Verse 17: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”

Where do we find God’s thoughts? The Bible: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)

If something is precious to us, then we take care of it and learn more about it. If God’s thoughts are precious to us, then we take time to learn them and study them.

God has so many thoughts! “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV)

Verse 18: “If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”

Still with you – God won’t abandon us: “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV)

Sand is used throughout Scripture as an example of countless abundance:.

• “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.” (Genesis 22:17a ESV)
• “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.’” (Hosea 1:10 ESV)

Verse 19: “Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!”

“wicked” = Hebrew rasha  – people who actively opposed God

David writes these verses as a soldier, but those who would turn us from following God exist in every context.

Verse 20: “They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain.”

 These people speak and act against God’s commands, refusing to live by His covenant (the commands we’re to learn and practice in vs. 17). We see that these people exist within communities/ amidst followers of God, and we are to guard against them: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2 ESV)

Verse 21-22: “Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I now loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.”

This hate doesn’t refer to mere human interactions, but hate for those who oppose God. 

But aren’t we called to love my enemies? Yes, but not to tolerate evil. 

• “O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 97:10 ESV)
• “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” (Romans 12:9 ESV)

Because our loyalty is to God, and our lives must reflect that in order to show His greatness to others. As Solomon said during the dedication of the temple: “Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statues and keeping his commandments, as at this day.” (1 Kings 8:59-61 ESV)

---

So what does this mean for us?

We need to spend time in God’s word to know about Him and how He wants us to live.

When we know how God wants us to live, we are equipped to reflect His love in our lives despite opposition.

So we ask ourselves. . . How does all this change me?