June 23 – Outnumbers

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.” Psalm 139:17-18 (NASB)

This isn’t our first visit to these verses. Just a week ago we considered verse 17. Psalm 139 is a gold mine of promises God has given to us in this song by David. What brings such praise and adoration to our mind and so our lips express the joy of God’s thoughts comes forth? Let’s consider these truths through some comments by C.H. Spurgeon. The comfort in these verses is not shared and provides no such comfort to the unregenerate ungodly mind, but to us faith believers in God it overflows with consolation. God is always thinking about us, never turns His mind from us, always has us before His eyes; and this is precisely how we would want it, because it would be dreadful to exist for a moment outside the observation of our heavenly Father. We are never for a single moment left out of God’s thoughts and consciousness. Remember, God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world was made. So we can know that our election and the covenant of grace which secures our salvation results in our final perseverance from now to our final rest. 

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June 15 – Precious and Vast

“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” – Psalm 139:17 (NASB)

For those who have not surrendered to the sovereignty of God but still claim to know Him and belong to him, there is a danger of missing the truth. The resistant, hesitant, people who delay fully acknowledging their belief in God generally do so because their minds have not yet given in to His truth. Therefor they are not enjoying the benefits of a life fully given to God. “Divine omniscience provides no comfort to the ungodly mind, but to the child of God it overflows with consolation. God is always thinking about us, never turns His mind from us, always has us before His eyes; and this is precisely how we would want it, because it would be dreadful to exist for a moment outside the observation of our heavenly Father. Friend, is this precious to you? Then hold to it.[1]" Reject the broad skepticism, subjectivism, and postmodern rationalism of today’s influencers. "Do not be led astray by those philosophical fools who preach an impersonal God and talk of self-existent, self-governing matters. The Lord lives and thinks upon us; this is a far too precious truth for us toss aside and consequently be easily robbed of it.[1]”

1.- Taken in part from: C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: April 30, Daily Readings, (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).

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December 25 – Christmas Day

“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Luke 2:19 (NIV)

Jesus taught us to store up treasures in heaven. Today we read how Mary, the mother of Jesus, reacted after hearing the words and testimony of the shepherds the night Jesus was born. Mary and Joseph were interrupted by them in the middle of the night, just a short time after Mary gave birth to the Son of God. We have been hearing and talking about the events of the Christmas story and now today is the day we focus on celebrating the birth of Jesus our Savior. The shepherds had some marvelous things to report of what they had seen and what the angel had told them. When Mary heard all this she received and believed it and she made the news her very own. It became part of her life story. It became very precious to her like a rich treasure. We are told that Mary gave much thought to what she had heard for it was very meaningful. How about us? Let's give much thought to the promise of a savior whose birth we celebrate today and let's also treasure it in our hearts as we ponder on what it means for us. 

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November 19 – Precious In His Sight

“Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His godly ones. … To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the Lord.”  Psalm 116:15 & 17  (NASB)

The psalmist recalls how he faced certain death and God acted to save him. God extended his life of service. He vowed to acknowledge the Lord and to pay his vows in the temple. Psalm 116 is a personal song of thanksgiving for deliverance from impending death. While physical death is imminent in respect to the span of all time, we do not dwell on the thought so much. Until we become aware that it is looming. If we have not yet been in that situation we all likely know someone who has or is. The psalmist wrote this song because when he experienced the nearness of death, he cried for help, God pulled him out of danger of death. So, he promises to let all people know how thankful he is. His words of praise to God and the giving of a proper thanksgiving sacrifice are done publicly. Like he stood on the steps leading into the Temple and affirmed his thanks to God to all. We know God cares about each of us, even when physical death comes our way. Our promise is that our life, the life of every believer, is precious to God

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October 10 – Redeemed for Real

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.”  Ephesians 1:7-8a   (NASB)

The words ‘in Him’ are used by the Apostle Paul six times in the first chapter of this letter. Considering that promise of all spiritual blessings in heavenly places given to us, we do well to realize that all this happens within the sphere of God’s election. In that sphere we have redemption. Such a powerful truth is in that word for us. It has been trivialized a great deal in our use and most acts of redemption that we take part in require us to provide some worthless slip of paper, a coupon or a letter or maybe a saved image on our smart phone. Turn that in for a few pennies off the products we purchase. But the redemption which we are promised to have in our verse today was purchased through the precious blood of Jesus (1 Peter 1:17-19). What we receive in that redemptive act is forgiveness of our trespasses, our sins.  That’s no small thing since it is the only way to be forgiven by God and possess salvation. That means that precious blood purchased for us, eternal life. Think deeply about that and let it overwhelm your thoughts today.  

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January 2 – Precious Promises

“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”  -2 Peter 1:4  (NASB)

We have entered our fifth year of taking a brief moment to consider God’s promises to us.  God’s promises all come to us from His promise of abundant and eternal life. It is God’s grace and peace multiplied to us and the precious promises given us by God that results in our being adopted as sons and becoming true children of God.  We do not become ‘little gods’ but we do become ‘new creatures,’ through our re-birth in the Spirit.   We have received from God eternal life as a gift and so we possess a share of His nature which He has given to us.  This promise is also our way of escape from the corruption of our old nature.  If we have made some serious New Year’s Eve resolutions regarding our way of living which are honoring to God, and if  we really want to stick to them, God’s promises are here for us for that very purpose.  Let's resolve together to learn and hold on to all that God has promised every day. 

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July 21 – Precious Promises Granted

“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”   2 Peter 1:4 (NASB)

Take notice of “by these” in the first six words in today's verse.  The “these” are what he wrote in the previous verse,  “everything pertaining to life and godliness...”  Peter asserts that as Christians we are fully equipped to live a life pleasing to God for we have been given all we need to overcome any obstacle we face, and that we can persevere under trial. God is sufficient.  These are the promises God has given to us, promises we find in other scriptures, and promises we can  trust.  By trusting in God's promises we are allowing Him to make us more and more like Him – we become participants in the divine nature which He is developing in our lives.  Each of us who believe in Jesus and have received Him as our Lord and Savior are being conformed to Him.  This is a wonderful truth and promise that one day, when we are in heaven, corruption of this world will no longer be a factor and we will experience the completion of that process conforming us to His nature.  It will all be to the glory of our Almighty God.

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October 29 – A True Starting Point

“For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”” 1  Peter 2:6-7 (NIV)

In the first letter he wrote to believers scattered everywhere, the Apostle Peter quotes from a prophecy by Isaiah. Peter correctly interprets for us that the words in Isaiah were a prediction of the coming of Jesus Christ to lay the foundation for our faith.  To those who choose to believe the message is precious.  Not so for those who reject the message.  Isaiah predicted that Jesus would be a precious cornerstone and Peter points out that believers find Jesus to be precious.  Those who do not believe stumble over Him. Something precious is something of great value to us.  A cornerstone in a building was the starting point for a foundation and kept it true and straight.  Jesus is our starting point, the basis of our faith, and that is very valuable for us, something we hold precious and our response is real love for Jesus.  He is the One who promises to keep us true if we trust and obey Him.

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Importance and value of Cornerstones

August 23 – It's Mind Blowing

“Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. 
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”  Psalm 139:16-17 (NASB)

We often say on this blog that we have a great God.  Some of the verses from the Bible that we read remind us that God's people have said the same thing many times.  One person who expressed this truth was David, who wrote many of the songs in the book of Psalms.  Our verses today are from Psalm 139 and David declares the truth that God new what he would be doing before he was born.  He knew every day of David's life and every event of every day.   This is true regarding everyone of us too.  It is a promise from God that He knows.  We are assured that God is watching each of us every day. He knows all our needs and He has known them since before we were born.  How can this be?   It is because He knows everything about everyone and because He doesn't live in the confines of time, He lives in eternity.  These thoughts, we might say, blew David's mind as he reflected, as we can too, on how precious and vast God's thoughts about us are. 

Note: If you find hope and encouragement in these daily blogs, please share them with your friends.  

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June 13 – Solid, Sure, and Precious

“For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.” 1 Peter 2:6-7a (NIV)

There are many prophesies in the Old Testament predicting the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. Our verse today is a quote by the apostle Peter from such a prediction in the book of Isaiah. In the New Testament we have this and other reminders of how the prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus when He lived on the earth. The prediction that Isaiah wrote and that Peter quoted was that Jesus the Messiah would be a precious cornerstone and it reminds us that this is true for us who believe.  Jesus is the foundation of our faith. As we trust Him He does become precious to us. When we face uncertainty we can trust the promise that He is our cornerstone and we really wouldn't want to try to live without Him in our lives. Today, whatever is ahead of us and whatever challenges we are facing, whatever news might cause us to despair remember and think that what we believe is built upon this cornerstone – the Truth of Jesus our Savior.

December 25 – Christmas Day

“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Luke 2:19 (NIV)

In our verse today we read how Mary, the mother of Jesus, reacted after hearing the words and testimony of the shepherds the night Jesus was born. We have been hearing and talking about the events of the Christmas story and now today is the day we focus on celebrating the birth of Jesus our Savior. The shepherds had some marvelous things to report of what they had seen and what the angel had told them. When Mary heard all this she believed it and she made the news her very own it became part of her story. It became very precious to her like a rich treasure. We are told that Mary gave much thought to what she had heard for it was very meaningful. How about us? Let's give much thought to the promise of a savior whose birth we celebrate today and let's also treasure it in our hearts as we ponder on what it means for us. 

April 3 – More Than Can Be Numbered

“How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.” Psalm 139:17-18 (NIV)

This is part of a song written by David. When we read these words a question comes to us. It is this: How did David learn of God thoughts? How did he know that they were so infinite? We know that God did reveal His thoughts to David whenever David turned to God for His guidance. In the Old Testament of our Bible we read of many occasions when David did ask God to show him what to do. We believe that David had learned much about God’s thoughts in the sacred writings too. We realize that this is one very good way for us to know what God’s thoughts are. Yes, we can apply the truth of our verse to the way we learn of God's thoughts in the Bible. God has revealed so much of His thinking in the Bible and His thoughts are precious to us. Let’s be sure we don’t neglect making them a part of our lives. 

July 19

“The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:9b-10 (NIV)

Do we always have the proper reaction when we read God’s Word, or hear it taught? David wrote about how he felt when he heard God’s word. He said that God’s Word was sweeter to him than honey. If you truly love the Lord, I believe that you agree with David. You have read your Bible and it has been sweeter than honey. And you have heard someone teach God’s Word and your heart has responded because the truths you heard were sweet – sweeter than honey. So we can join with David and say as he did that God’s words are more precious than gold.

April 23

“The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:9-10 (NIV)

In many of the songs written by David there is a strong element of praise. These words today are about the teachings God has given us in the Bible. There is nothing in this world that is of more value than the truth that God has given us in His book.  When we recognize that the words we read are from God, the Creator, we accept them as being eternally true. His truth will remain after all the gold on earth has become valueless. That is why they are more precious than gold. They are sweeter than honey. Does not that make you want more of his truth every day?