Count the Sand
Living from the Thoughts of God

Psalm 139:17-18
“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.” —Psalm 139:17-18

A Divine Mystery Unveiled

What if I told you… that the God who flung galaxies into the night sky—who thundered on Mount Sinai and scattered empires with His breath—has been thinking about you?

Yes. You.

Not in passing. Not vaguely. Not intermittently.
But constantly. Intimately. Intentionally. Lovingly.
“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!”

You see, we walk through this life so often haunted by the question: “Does God see me? Does He care? Am I forgotten?”
But this Psalm—this thunderclap of divine intimacy—breaks through our doubts like the sun shattering a long night.

David, the man after God’s own heart, declares in wonder: “Your thoughts toward me, O God… are more than the grains of sand.”
Have you ever picked up a handful of sand and tried to count the grains?

Then imagine the beaches of the earth.
The deserts of the world.
The riverbeds, the seabeds, the dust carried by the winds of time.
That’s the measure of God's thoughts toward you.

And the question that follows is this: If God thinks of me so much… why do I think of Him so little?

The Psalm of Intimacy and Awe

Psalm 139 is not a casual journal entry.
It is a holy gasp—David's soul catching fire as he ponders God's omniscience (He knows everything), omnipresence (He is everywhere), and omnibenevolence (He is all-good and all-loving).

“O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,
thou understandest my thought afar off.” (Psalm 139:1–2)

This is not just doctrine.
This is divine intimacy.

Before you ever spoke a word—He knew your tongue.
Before you walked a path—He knew the road.
Before you were formed—He dreamed you.
And while the world sleeps—He watches.
And while others forget—you are remembered.

But here's where it gets even more intense:

“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!”

These are not neutral thoughts. These are not generic divine calculations.
They are precious.
Deliberate.
Treasured.
Saturated with the Father's love.

The God Who Counts the Sand

Let’s press deeper.

Do you remember Abraham, standing under the stars in Genesis 15?
God told him, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them... so shall thy seed be.”

The promise was cosmic in scope.
But before Abraham could count descendants—God was already counting him.
His doubts. His faith. His falters. His victories.
God’s thoughts toward Abraham were not reactive. They were proactive.
“Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” (Acts 15:18)

When Moses stood at the burning bush, trembling with excuses—God was thinking of Israel's cries, Moses' destiny, and Pharaoh's hardened heart.

When Elijah was weeping under the juniper tree, ready to die—God was thinking of a still small voice, a cave, and a coming revival.

When Peter wept bitterly, having denied Christ—God was already thinking of breakfast by the sea, restoration, and Pentecost fire.

He is the God who thinks ahead. Who sees you where you are, and still loves you through it.

Church History—The Thought That Reforms the World

Let us leave David's tent and walk through history.

It was October 31, 1517, when a German monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg.

But before he stood with boldness… he sat in terror.
He believed God to be only a Judge—harsh, unapproachable, terrifying.
He fasted. He flogged himself. He punished his flesh.
But then… the thoughts of God broke through.

Romans 1:17—“The just shall live by faith.”

The God who had seemed distant… was suddenly near.
Not only righteous—but a righteousifier of those who believe.

And the Reformation was born—not through sword or crown—but through a revelation of God’s thoughts toward man.

Or consider John Wesley, who once confessed, “I went to America to convert the Indians; but oh! who shall convert me?”

One day, attending a small Moravian meeting in Aldersgate, he heard the preface to the book of Romans read aloud.

He wrote: “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation…”

It was not a new sermon. Not a vision.
It was a thought of God—revealed through Scripture—that lit a fire that birthed revival in England and eventually America’s Great Awakening.

Why do I share these?

Because if God’s thoughts could reform the Church… revive nations… restore men like Luther and Wesley…
What might He awaken in you if you dared to believe that His thoughts toward you are this vast, this holy, this tender?

The Sand in the Soul

Let’s get real now.

Why do so many believers walk around defeated, distracted, and disoriented?

Because they’ve allowed other voices to define their worth.

• The voice of failure.

• The voice of trauma.

• The voice of abandonment.

• The voice of performance.

And yet God is saying: “I’ve been thinking about you. Not once. Not a thousand times. But endlessly. Like the grains of sand.”

And what do His thoughts say?

• “You are Mine.” (Isaiah 43:1)

• “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

• “There is now no condemnation.” (Romans 8:1)

• “You are complete in Christ.” (Colossians 2:10)

• “You are seated in heavenly places.” (Ephesians 2:6)

Do you see what this means?
The most important narrative about your life is not the one you tell yourself, but the one God tells about you.

The enemy doesn't have to destroy you.
He only has to get you to doubt what God thinks about you.

That’s why Psalm 139 is warfare. It’s not a lullaby.
It’s a declaration against the lies of hell.
It is a sword against shame.
It is an anthem for the soul that says:

“When I awake, I am still with Thee.”

Live from His Thoughts, Not Your Fears

So what do we do with this?

Here are four ways this revelation must shape your life:

1. Renounce the lies.
   Any thought in your mind that contradicts God’s thoughts toward you must be cast down.
   “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God...” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

2. Renew your mind.
   Saturate your soul with Scripture.
   Make His thoughts your meditation.
   Don’t just read the Word—let the Word read you.

3. Respond in intimacy.
   The God who thinks of you invites you to think of Him.
   Worship is not duty—it is response.
   Prayer is not ritual—it is relationship.

4. Reclaim your calling.
   If God has thoughts about your life, then you are not an accident.
   You are on assignment.
   Stop surviving. Start obeying.

A Holy Reckoning

Let me speak plainly now.

Some of you have lived too long under the weight of human opinions.
You’ve been shaped by rejection, marked by regret, bound by cycles.
But Psalm 139 is calling you out of the pit and into the Father’s presence.

He is not ashamed of you.

He has not changed His mind about you.

He is not watching from afar, waiting for you to fail again.

He is thinking… of you.

Right now.
This very moment.
His thoughts are not cold, distant, or abstract.

They are precious.
They are innumerable.
They are present.
They are full of purpose.

And they are toward you.

Prayer of Consecration

Let’s pray.

“O God of the sand and stars…
We come before You with trembling hearts.
Forgive us for believing lies louder than Your Word.
Forgive us for letting the mirror of this world define what You already called holy.

Lord, today we receive Your thoughts.
We lay down every voice of accusation.
We silence the enemy with the truth of Your Word.
We surrender our hearts anew.
Let this not just be a sermon—but a reckoning.

Speak over us again.

Restore what shame tried to bury.
Revive what fear tried to drown.
Reform what sin tried to deform.

And may we live—not to earn Your thoughts—but because we are already held in them.

In Jesus’ mighty, precious, matchless name—
Amen.”

Count the Sand

Here is your challenge:

Go to the shore. Go to the desert. Go to the Word.

Pick up a handful of sand. Let it slip through your fingers.
Try to count it. You’ll fail.
But as you do, whisper to your soul:

“These are like His thoughts toward me.”

Let that truth rewire your identity.
Let it shatter your shame.
Let it awaken a boldness.
Let it set your heart ablaze.

You are not forgotten.
You are not forsaken.
You are not a mistake.

You are the object of divine obsession.

Now go—and live like it.