Photo by Robert V. Ruggiero on Unsplash

This whole chapter in the Psalms is beautiful. I just choose one section. It is a beautiful reminder of how GOD sees us. He is the One who has known us since before anyone could see us…while we were still in the womb and being developed. He knows every detail of how we are made down to the last mole, imperfection and quirk inside and out. There is not one part of our frame that is hidden from Him. He knows it, and has known it from the very beginning.

Yet His thoughts toward us are precious. That is touching to me. It is as good as an embrace. Not only that, but His precious thoughts toward me would take all the grains of sand to count! Can you even imagine that? I can’t. To think that His precious thoughts toward you and me  could be that many?

I can’t think that many positive, loving thoughts toward myself! It is often easier to list more positive things about others than about myself. I think the reason is because I know all the hidden motives of my own heart. I know how mixed even the good things I do are… but that is a story for another day.

Is He sitting in heaven waiting for us to mess up? NO!

How often do we picture GOD as someone sitting in heaven, waiting for us to mess up so He can pounce on us? But that view of Him is a lie from Hell! That is the view Satan tried to sell Adam and Eve, isn’t it? He tried to tell them that GOD didn’t care about them. He was just trying to make their lives unpleasant by telling them they couldn’t eat from that one tree. Here they were in this beautiful garden with everything they could ever want, and they believed his lie for long enough to disobey. It is ludicrous isn’t it?

The truth is that GOD loves us more than we can imagine. His precious thoughts toward us are so many that they can only be numbered by the grains of sand…and then some!

But we often believe the same lie. We know that Jesus left heaven to live here on earth for 33 years so our sin could be paid for. It was not a pleasant life by earthly standards and in the end, His death was undeserved, brutal, and gory. But He died in our place so we could be free from the power of sin and live eternally with Him.

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.
I awake, and I am still with you.

Psalm 139:13-18 ESV

Action step: Take some time today to think about the many ways GOD has shown His love to you, both in general and to you personally. Jot down your thoughts so you can look at them on a day when you are feeling down. They will encourage you. Don’t forget to include such things as beautiful sunsets and other aspects of creation on your list.