Psalm 139

In Psalm 139, David talks about how God knows us completely; how before a word is even on our lips, He knows it in its entirety.
To me, that means He does not only hear it and know the literal meaning that is spoken, but he knows the intentions, motives and secret life behind every word that is uttered.
The secret life of words. The secret life of a word. Hmmmm. I think this is interesting. I will need to explore this idea a little, but not right now.
Back to David. He talks about how God knows us, and there is nowhere we can go to get away from Him.
Even if we make our bed in Hell, or we move to the other side of the world, He is there.
The dark is as light to Him, and when we feel like we can’t see Him, He sees us.
He hems us in, before and behind. I love that. We are surrounded by Him. This is so comforting to me.
Our days are ordained by Him. This also is comforting to me. He has plans and purposes, and they are so much higher than ours. Knowing this helps me rest in Him. I need to read this verse everyday!
David goes on to praise his maker. This is where we find that well-known passage, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
He acknowledges the vastness of God’s countless thoughts.
He recognizes that God is not just a dream, but that “When I awake, I am still with you.”
At the end of the Psalm, David makes a strange request.
He asks, “Search me o God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts, see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
David is asking God to search him, not for God’s benefit.
He established earlier in the Psalm that God knows us inside and out already, from the time our frame was being formed in our mother’s body, no matter if we are trying to hide from him or not.
He is asking God to search him so that he will know himself; so that he can change and be close to God.
He knows that the only way to be led in “the way everlasting” is to know what God knows about him.
So, I make my prayer today like David’s. Search me, O God.
What is in my heart? What are my anxious thoughts? What in me offends?
I need to know what God knows about me.
I need to know how to change.
I want to be found in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, ^[a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

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

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.