To Search and Know // Psalm 139:23

Today’s verse comes from Psalm 139, which I recommend reading in its entirety, regardless how familiar it might be (click here to read). The Psalm begins with King David recognizing that God already searched him and knows him. David went on to write about the things that God knows, the places where God is, and the complexity of his own inner life before getting back to the request that we see as our verse of the day: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” It is interesting to me that Psalm 139 is bookended with the idea of God searching and knowing. I think it is safe to see this is as acknowledging God already knows us intimately while recognizing that can cause us to feel vulnerable. Ultimately what God wants us to know is how we are loved fiercely, even in spite of ourselves. This need not cause us to fear rejection, but to find comfort that God loves us with an incomparable love. So, we need not feel vulnerable, but confident in God’s love who wants to help us deal with the offensive ways in us to lead us into eternity. So, may I suggest you follow the pattern of Psalm 139 in your prayer time today: (1) know that God has already searched you and knows you; (2) God loves you, even the complicated and problematic aspects of your life; and (3) He wants you to trust Him amidst your vulnerability to work out the things that stand between the two of you. There is nowhere you can go where God is absent, so embrace His presence to find the love that will make you more than you could ever be on your own.