SEARCH ME, O GOD
(Psalm 139)
Our Scripture reading for tonight is Psalm 139. Psalm 139 is a prayer of King David, and it would be well for us as a church to make this Psalm the prayer of our church for the year 2007.
There are twenty-four verses in this Psalm and it would be more than a mouthful if we tried to chew it all at one time. So we will break it down into some bite-sized pieces and chew each piece well before we swallow it and digest it.
The 139th Psalm is a good text for us to study if we want to know some of the characteristics of God as He relates to mankind. In studying this text we find that God is omniscient, or all-knowing.
We also find that He is omnipresent, or everywhere-present, and we find that He is omnipotent or all powerful. If you want to know God and know more about Him and His purposes and His ways, you’ve got to study His Word.
First, let’s look at verses 1 through 4. These verses tell us that:
GOD KNOWS US -
Verses 1-4, “ 1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.”
God is the supreme psychologist. When you have a problem, you don’t have to lie down on the psychiatrist’s couch and tell him everything. Get down on your knees instead and talk to Jesus and tell Him everything.
You might as well tell Him because He knows all about you anyway. The psychiatrist still won’t know you even after you have told him everything you can think of.
David was very aware that God knew him inside and out, backward and forward, head to toe. Folks, God knew all about you before you were ever born. He has searched out your innermost being.
He knows you better than your father knows you. He knows you better than your mother knows you. He knows you better than your doctor knows you. He knows you better than you know yourself.
God even knows your thoughts; not just the thought you are thinking right now, but He knows your thought afar off, the thoughts you had yesterday and the thoughts you will have next month.
This should be very sobering to all of us. If your thought life isn’t as pure as it ought to be, just know that God knows what you have thought, what you are thinking, and what you will be thinking.
It is said that we have over 10,000 thoughts a day. God knows them all. He knows the ones that fly in and right back out again like a hummingbird, and He knows the ones that come in and roost in our brains like a buzzard.
A. W. Tozar said this about our thoughts, “ Our thoughts not only reveal what we are, they predict what we will become. We will soon be the sum total of our thoughts.”
If we are to become the sum total of our thoughts, then we need to feed our brains with worthwhile and righteous material, not carnal and worldly “junk food.” The Holy Spirit will take the Word of God and nourish our brains and renew our minds.
God knows us. He is omniscient, and also:
GOD IS EVERPRESENT -
Verses 5-12. “5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
Do you ever wonder if you should confess your sins in detail to God? I say spell them out to Him. He already knows about them because He was there when you committed them.
He knows what you did was a sin. Let Him know that you know it was a sin. To confess your sin is to agree with God. He says it is sin, and you agree with Him that it is sin.
God is in front of us and He is behind us. He is to our right and to our left. He is an ever present God. You and I will never understand this while we are in this world. Such knowledge is too wonderful for us.
If you have ever thought that you could hide a sin or cover up a sinful act so that God wouldn’t find out – forget about it. If you have ever tried to run away from God because you’ve felt Him calling to you to a work or a ministry – forget about that, also.
If you should try to ascend into heaven or descend into hell, He is there. There are many Christians today who are trying to run away from God. Something in their lives is standing between them and their relationship to God.
It may be pride or anger. It may be hurt feelings or feelings of guilt. They stop going to church, because the preacher seems to be preaching directly to them.
They stop associating with Christian friends because they feel guilty for running. They try to get as far from the light as possible, but the light is there.
Christian man, woman, boy or girl, you will never be satisfied. You will never feel complete or at ease as long as you try to run from the will of God.
If God is speaking to your heart about something you are doing that you shouldn’t be doing, or if He is leading you to do something and you are refusing to do it, you won’t have peace in your heart until you are in the center of His will.
Just remember that God’s shoulders are a lot broader than yours and mine. He has promised to help us carry our burdens, and 1 John 1:9 says, “ If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
It is futile to try an hide. Bring out your sins and shortcomings and lay them on the altar before our merciful and forgiving God. Ask Him to forgive you and make you whole again.
If you air your dirty laundry before God and ask Him to forgive you, He will. Though your sins be as scarlet, He will wash them white as snow.
God is ever present, and:
GOD IS OUR CREATOR -
Verses 13-16, “ 13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
God created us. He formed our inward parts and he covered us before we were born. It would take a library full of anatomy and physiology books to describe the intricate workings of the human body.
The human body is a marvelous work of bioengineering. It is no accident that the various types of tissues and cells and organ systems came together and formed a breathing, thinking, feeling, seeing, walking, talking, living human being.
Folks you and I are fearfully and wonderfully made, and don’t let anyone tell you that we evolved from a single-celled organism that crawled up out of the slime billions of years ago.
You and I are the end products of Intelligent Design, and the Designer was our Creator God. Some poet wrote this about the theory of evolution:
“Once I was a tadpole, beginning to begin; then I was a frog with my tail tucked in. Then I was a monkey in a banyan tree. Now I am a professor with a Ph.D.
It takes a lot more faith to believe in the theory of evolution than it does to believe in a Creator God and intelligent design.
God Knows Us. God is Ever Present. God is Our Creator, and:
GOD LOVES US -
Verses 17-18, “ 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
God’s thoughts should be precious to us, because His thoughts are of us. He created this universe for us. He created us in His image. There are numerous verses in the Bible that tell of His love for us.
Ephesians 2: 4 says, “ But God, who was rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.”
Jeremiah 31: 3 says, “ 3 The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
And, of course there’s John 3:16 that tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God loved us before the beginning of the world. He loves us now and He will love us throughout eternity.
God loves us with a love that is beyond human understanding. He is merciful and He is patient, but His love does not give us unlimited license to do reject Him and go against His will.
His grace is sufficient for all our needs, and His mercy endures forever, but He will not put up with sin forever. Sin must be judged.
GOD JUDGES US -
Verses 19-22, “ 19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
20 For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
God will judge the wicked and He will hear the prayers of His people. Charles Spurgeon said this about judgment:
“If you haven’t looked at Christ on the cross, you’ll have to look at Him on the throne – with great trembling. The sacrificial death of Christ will be brought before the eyes of all who refuse to accept His free gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
In Bethlehem He came in mercy to forgive sin. In the future He will come on the clouds in glory to establish justice. What will we do without a Savior? On the day of judgment there is nothing we can do if we have not trusted Christ.”
Folks, in this world we cry for justice. We demand our rights, and we fight for the freedoms that were given to us by the Constitution.
But on Judgment Day, we won’t be crying for justice, we’ll be begging for mercy. Thank God that He is a merciful God. He is a just God, and He will judge sin, but if you have been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, your sins have already been forgiven.
Here’s what Jesus said about Judgment Day in Matthew chapter 25: 31“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32“All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33“And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 41“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:” (Matthew 25:31-34, 41)
If you have been saved by the grace of God through faith in His Son Jesus, you will hear these wonderful words on Judgment Day, “ ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. . .”
If you have not been saved, you will hear these words that will ring in your ears throughout eternity, “ ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire. . .”
God knows us; God is ever present; God is our Creator; God loves us; God judges us; and:
GOD SANCTIFIES US -
Verses 23-24, “ 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
This prayer tells us a lot about King David. It tells us that he was an humble man.
A prideful person would have said, “ Hey, God. Search me all you want. I’m a good man. I’ve done a lot for the nation of Israel. So, go ahead and search me. You won’t find any wickedness in me!”
This prayer tells us that David knew the ways of God. Someone who didn’t know God would have said, “ I’ve done some wicked things in my life, but I’ve kept them well hid. God will never find out.”
But David was humble, and he knew that God already knew all about him. He knew he was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.
He was agreeing with God and he was asking God to calm his worries and to guide his path. This should be our prayer for the year 2007. Let’s all find Psalm 139:23,24 in our Bibles, and pray together these two verses:
“ 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
