Saturday,13th June 2020
GOD KNOWS US EVEN BEFORE WE WERE BORN
Pastor Soong Kok Kee
Psalm 139:13-16 New International Version (NIV)
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Isn’t it amazing and wonderful to know that God knows us even before we were born? That was exactly what He told Jeremiah in 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Paul goes further than that in Ephesians 1:4 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”
My 2nd daughter once said “Dad, if you had married mum earlier, we would have been born earlier.” I was 51 years old when she was born. Then, 10 years later, God gave me a son for my 61th birthday! He said the same thing, having a father who looks like his grandfather taking him to school!! I told them if I had married earlier, it would not be her mum I married and if it was not her mum I married, then they wouldn’t be here! But since Ephesians 1:4 says God knew them even before they were born and even before the creation of the world, then it is destined that I marry their mum and they were destined to be born when I was 51 and 61 respectively and not a day or a year earlier. Marriages are indeed made in heaven, ordained by God.
Yes, my dear brothers and sisters, God knows each and every one of us while we were still in our mother’s womb, before we were born and even before the creation of the world. That alone is amazing enough. No wonder David exclaimed in amazement in verses 17 and 18 “How precious to me are your thoughts, O 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.” God had chosen our parents for us and even our brothers and sisters. There is no ”if” in life, everything has been determined, planned and arranged by God and He alone knows what is best for us.
Verse 19 onwards David’s hatred for his enemies came from his zeal for God. David regarded his enemies as God’s enemies, so his hatred was a desire for God’s righteous justice and not for personal vengeance. Vengeance is mine, I will repay said the Lord (Rom 12:19). God will deal with them in His own way, not us. Of course when we truly love God, then we will be deeply hurt if someone hates Him. Then David asked God to search his heart and mind and point out any wrong motives that may have been behind his strong words. But while we seek justice against evil, we must also pray that God’s enemies will turn to Him before He judges them. (Matt 5:44).
Verses 23-24 is a prayer all of us should pray daily for the rest of our lives: “Search me, O Lord, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Socrates once said an unexamined life is not worth living. And this prayer of David says exactly the same thing. As a believer, we should always be asking God to search our hearts and minds to see whether anything we do or say or even think will not be pleasing to God. And when God points them out to us, we should ask God for His strength to cast them out of our lives. None of us can do it by our own strength for Phil 4:13 says “I can do everything through HIM who gives me strength”. David’s prayer here is also one of the reasons God said David is a man after His own heart. He was always seeking to walk righteously before God and when his sins were pointed out by Prophet Nathan, he came crying in repentance to God. (Psalm 51) Nothing in our lives should hinder our relationship with God.
PRAYER: Dear Lord, we thank you for reminding us that you have chosen us even before the creation of the world and that while we were in our mother’s womb, you have known us. We know too that everything that happens to us in our lives have been allowed by you, the good ones to bless us and the bad ones to teach us to rely on you. We want to pray especially for those who have been badly affected by the Pandemic. You are our God, our Jehovah Jireh and we pray that you will provide all their needs spiritually, physically and materially. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus we pray AMEN.
每日灵粮
星期六, 2020年6月13日
标题：上帝在我们未出生时就已晓得我们
作者：宋国基牧师
翻译 ：梁玉萍姐妹
诗139：13-16
13我的肺腑是你所造的，我在母腹中，你已覆庇我。
14我要称谢你，因我受造奇妙可畏；你的作为奇妙，这是我心深知道的。
15我在暗中受造，在地的深处被联络，那时我的形体并不向你隐藏。
16我未成形的体质，你的眼早已看见了；你所定的日子，我尚未度一日，你都写在你的册上了。
上帝在我们出生之前就晓得我们，这难道不神奇和美妙吗？这正是祂在耶利米书1：5说的：” 我未将你造在腹中，我已晓得你；你未出母胎，我已分别你为圣。我已派你做列国的先知。” 保罗在以弗所书1:4更进一步地说 ” 就如神从创立世界以前在基督里拣选了我们，使我们在他面前成为圣洁，无有瑕疵 ”
我的二女儿曾经说过：“爸爸，如果你早点嫁给妈妈，那我们就早点出生了。” 她出生时我51岁。十年后，上帝在我61岁时给了我一个儿子！ 他说了同样的话，带他去上学的父亲看起来却像他的公公！！ 我告诉他们，如果我早点结婚，那我就不是嫁给他们的妈妈，如果不是我嫁给他们的妈妈，那么他们就不会在这里！ 但是如以弗所书1：4说，上帝甚至在他们出生之前及在世界创立之前就晓得他们，所以注定我要嫁给他们的妈妈，他们注定要各别在我51岁和61岁时出生， 而不是早一天或一年前。 婚姻的确是在天堂设立的，是上帝所命定的。
是的，我亲爱的弟兄姐妹，当我们还在母胎，还未出生以前，甚至在世界未造之前，上帝就晓得我们每一个人。 单单这一点就足够惊人了。 难怪大卫在第十七及十八节惊奇地说：” 神啊，你的意念向我何等宝贵！其数何等众多！我若数点，比海沙更多。我睡醒的时候，仍和你同在。”上帝为我们选择了我们的父母以及我们的兄弟姐妹。 生活中没有”如果”，一切都是由上帝决定，计划和安排的，只有祂知道什么是对我们最好的。