Search Me, O God!

Psalm 139:1 – O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
² You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
³ You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
⁴ You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
⁵ You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!

⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
¹² but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you. (NLT)

If there is one thing this psalm makes clear – there is no escaping God!  God knows everything about us (verse 1).  God knows our thoughts (verse 2).  God knows where we are (verse 3).  God knows what we are going to say (verse 4), and in verse five we are told that God is everywhere all at the same time!

Now, this could be good news, or bad news.  I prefer to see it as good news, but sadly some use passages such as this to scare people (particularly children).  The psalmist wasn’t trying to scare anybody, indeed, the psalmist was trying to reassure us that God’s blessings are with us every second: You place your hand of blessing on my head (verse 5).

Whenever we read Scripture, we should always dig a little deeper.  With that in mind, let’s consider how this psalm ends: “²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. ²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”  This psalm begins by stating that God has examined our hearts, and it ends with the Psalmist asking God to search him again.  The tense of the verb search in verse twenty-three indicates something deeper than merely taking a look at us.  The psalmist is asking God to dig deeper!  God wants us to dig deeply into God’s Word, but we should, in turn, ask God to dig deeply into our lives.  We should not just acknowledge that God is aware of us, but we should ask God to make us aware of those things that offend God!

Today, let us ask God to dig deeply into our lives, pointing out to us what needs to be corrected.  Then, let us be willing to change! 

Posted by Ramón Torres