Apples of Gold

When I was in 8th grade I was in a group of about 10 students in pre-algebra that the school decided to skip directly to algebra. On the surface it was exciting and auspicious to be given this opportunity but in hindsight, I wish I’d passed on the offer. I did “ok” in math from then on but I think I missed foundational teaching that would have allowed me to quickly grasp more of the tougher stuff that was ahead. When I finished algebra 2 my sophomore year I was more than happy to take accounting instead of advanced math and I knew better than attempting chemistry!

Ironically, one of the most encouraging Scriptures is enhanced when we consider it from a mathematical perspective:

You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! Psalm 139:16-18

I might be the exception, but I prefer to use the Self-Checkouts at stores. Usually there is no wait time and I can check myself out much quicker than the average cashier. Waiting does not come naturally to me. At times my approach to the Lord might be similar to the insistent toddler, saying “Mommy, mommy, mom, mommy”… incessantly, while pulling on her arm, until she finally relents and turns her full attention to them. There are times that it feels like God is far away and not even aware of what I am dealing with. Patience is nowhere to be found as I find myself waiting in a line that seems to have no end and I have been through enough to know that Self-Checkout is an option I need to purposefully avoid.

These verses in Psalms, in fact the whole of Psalm 139, provides me with a much needed reminder. Things are often not what they seem. God is not an unaffected, casual observer in the bleachers, watching my life unfold between sips of coke and bites of hot dog. His attention is constantly on me. He sees the good, the bad and the ugly and yet I am precious to Him.

When we are at the beach I tend to spend most of my time walking up and down the shoreline often for several miles at a time. Each footstep falls on millions of grains of sand. In fact, just a cup of sand contains at least 2 million grains. Let’s think about what David is actually saying in Psalm 138-God’s thoughts about you and I outnumber them. Our minds cannot even begin to understand a number this large. Our largest number is googol. This number is so large that it isn’t even expressed mathematically in digits, but it is represented by a symbol named infinity!

Long before computers, calculators and numbers like billion, trillion, quadrillion and googol, David knew God’s thoughts about us exceeded the human capacity to quantify. I want to grasp this, I mean really grasp it. God is never not thinking about us, and if he is thinking about us, he is certainly listening to us. Jesus gives us a reminder of this:

Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me. John 11:42

Say it louder for the people in the back! God always hears us-and he answers us.

I will answer your cry for help every time you pray, and you will feel my presence in your time of trouble. I will deliver you and bring you honor. Psalm 91:15

This just gets better and better! The Word of God is our best weapon to disperse the clouds of gloom and anxiety that threaten to drive us cowering into a corner. The Creator of the Universe is constantly thinking about you, listening to you and answering your cry for help! It doesn’t get better than that.

We can trust our unanswered prayers, our unfulfilled hopes and dreams, our confusion, hurt and pain are all in good hands. God hasn’t forgotten what he spoke to you years ago. He hasn’t fallen asleep with your life set on pause. He has a plan and it is good. Hold on and rest in the knowledge that you are valuable to him. We don’t have to understand what he is doing-we have to understand who he is-and who we are to him.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3:18-19