O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 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, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Psalms 139:1-17 (NIV)
We are to live our lives for an audience of One – Coram Deo – before the face of God. It is He Whom we are accountable to for it is He to Whom we all belong whether we realize this Truth or not. We are not our own - no matter what prideful thought that may bring to our minds. God is the only One Who can create (Bara) out of nothing (Ex Nihilo). It is He Who created the universe out of His Own free will and by His absolute power out of nothing. Everything is His. Everything belongs to Him. Everything. We are simply stewards of what and whom He has placed in our hands and we are held accountable to Him for these. It matters greatly how we live our lives. There is a plan and a purpose for each one of us and we are to walk in it. God’s will is always perfect and pleasing although oftentimes unutterably difficult. Yet, the safest and most wonderful place to be is standing smack dab in the center of His will – firm and fully secure.
Believers don’t walk this earthly path alone – we walk with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the Good Shepherd carrying us close to His heart and equipping us for every good work He has called us to do. He cares greatly for that which cost Him so dearly. Those who call on the name of the Lord have the infinite tenderness of Jesus along with His perfect peace, His still small voice guiding us and His sweetest comforts.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)