(15–20 minutes, easy setup)
Learners will study Psalm 139:1-16 to explore the idea that the love of God is shown through His knowledge and constant presence in our lives.
(15–20 minutes, easy setup)
Provide a copy of the Learner Worksheet and a pen for each learner. Also provide paper, a dry erase board, and markers.
Distribute copies of the Learner Worksheet and pens. Explain that because God is love, His knowledge and creation of each person is a work of His love. Say: Today we will explore Psalm 139 to see how God’s love is shown in a personal way with His creatures.
1. The love of God is seen through His intimate knowledge of us (Psalm 139:1-6).
Call on a volunteer to read Psalm 139:1-6. Ask: How does the psalmist say that God knew him? Lead learners to identify the ways David gave showing God’s knowledge of him. (Responses should include: God had searched him and knew him; God knew when he got up and when he went to sleep; God understood his thoughts and intimately knew all his ways and words; and God had his hand on him.)
Explain that David realized that nothing in his life was hidden from God. Explain that, in the phrase “O LORD, you have searched me,” the word for search means "to explore, spy out, to dig deeply into, to explore a country." Say: When David used the statement “you know” (Hebrew yadah), it means to know intimately, experientially. Ask: “What does that say to you personally?”
Lead learners to discuss the following:
Read verse 1 again. State that one attribute of God is omniscience, meaning that God knows all. Ask: What does it mean to you personally that God is omniscient? How does God’s omniscience of everything about us demonstrate [God's Love For Us]? After responses, encourage learners to write knowledge in the first blank on their worksheets. (Note: For a closer look at the omniscience of God, see the context study below.)
2. The love of God is felt through His constant presence in our lives (Psalm 139:7-12).
Call on a second volunteer to read Psalm 139:7-12. Ask: What two rhetorical questions did the psalmist ask? (Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?)
Divide the learners into three groups. Assign one group Psalm 139:8, the second group Psalm 139:9-10, and the third group Psalm 139:11-12. Instruct groups to read each passage together and discuss what they can gleam about God’s presence from their group’s assigned passage. Allow three minutes for the groups to work, and then call them back together. Lead each group to report.
Ask: What do these descriptions of heaven or hell (Sheol), wings of the east dawn, the remotest parts of the sea (Mediterranean or west), and darkness and light have in common? (Each is an extreme and several are complete opposites.) Say: North, South, East and West are presented here. No matter where the psalmist went in life or death, God’s hand would hold him fast. God is always in touch with our lives and never beyond divine reach. Discuss: How does this show God’s love? Encourage learners to write presence in the second blank on their worksheets.
3. The love of God is ultimately understood through His creation of us (Psalm 139:13-16).
State that the psalmist’s contemplation of God’s knowledge and presence led him to reflect on the beginning of his own life. Call on a third volunteer to read Psalm 139:13-16. Ask: What was David’s response to the knowledge of God creating him? (He spontaneously began to worship and praise God.) Explain that the words David used to tell how he was “wove” in his mother’s womb created a beautiful word picture of a skilled artisan weaving a tapestry into a work of art. Ask: Do you feel like a work of art, conceived at the hand of God? Why or Why not? After responses, encourage learners to write creation in the third blank on their worksheets.
Conclude by challenging learners to explore the love of God in their lives. Say: We can be confident that this very God who knows you the best also loves you the most.