How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! (Ps. 139:17)
Expanded Passage: Psalm 139:15-18
Most of our thoughts about God are really about ourselves. At least mine are. When I think or sing about God, I’m silently adding the word me at the end of every line. For example, when singing Eliza Edmunds Hewitt’s gospel song: “Sing the wondrous love of Jesus for me / sing His mercy and His grace to me.” Or this, from the prologue of John’s Gospel: “Through him all things were made including me.” We have the uncanny ability to inject ourselves into any subject, including our thoughts about God.
That’s a temptation with this passage from Psalms. When hearing that God knew us, formed us, and ordered our days even before we were conceived, it’s easy to read this psalm as a hymn to us. Yet to do so would be to miss the great thrust of David’s thought. The fact that God knows everything about us, that he could see us before we came to be, and can order the days of our lives before they occur, all while managing the vast array of planets and stars and the tiniest subatomic particles, should convince us of how great he is.
The great project of sanctification is to rid the soul of its selfish obsession so that we may love God with a full, pure heart. May his thoughts become even more precious to you than your own.
Count the stars tonight, and lose yourself in the wonder of God.
Lawrence W. Wilson lives in rural Indiana where he enjoys cycling, yard work, and reading a wide assortment of books. He is a freelance writer and editor, and coauthor of The Long Road Home (WPH).
© 2023 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
