“When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which You have set in place,
what is man that You are mindful of him,
and the son of man that You care for him?”
Psalm 8:3-4
What is man, that the God who created the heavens, the earth, and all that there is, is mindful of him? What am I, that He is mindful of me?
In Psalm 139:17-18, David declares, “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.” Earlier in the psalm, he writes of how personally God knows him, watches over him, and how constantly He is with him. “The Lord takes thought for me” (Psalm 40:17).
Having known God for a number of years, it’s easy to fall into a pattern of forgetting how wondrous it is that He thinks of me. One person in this world filled with so many. In this tiny speck of time compared to His eternity. Yet He wrote this Word for me. This Bible has words of truth for me. Words which His Spirit makes come alive, resonating their truths in my heart, if I will but listen and allow them to sink in.
He knows my thoughts. He knows my needs. He knows my fears and longings and doubts. And He wants to speak into each one. As He knows and wants to speak into each of yours. Because to Him, to this great God whose glory exceeds the heavens, we are not merely one among many. We are His.
Intricately woven together, with purpose and love. Each quality chosen with specific grace and wisdom. And as we walk through our days, His desire is that we will know Him. That we will seek Him out, as He has sought us in our wilderness.
Jesus died once for all. But the call issued to our hearts is a very personal one as God seeks to draw us to Himself. Not only in an initial moment of our salvation, our first choosing to trust in Christ, but as we walk forward in faith. Because we falter. His purifying, transforming work isn’t finished yet. And so His pursuit continues. Not satisfied to leave us in rebellion or complacency. His love is greater. He wants us to be joy-filled and whole, and He will not let one of His own fall away unnoticed.
He takes thought for us. Right where we are, every moment. Prepared to fight for us, to seek us out, and to carry us back into His presence of peace and hope.
May this bolster your faith today, knowing that the Lord is on your side. He is mindful of you and ready to fight for you and to strengthen you for what is before you. And may it also be a challenge, that there is purpose in your life. There are purposes for which this God has made you, a life into which He is calling you. Listen to Him and respond in obedience and faith. For it is in this faith that you will find the fullest joy and the greatest peace – it is there that you will find Him.
In Pleasant Places 