“What Is Man?!?” – FBC Morning Light (5/14/2024)

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, good Tuesday morning to you. Today we're continuing in Psalms of David, reading

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Psalms 143 -145, and in Psalm 144, David speaks to the

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Lord with a great sense of awe and bewilderment.

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I mean, you think about it, isn't it a thought beyond comprehension that the

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Almighty God the Eternal God, who created all things, gives any thought whatsoever to you as an individual or to me?

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David puts it this way in verse 3 of Psalm 144. He says, O Lord, what is man that you take knowledge of him?

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Or the son of man, that you are mindful of him? What is man?

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What is man? That you, Lord, take knowledge of him. That you are even mindful of him.

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I like the way another translation puts it. It's the Legacy Standard Bible. It's kind of an update revision of the

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New American Standard, and it says this. It says, O Yahweh, that's the covenant name of God that he gave to his people.

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O Yahweh, what is man that you know him, or the son of man that you think of him?

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I like that because it gives you a good understanding of the distinction between these two actions of God.

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That he not only knows me, but he thinks of me. He knows me and thinks of me.

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Do you get the distinction there? For example, I have a friend.

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I know him. I know him pretty well. We were in the same church together for a number of years.

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Appreciate each other. I know him, but I don't always think of him.

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There can be days that go by. I hate to say it, but even sometimes a couple of weeks go by until he comes up in my prayer list that I don't really think of him.

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Yet, the psalmist is saying that the Lord not only knows me, but he thinks of me.

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He thinks of me. I'm in his thoughts. That's why the psalmist, in the verses before that, can speak of the

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Lord in these ways. He says, Yahweh, he says, Blessed be Yahweh.

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Blessed be the Lord. You are my rock. You are my lovingkindness.

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You are my fortress. You are my stronghold. You are my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom

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I take refuge. How can I place such confidence in the

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Lord? How can I be ever so confident that he's going to be a rock and a refuge and a fortress to me?

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Because in his grace and in his mercy, he is mindful of me.

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He is thoughtful. He knows me, and he thinks of me. Oh, and what a great blessing that is.

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In the next verse, after verse 3 in this psalm, the psalmist goes on to describe us in our situation that adds an even greater sense of profundity to the incomprehensibility that God knows me and thinks of me.

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He says in verse 4, Man is like a breath. His days are like a passing shadow.

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In terms of time, the beginning of time to the end of time, already at least 6 ,000 years have passed since the creation, and there's debate on exactly the timing of that, but nevertheless, thousands of years have passed since man was created and placed on this earth.

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In all of those thousands of years, billions of people have been born, lived their lives, and died.

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Even today, there are a couple billion people on the planet, and all of us are going to pass away all too soon.

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I mean, it's just going to be like a snap of a finger. So that means my life, in terms of the vast expanse of time, is but nothing.

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I mean, as the psalmist says, it's like a breath. I breathe one breath out, and that one's gone, and I need another one.

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It's a breath. It's like a shadow. And yet, Yahweh knows me and thinks of me.

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No wonder I can say, Lord, you are my rock. You are my loving kindness.

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You are my fortress. You are my shield. You are my stronghold.

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You are my deliverer, because he thinks of me. He thinks of me, and he's knows me.

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Our Father and our God, we thank you for your knowledge of your people, how you not only know us, but you think of us, and you provide for us that shelter, that protection, that deliverance, that stronghold that we desperately need.

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Thank you for your grace and your kindness to us, and we pray that you would bless these thoughts to our hearts today.

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We ask in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. All right, listen, have a wonderful Tuesday, and rest in the knowledge that your