GOD OF UNDERSTANDING (2)

“You know my sitting down and my rising up; YOU UNDERSTAND my THOUGHTS afar off” – Psalm 139:2  

Divine Comfort and Compassion flow seamlessly from the GOD of UNDERSTANDING: “You know my sitting down and my rising up; YOU UNDERSTAND my THOUGHTS afar off”” (Psa.139:2). The Lord God Who created us and has planned our lives, understands us completely. Psalm 139 speaks of God’s Pervasive Presence, Intimate Knowledge, Unlimited Understanding, and Faithful Comfort, which offer Immense Hope and Comfort in the face of Adversity and Trial! He knows when we sit down and rise up. He understands our thoughts even before they come into our minds, and every underlying motive behind our actions. We can turn to Him with confidence when nothing seems to be going right, as He never goes wrong. He knows our difficulties and exactly what we need because “His understanding is infinite” (Psa.147:5).

God Who formed man from the dust, understands the limitations of the human frame: “Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. FOR He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust” (Psa.103: 13-14). He is compassionate with us whom He formed from dust. He wouldn’t leave us to struggle alone. He is “a very present help in trouble” (Psa.46:1). But lest we think that being made of dust is an excuse for sin, the Lord promised to help us in temptation: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptattion will also make the way of escape also, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor.10:13). Human weakness can never excuse us from sin.

More awe-inspiring however, is that God understands what it is like to have a frame of dust. In His great lovingkindness, Jesus “had to be made like His brethren” (Heb.2:17). Our High Priest Who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb.4:15). While fully God, Jesus became Man and directly experienced sorrows and pain. He was born into a lowly family, rejected by his folks, largely rejected by His nation, betrayed, falsely accused, mistreated, faced hardship, and was put to death in His youth!

Jesus, by experience, knows what it feels like to inhabit a frame of dust. His understanding transmits compassionate towards us, helping us to live for His pleasure. God understands our heartaches and bitter pains. We can trust Him in the darkness, yet not in vain. Jesus is able to understand the trials we wade through because He has personally been touched with the feeling of human pain. Instead of an aloof, distant human high priest, we have a heavenly High Priest who thoroughly understands the pains that we face, and is “acquainted with ALL” our ways (v.3). These realities are so amazing and comforting!