Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Be With Me is a daily 7 minute chronological walk through the New Testament hosted by Michael Smith. It is for everyone who is curious about what Jesus actually said and did in the gospels. Most episodes will leave you with at least one good thought to chew on for the rest of the day. We start with the Bible and hopefully end with Awe. We are walking through the chronological events of Jesus' life and then thoughtfully considering them. It is meant to spur the devotional life of the Christian and the not-yet-Christian. We occasionally venture into the Old Testament when it helps our understanding of the New Testament events. Everybody has 7 minutes. Everybody needs to wonder. Be With Me is hosted by Michael Smith who has absolutely no special qualifications to do a podcast. He is not a pastor. He has not been to seminary. He does not lead a mega-church. He is not a professional and he has no more credentials than you do. He does, however, follow a great God with an observant eye and a curious heart. Each day, he starts with a study bible and aims for astonishment. ‘be with him’ for 7 minutes as he sets out daily to discover the God who invites us to ‘Be With Me.’
Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
“I don’t care what God thinks” S30e158 Ps139
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We might scream every once in a while, "I don't care what God thinks!"
Easy there tiger. Today let's use Psalm 139 as the antidote to such foolishness. In it, God will call us CLOSE. He'll awe us in CREATION. He'll concern us with CONVICTION and use it to pique CURIOSITY in us.
Join me for 7 minutes in Ps 139
https://youtu.be/3XqwxS-Q4hA
“I don’t care what God thinks” S30e158 Ps139
Closeness, Creation, Conviction and the Curiosity of Ps 139
CLOSENESS
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
We have a God a little too close for comfort.
If your proximity alert is going off here, you are on the right track
On thing you are not is HIDDEN. The Lord knows our steps, our words, our futures
To escape from Him is an inclination; it is also an immpossiblity
Am I known. “I just want to be known”…for all my good parts.
I just want to be hidden…for all the bad
It probably is a good spiritual marker to be known before the Lord, to be exposed before the Lord
It is a good spiritual marker to WANT to be known before the Lord
Creation
The greatest witness to me, of the existence of God, is the existence of ME
That is, we cannot “explain” creation without coming to a point of what will I do in the existence of God as creator
That is applicable to seeing red pandas, and sunsets
But it also is in relationship to the very existence of myself.
I know I didn’t create me…So who did, Who is this Fashioner?
It asks: WHO MADE ME 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
CONVICTION
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Search me, know me NOW.
There is a moment or maybe a season when we think things and do things that are not pleasing to God, but as of yet, as of this momen they do not displease us
In this absence of conviction there is in Psalm 139 a call for self-consideration
Search me, know me NOW.
Try me, test me, know my thoughts NOW. SEE if they come to GRIEF Why?
It is a request to Dial UP in me the conviction of Sin
See if there is a grievous way. See if I’m travelling any dreadful and dangerous paths that I am not aware of.
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Search me, know me NOW.
Try me, test me, know my thoughts NOW. SEE THE GRIEF Why?
See if there is a grievous way. See if I’m travelling any dreadful and dangerous paths that I am not aware of.
The AWARENESS can be the warning. The protective hand
Look intently, search this out in me, find the shameful paths that will lead to my harm.
Keep me OUT of danger by revealing the dreadful before I travel toofar upon its way
So I 1. Don’t come to harm
2. So you lead me in the way everlasting
There are, I suppose, many many ways to NOT end up in the everlasting way
May I receive it, listen for the warning shot.
Lord, It is a request to Dial UP in me the conviction of Sin
May it be a call 139 a call for self-consideration
You know me. You see me. I welcome You
CURIOSITY
How precioius to me are your thoughts v.17
Then today, DO I VALUE the thoughts of God. Another way of saying:
Do I value what God values?
What is my enthusiasm for the thoughts of God? His ways, yesterday, his people
It is a call to be eager to be searched
Are the thoughts of God PRECIOUS, treasured by me?
Practically, do I have a CURIOSITY for the words and point of view of God?
We encouraged beginning to do the behaviors of esteeming
so as to then lead to eventually regarding those thoughts as treasure.
How would I assess in you that you value the thoughts of God?
Is your heart inclined devotionally towards Him?
Assess this in intent, but also in structure.
Have you structured study, inquirey, prayer, listening, fellowshiop with the people of God, Isonlation with the Person of God.
Then : submission
To value God correlates with valuing His thoughts
If God is my treasure, If His thoughts are my treasure, it probably would show in the acreage of my time, my priorities, my calendar, my habits.
If you are not curious about the word, My bet is that there is a direct correlation as to how you calculate the WORTH of His word. Curiosity = value held
No INTEREST in the thoughts of God compounds correlates to no significant regardfor the thoughts of God.
Your esteem of the thoughts of God is betrayed by your interest in the thoughts of God.
The value you hold the thoughts of God can be gauged by vigor towards them
So, let’s see if you do really care about what God thinksIf your goal is to make it your prize, then act like it already IS YOUR PRIZE. Do the behaviors as if it were your prize and it will become your treasure.
Let’s be Close, be in awe at Creation, be occasionally Conviction and always Curious
Let’s care what God thinks“I don’t care what God thinks” just like ps 139