The more we are caught up in the greatness of who God is, the less enamored we are with the World around us! As David focused upon the LORD's greatness he was less sympathetic with sin around him and with sin in his own life. How great is your God?

The LORD loves His people enough to discipline them when they stray, when their attitudes and behaviors are not what they should be. Jonah had his sin exposed, and tasted the judgment of God because of his sin. What he was unwilling to do on behalf of the man dead in his sin, Jesus Christ willingly did that the sinner might know the tender mercies of our God!

A comfort to the Believer who feels misunderstood, overlooked or who is falsely accused, is that the LORD knows him best, in truth, and that there is no place he can go or "end-up" where the LORD isn't present! He knows us intimately as He has made us "Fearfully and Wonderfully"! Take heart in your trials!

The Lord loves the lost and calls His Church to be His witness in order that the lost may know Him! A disobedient Church will be dealt with by God's sovereign control, and brought to where it needs to be to fulfill His calling upon us.

The LORD cares for the lost and calls His people to be His witnesses. The LORD will see to it that we obey by sovereignly orchestrating all events to position His people and to prepare them to speak of His mercies to the lost.

Have you ever asked, "Does anyone truly know me?". Have you ever felt misunderstood or have you been wrongly accused? As we begin this Psalm 139, we are reassured that there is One Who does know us even better than we know ourselves. This beautiful Psalm reassures us that God knows better!

We used to sing songs in the church such as "Onward Christian Soldiers!"...A mandate to carry the Gospel to the Nations. What has happened to us as a Church? Jonah is an example of smugness, an "I'm better than you, and you really deserve to die in your sin" attitude. The Lord cares for the lost, and calls His people to care as well for them.

"Gospel ministry is exciting!"...Yes it is, and no it is not, at least not in the sense that some speak of it. It requires work, a regiment of nurturing those who have been placed under your care with the goal of seeing those in Christ mature in the Lord.

"What?!?...I'm not good enough for God?!?". "What do you mean I'm not capable of saving myself?"... The idea of man needing a Sovereign grace to be saved is a troublesome thought. Rather than lean on your own understanding and the popular notions of our culture, you must listen to and believe the words of Jesus. Those who look to Him in faith, they will be saved.

Salvation is a mysterious blessing! For a man to know Jesus Christ and to become His willing subject he must be born of "Water and the Spirit". It is not merited, come by naturally, but supernaturally as an act of God's Spirit, Who changes the heart!