The number of his months is with You. You have appointed his limits so that he cannot pass." [Job 14:5]. [Speaker 1] The Message. Please go to that other verse three where it was giving us... "The mortals have a limited lifespan. You have already decided how long we will live. You set the boundary. No one can cross it." So, which type of life are you living? You are living a timed life. Timed. Timed life. That is the life you are living. That is what I am showing you again in that Psalm 139. He says that, "And in Your book they were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there was none of them." When as yet there was none. None of them. The days, the month, they have been fixed. All those things have been worked out. The intricacy and the details. They have been worked out. You know what I am trying to make you see? What did God tell Jeremiah? Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5. He said, "Before you were born, I knew you. Before you were born, I knew you and I ordained you to be a prophet." So, are you seeing that there is ordination, there is purpose that determines the number of days that is apportioned to each person? Based on the purpose, you will live so so day, so so month. For this one, you live so so days, so so months. And that is how they were apportioned. So, it does not have to do with, "You see, because God loves me more, that is why me I had a 100 years, and somebody else has 70 years." Play those things beside. Play those things one way. Because that is not where the fullness of life is, where what it means to have fullness of life. What I am trying to make you see is this matter of the intricacy, how intricate... And if you want to expand this intricacy, if you look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4, what did he say about Christian? He says, "Just as He has chosen us in Him before the foundations of the world." He chose us in Him before the foundations of the world. So, when were we chosen in Christ? Before foundations of the world. Your father was still in the great, great grandfather and all of them were still inside Adam when God already saw you as a person and He chose you. And you are saying that there is no intricacy in this matter? You see there are no details? That is why when somebody wrote something on the internet and everybody was circulating it I just laughed. He said people are talking about the will of God, the perfect will of God, the permissive will of God. He said there is nothing like all of all these things. He said what is important is God's ultimate decision, will. His position and His will. He said for example, God want us as Christians to have a happy home. That is His will. How we get there does not concern God. His will is just that we should be happy in our marriage. So, whether you see somebody you like that you chose, or you see somebody, as long as you are happy in your marriage, that is the will of God. I shook my head. And he went on and said so many things like that. He said what is important... people place too much attention on the process, that God is not interested in the process. What God is interested in is the ultimate thing, what eventually come out. He said for example, God want us to be healthy. How you get there does not matter. It is just that you are healthy. And he went on again several examples. And I said in that case, we can start extrapolating. God could have also told His name Jesus too was very, very foolish. All God wanted him to do was to die. He could not, he should not have died the way he died. He could have died more honorably. Since God is not interested in how it happens. God is interested in that he died. So, God is interested in that he should just die. Whether he... he said if Jesus had been very, very wise, he should have outsmarted Judas. He could have waited till about he is 100 year, live and marry. All God wanted is that he should die. Taking that reading. You see, by the time I responded back to the matter, people were able to get what I was trying to say that look, wait, all this teaching that is coming out today. God has intricate details of our life. And that is why I tell somebody, I will never copy anybody. I am too significant to be a photocopy of someone. I want to be myself because there are no two me. I want to be myself. I want to be what God wants me to be. Simple. I do not want to be because what God wants me to be is unique and significant within the context in which it was made. Now, the reason why I am saying this is that we should look at this matter. We are looking at Christian perspective to life. That I am not accidental. I am not an interruption. I am not an afterthought. I am God's deliberate thought. I am God's deliberate thought. There is deliberate thought. I tell people, I am a child of His brain. I am a product of His effort. Outlook to life. And that ought to constrain some. And so, if you look at something, look at what he now said. What follows in verse 19? "Oh that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise against You? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" [Psalm 139:19-24]. What is the response to all this complexity? What ought to be our response to all this complexity? It starts from verse 19. He says, "O God, that You would slay the wicked." So, who is the wicked? The wicked is that man who take no thought of this. The wicked is that man who... for somebody to be alive and not see all of this is a wicked person. For somebody to be alive and not care to bother about God, and not care to think about God, and not care to see God. Look at all that God did before you came. And you came and you are just living for yourself. And you came and what He did did not bother you. You just felt, "Eh, I was born, I was born, and so what?" And you are just living. He said, "O God, oh that You will slay the wicked." Oh that You will kill the wicked people. He said, "O God, You can see that they take Your name in vain. 'Ah, forget that God inspiration thing. Niger is what we will do.'" They just take His name in vain. They are not concerned about His name. They are not concerned about His purpose. They are not concerned about His intent. They are not concerned about God. It does not bother them that God had a purpose. It does not bother them that they were created for God's pleasure. They do not care. He said, "God, I hate them with perfect hatred." When I see people who do not bother about You, when I see people who are not concerned with all of this that You have done, He said, "God, search my heart. You can see how I just associate with them." That is why I tell you people, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. It is not just about marriage. Why will you move with people who do not care about God's name? About God's glory? About God's praise? And they are living and you are calling them... and you are laughing. You are watching pornography and you are enjoying it. You are watching... and you are laughing. Somebody want to talk about making... you too you are laughing. How many, how many mock at Christianity and you do not feel anything? People take His name in vain. He said, "O Lord, search me. If in any way I have acted like the wicked person, please God know my heart. Try me, know my thought. And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way of life." Lead me in the way of life. Lead me in the path when You have searched me. If You see that in any way I am not true to You, if in any way I am not faithful to You, if in any way I am not sincere with You, if in any way I have not reciprocated Your love. Since You love me, I ought to love You. Since You are so concerned about me, I ought to be concerned about You. If in any way You see anything, he said, "Search me, O Lord." If there is anything that is not correct, please know my thought. Please put me in the path of life. Do not let me go in the path of death. Do not put me in the path of men that You will slay. And that is why God will slay the wicked. He has reserved a day for that to be done. God will eventually slay the wicked. Because, go and check it. Go and check it. He said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" [John 3:16]. He said, "For the Father sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved. He who believe in Him, that is, who accepts this God's love, is not condemned. But he who believe not, who reject God's love..." He said, "He is condemned already because he has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God" [John 3:18]. That is the condemnation upon the world. God is not even really condemning men for fornication, for lying, for stealing, for adultery. That is not the first condemnation upon the world. What is the condemnation upon the world? That they refuse to accept His love and be converted. Because He knows that if they accept His love and they are converted, grace will come so much that will make them live above sin. He knows they cannot live above sin. And so He is not telling them, "Oya, go and live right." Did He say that? No. He knows they cannot live right by themselves. He knows it. So, what did He do? He decided to do something to give them ability to live right. And they said, "No, we do not want." And those that have even accepted it, they do not take it serious. So, what do you want God to do eventually? You cannot stop lying. Okay, I came to give you what will make you stop lying and you did not accept it. The one that accepted it... one of those things. Then what else do You want Him to do? That is why Bible says, "If such a man refuse this, there is no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful awaiting of judgment" [Hebrews 10:26-27]. For it is a terrible thing to fall into the hand of an angry God. Our God is a consuming fire. That is why He says, "Oh that You would slay the wicked." Because it is gross hardness not to respond to the love of God. It is being hardened. My thought looking at Psalm 139, I have just reflected on it. I want you to go home. You would still go back home and reflect on this thing. And look at it over and over and over again. Go and reflect on it. Are you a wicked person? God will eventually slay the wicked. Have you been wicked? Look at all He did. Look at all the detail. Look at all the scripts. Look at everything. He gave you a chance in a million. Look, go and look at it from the start. Look at it to the finish. And tell me where God have done you evil. That you think that the best thing to do to Him is to ignore Him. Let us pray. I want you to talk to the Lord. You know yourself. A reflection on Psalm 139. You know yourself. Talk to the Lord. Tell the Lord yourself. You know where your life stand. You know how your life run. I do not know how the reflection came to you, but you know yourself. You know yourself. Are you a wicked person? He said, "This is the whole duty of man. The whole duty is to fear God and to keep His command" [Ecclesiastes 12:13]. That is the whole duty of man. Can you see that man do not have any other duty than to fear God and keep His command? Man do not have any other duty. Search your path. Maybe you need to tell God, "God please search me, know my heart. Try me, know my thought. See if there is any evil way in me, and lead me in the way of life." Lord, lead me in the path of life. Even if you need to tell the Lord to lead you in the path of life. Or maybe you have identified some things and you want to say, "Lord, I am so sorry about this. I have been so hardened against You. I do not know why I have not just paid attention to all of this love that You have shown to me." Lord, help me to reciprocate Your love. God so love us. He so love us. I am telling you it is a great love. It is such an intricate love. It is such a complex love. Constantly thinking of you. Constantly thinking about you. Because He has designed something in your life and He wants the thing to come forth. He has a purpose. He has a purpose over your life. He has something that He wants to break forth in your life. He has something He wants you to give attention to. He has something He wants you to look at and consider. He did something. And He wants you to see it. He wants you to discover it. He wants you to fellowship with Him so much that you can know them. He said it is the honor of God, it is the glory of God to conceal a matter. It is the honor of the king to search them out [Proverbs 25:2]. God wants you to search out what He proposed for you. What He has put in place for your life. He wants you to search that. He wants you to pursue. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. I am so glad that our Father in heaven tell of His love in the book He has given. Wonderful things in the Bible I see. This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me. Oh, I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me even me. Oh, I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me even me. Our Father... it is such an amazing grace. It is an amazing grace. The hymn writer said, "Amazing Grace." It is so amazing that You love human this much. That even when we are yet sinners, Christ died for us [Romans 5:8]. It is so amazing Your love, Your thought about us. The extent that You have done. The thing that You have done. The intricacy, the complexity, the profoundness, the awesomeness of this thing. Lord. It is so amazing, Lord. It is so amazing, Lord. Lord, I pray this afternoon everywhere our heart is hard against You. Everywhere our heart is hard, hard against You. Everywhere we have not, we have not taken this to heart. Everywhere we have not realized the depth, the profoundness of Your love. Bible says Your love passeth knowledge [Ephesians 3:19]. See the depth of Your love that passeth knowledge. Lord, help us to sound the depth of Your love. Help us to sound the depth of Your love. Help us to sound this depth. This love is so deep. It is so deep, it is so wide. Lord, help us to sound the depth of this love. In the name of Jesus Christ. That love will judge. That if He die, if He die for us, then we all are dead. So that we henceforth will no more live for ourselves, but we live for You who died for us and rose again [2 Corinthians 5:14-15]. In the name of Jesus Christ. Let Your love constrain us. Let Your love constrain us. Let Your love constrain us. Let Your love constrain us against personal ambitions, against personal desire, against selfish ambitions. Let Your love constrain us against the murmuring of self-will. Let Your love constrain us against our desire for sin. Let Your love constrain us, O God. In the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Father. Blessed be Your holy name. In Jesus' name.