Psalm 139:17

Devotional Thoughts

By Gary Wilkerson

The most important thing I could ever tell you is that your heavenly Father loves you! It is a simple truth that I’m sure you have heard many times, but many Christians have difficulty grasping it. However, if you ever want to have an impact for Jesus, this rock-solid truth must be at the very center.

Jesus told his disciples, “It is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate will not come. But if I go away, then I will send him to you” (John 16:7). Of course, the Advocate is the Holy Spirit, our Helper, our Comforter.

Living in this broken, fallen world brings tribulation our way and some of it can be excruciating, involving our health, our children, our very survival. In order to get through it all, we need to be aware of our Father’s love, because that is the reality the Holy Spirit will bring to our memory when we are anguishing through trials.

David seemed to know the Comforter’s presence when he wrote, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered” (Psalm 139:17). Another translation reads, “How precious are the thoughts toward me you concern yourself about.”

The realization that God thinks about us is astonishing. It is one thing to know the Lord loves us; that is just a theological fact. But it is another to know he actually thinks about us — that, in fact, he never stops thinking about us.  Yet God is telling us through David’s psalm, “You don’t need to strive to get me to pay attention to you. I am already focused on you.”

David says that God’s thoughts about you are precious. They are loving in a way you can never fully grasp. You are dear to your heavenly Father and he loves your company — and the plans he has for you are always for your good.