How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. Psalm 139:17-18a ESV

• These words fall near the end of a long psalm praising God for who he is and what he does. Secular thinkers deny God’s very existence, yet the psalmist claimed a relationship with God that was vivid and intimate. How do you express yourself when people around you reject the existence of God and scorn the ideas of faith and worship?
• The word here translated as precious can also be translated as weighty or costly or highly esteemed. If this is the way you view God’s thoughts, how do you view his guidance and instruction?
• The psalmist testifies in the first words of the psalm, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me!” When you consider all the things God sees if he searches and knows you, how do you feel?
• The psalmist says that there is no escaping God—God is in the highest place, the lowest place, the most hidden place. Why is it good to know that God is everywhere?
• The psalmist asserts that distance cannot separate you from God nor can darkness hide you from God. Even if you live in a fog of secular obfuscation of truth, God can still find you. How would you explain your confidence to someone who accuses you of praying to an imaginary friend?
• The psalmist felt that people who rejected God did so from malicious intent. He called them enemies. How do you feel about secular thinkers among your acquaintances? What does Jesus teach us to do about our enemies?
• When Jesus was dying on the cross, for whom did he pray “Father, forgive them?”