Tuesday

 Tuesday Fellowship: 
8 Jul 2025 at 11am, in Plaza Hall.
Speaker: Rev Dr William Wan
Senior Consultant, Singapore Kindness Movement.
Senior Fellow of NUS School of Positive Psychology, Chair Safe Place and winner of the President's Philanthropy and Volunteerism award.

To register, text your name to 9178 9338/9484 6652.

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Psalm 139

This Psalm was written by King David. It expresses his praise, wonder and awe at God’s Knowledge, Presence and Power. (ie. Omniscience: All-knowing/ Omnipresence: Present everywhere/ Omnipotence: All-powerful.)
It focuses on God’s relationship with each cherished “child” of God. And ends with a prayer for the destruction of the wicked and the purification of the psalmist’s own
heart.

1. God Knows Everything about Us: ( 1-6 )
   1. You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
   2. You know when I sit and when I rise;
      You perceive my thoughts from afar.
   3. You discern my going out and my lying down;
      You are familiar with all my ways.
   4. Before a word is on my tongue,
      You, Lord, know it completely.
   5. You hem me in, behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
   6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
      
      

   NB: God knows us intimately and (yet) He accepts and loves us!
          He knows us perfectly and seeks to guide us. He discerns our:

   1. Actions (when we sit, rise, feed the baby, change diapers, care for elderly parents/relatives, feed the hungry, connect with the lonely ...),
   2. Thoughts (grateful/kind/unkind/vengeful/depressing/anxious/plans for dishonesty/immorality/retirement/job change/next holiday ...).
   3. Going out (public life: to travel/socialise/work...with successful/happy appearance...)
   4. Lying down (private life: resting in our homes...how we treat our spouses/helpers/children/siblings ... )
   5. All My Ways (everything I do, how I behave... places I go to, the paths our lives have taken.)
   6. Words (spoken or yet to be spoken, and our intention/ motives!)
   7. Hem (God surrounds/encircles/guard us, as with a valuable object, for our protection.)
   8. Lay Your hand upon me (He knows what is best for us and seeks to direct us.).
      
      
2. God Is Present with Us – All the Time. ( 7-12 )
   7. Where can I go from your Spirit?
      Where can I flee from your Presence?
   8. If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
      If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
   9. If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
      If I settle on the far side of the sea,
   10. Even there your hand will guide me
       Your right hand will hold me fast.
   11. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
       And the light become night around me,”
   12. Even the darkness will not be dark to you;
       The night will shine like the day,
       For darkness is as light to you.
       
       

   NB: 

   1. Even if we want to escape from Him, we cannot.
      He is there: Up in the heavens, down in Sheol (the realm of the dead), in the East with the dawn, flying to the distant West, of the Mediterranean Sea. God is personally there, to guide us, and His strong right hand will support us.
   2. Even if we hope (or are afraid) that darkness will hide us from God, and the light around us turns dark, God will be there, because to God, the night shines as bright as day. Nothing shall separate us from the Love of God! (Rom 8:35)
      
      
3. God Created Us Wonderfully ( 13-18 )
   13. For you created my inmost being;
       you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
   14. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
       your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
   15. My frame was not hidden from you
       when I was made in the secret place,
       when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
   16. Your eyes saw my unformed body;
       all the days ordained for me were written in your book
       before one of them came to be.
   17. How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
       How vast is the sum of them!
   18. Were I to count them,
       they would outnumber the grains of sand –
       when I awake, I am still with you.
       
       

   NB: It was God who created/“knit” us, because it was He who designed the complex and intricate processes (encoded in the DNA) which formed the delicate, internal systems of each baby’s body, during conception, gestation and human birth: A “miracle”(procreation, marvellous event) in which He has given women (and men) the privilege/joy of participating. God saw us (as embryo/foetus) when we were being “woven together” (Heb:“embroidered”) in our mother’s womb (before the ultrasound/sonogram was devised)! Every day of our lives is recorded in His book – even before we were born/our first day! How precious and countless are God’s thoughts of each of us! God has a special interest in each of us. When we awake from sleep/upon entry to Eternity, we discover that God is still there with us!
   
   NB: We are made in God’s image and He has a special purpose for each person who is born. His interest in each embryo/fertilised ovum indicates her/his value in the eyes of our Creator. Surely, abortion:

   1. Deprives the unborn baby of his/her right to life? (which each of us is blessed with!) (“Speak for those who cannot speak for themselves...” Prov 31:8)
      
   2. Deprives society of a precious baby/a new citizen! (eg. a future doctor, nurse, scientist, CEO, homemaker, teacher, singer.... A baby for childless couples waiting for adoption or a loving, caring daughter/son for “Mom”.).
      
      
4. May God Judge the Wicked and Purify My heart (19-24)
   19. If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
       Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
   20. They speak of you with evil intent;
       your adversaries misuse your name.
   21. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
       and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
   22. I have nothing but hatred for them;
       I count them my enemies.
   23. Search me, God, and know my heart;
       test me and know my anxious thoughts.
   24. See if there is any offensive way in me,
       and lead me in the way everlasting.
       
       

   NB: 

   1. David had endured many life-threatening situations. He had many enemies. However, here he appealed to his Righteous God to punish the violent wicked, who rebelled against God and blasphemed His name. David considered these, his enemies as well.
   2. David ended this Psalm by asking God to search and know his heart (as in v1), to test him, identify anxieties and anything which offends Him, so that he may seek forgiveness, purify his own life, so that God may lead him to a righteous, everlasting life. This is the way of Holiness and Humility for all followers of Christ as well.

Q1: Have you asked God to identify any offensive thought, word or deed, in your life, so that you may repent, seek cleansing through Jesus’ blood and live a holy and humble life?

Q2. Have you praised and thanked Him for His Loving Presence and acceptance, despite knowing you so intimately, with all your imperfections?

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Memory Verse:

“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”

Jeremiah 17:10

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Saturday

 

WSCS Bible Study (Sat) Group

“Psalms of Prayer and Praise!”
The Psalms is the most often quoted OT book in the New Testament. It is much loved because it expresses a wide range of human emotions and life experiences, which all readers can identify with. It also reminds us to trust God who is loving, faithful and sovereign over human affairs, history, nations and creation.

Next Meeting: 12 Jul 2025 at 2pm (online)
The WSCS Bible Study (Sat) Group “meets” on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month.

We study Holy Scripture to know God better, and gain a better understanding of His work in the world and His ways. In the process, we encourage one another along our personal pilgrimage.

We welcome ladies of all ages! (online)