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: — The sense of God's nearness brings thoughts of God. The devout soul cherishes these thoughts, and they become to it a joy unspeakable. One thing arrests attention. It is the sense of God as a "fellow-person" which this good man had.

I. HOW PRECIOUS TO ME ARE MY THOUGHTS OF THEE. The Jew associated the thought of God with everything. To him the grand things of nature were full of God. The mountains were the "hills of God"; the winds were the "breathings of God; the thunder was the "voice of God." The saints of God, in all the ages, have found one Being who is in everything, who is the life of everything, but they have found that they could enter into personal relations with Him.

1. Our thoughts of God are started by the history of His dealings with our fathers through the long ages.

2. By our studies of His handiwork.

3. Our best thoughts are started by our own personal experiences of His gracious dealings. For our lives have been so full of God. That seems to us now to be the supreme charm of them.

4. Our thoughts take on some new forms since we have had the helps and suggestions of our saving relations with the Lord Jesus.

II. HOW PRECIOUS TO ME ARE THY THOUGHTS OF ME. It is a joy unspeakable to be assured that God is thinking about us, and is even enjoying His thoughts about us. Nothing can be more delightful than to feel that by our loving obediences, our sweet spirit of submission, and our devoted services to others, we are starting happy thoughts in the mind of God. We forget that as He "takes pleasure in His people," we must be giving Him pleasure. There can be little comparison between God's thoughts of us and our thoughts of God. We can get to know something of the thoughts of God, and fill our souls with the richest consolations, as we read His mind and heart. The smile on His face shines through the veil of nature, and we can tell what He is thinking that makes Him smile. His whisperings are heard in the sighing of the evening breeze, and the tender tones tell us what love-thoughts are cherished in His heart. Have we made enough of the signs which help us to read the thoughts of God? His thoughts take shape as "exceeding great and precious promises." When we are cherishing loving thoughts concerning some earthly friend, we find that we cannot satisfy ourselves without devising and bestowing some gift. And it is just the same with God. He could not satisfy Himself with merely cherishing loving thoughts about us. He must do something for us. He must give something to us. He must give Himself to us in some gift. And what shall it bey It shall be His most cherished possession, His dearest and best, His only-begotten and well-beloved Son. That is indeed an unspeakably precious gift. Cannot we read the thoughts of God by the help of that gift? How the Father-heart of God must have yearned over His lost children! "How precious are Thy thoughts." We are wrapped about with God's loving thoughts, and they keep us warmed and cheered.

(Robert Tuck, B. A.)

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

WEB: How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!