Dangerous Prayers: Search Me
Psalm 139:23-24
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
01-03-2021
How’s Your Prayer Life?
Let me start with a question that might make you feel uncomfortable…
How’s your prayer life?
For some of us that question makes us squirm in our seats.
If prayer is simply talking to our Heavenly Father, then why do we have such a hard time praying?
And when we do pray, why do we pray such safe prayers like “Lord, bless me” or “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food.?”
I remember reading about the giants of the faith like Martin Luther who said,
“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”
Three hours? I sometimes have trouble praying for three minutes! Squirrel!
Maxine’s mother used to host all night prayer meetings!
As we end 2020 and begin a brand new year, I thought that this sermon series, “Dangerous Prayers” would be good for all of us.
Last week, we looked at the dangerous prayer from Isaiah 6 - “Here am I. Send me!”
If you didn’t see that service, I would encourage you make sure to watch, especially for the interview at the end with our missionaries in Mexico, Dan and Christi Ucherek!
This morning, we are going to look at another dangerous prayer that, when prayed from a sincere heart, has the ability to change you from the inside out!
Again, let me remind you that the idea from this sermon series comes from Craig Groeschel’s book “Dangerous Prayers.”
Turn with me to Psalm 139.
Prayer.
The Text within Its Context
Psalm 139 has been called the “crown of all Psalms.” We know it was written by David but we don’t know when or what caused him to write it.
It’s a beautiful, poetic song of four stanzas of six verses each.
We will be concentrating on the last two verses:
“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.” (Psalm 139: 23-24)
Honestly, this is a terrifying, dangerous prayer.
Most of us don’t want anyone snooping around in our private life.
But David lays his life bare before the Lord and prays four things:
Search my heart
Reveal my fears
Uncover my sins
Lead me home to You
Why did David feel safe praying that prayer? Because he was praying to a God that he knew, loved, and trusted. And, more importantly, this God knew David intimately and completely.
Praying to a God that Knows Me!
In Psalm 139, David focuses on three of God’s attributes.
Omniscience V. 1-6
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me too lofty for me to attain.” (Psalm 139:1-6)
These verses spotlight the attribute of omniscience. This is simply a theology word that means God knows everything.
Verse one - He knows everything about me.
Verses two a - He know’s everything I do
Verse two b - He knows everything I think.
Verse three - He knows everywhere I go.
Verse four - He knows everything I say
Verse five - He knows everything I need
This understanding that God knows everything about David, leads him to awe and adoration.
It’s convicting to know that God knows everything about us but it’s also encouraging because Her know everything about us and still loves us!
Omnipresence V-7-12
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me And the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Psalm 139:7-12)
David begins by asking two rhetorical questions. Is there anywhere in the universe that I can hide from you? And the answer is a resounding no!
David actually uses the compass headings.
Heaven - north. Grave - south. The dawn - the east. Far side of the sea (Mediterranean Sea) - west.
David know that God will lead him and protect him, especially in the dark times because God can see in the dark!
This could freak some of you out. I remember talking to some students and one of them asking me, “You mean God can see me in the shower?”
This could be intimidating. Being watched all the time can make us paranoid and jumpy.
Just ask people living in China.
But what if the Person watching you all the time know you intimately and loved you perfectly?
It’s not the surveillance of the police state but the baby monitor in the crib that the parents watch with diligence and care.
Maybe you need to hear this today. Because of God omnipresence, you are never alone. Jesus said,
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
David praises God for His omniscience (that He knows him perfectly) and for His omnipresence ( will never leave him alone) and then he highlights God’s omnipotence.
Omnipotence V 13-16
“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.
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. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:13-16)
God is omnipotent - all powerful. With a word, He created the universe and planets and platypuses.
But David focuses on the fact that God created him. These are some of the most known verses in the Bible and shows that God knows us even before we are born. That’s why we are pro-life from the womb to the tomb.
Again, he breaks out into praise and adoration:
“How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.” (Psalm 139:17-18)
Because God is all knowing, everywhere present, and all powerful, David can take the risk of praying a very dangerous prayer:
“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.” (Psalm 139: 23-24)
Search my Heart
David begins with giving God permission to have full access to his heart.
Wait, hold on. If God knows everything, doesn’t He know what’s in David’s heart?
Of course He does. But this search is for David’s sake.
The word search means to “drill or bore down” like when people drill for oil or mine for ore.
I have a young friend that has been pulled over by the police multiple times. When they ask if they can search his van, he always says, “Absolutely, no problem.”
Why? Because he knows there is nothing in his van that would cause the police officer to question his truthfulness.
You may respond, “Pastor, I have a pretty good heart. I’m a good person. I don’t drink or chew or go with girls who do.
But the problem is that our hearts will lie to us:
Jeremiah made this point clearly:
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” (Jeremiah 17:9)
Last year, I felt a pop in my shoulder and was in extreme pain. I went to the doctor and they took an X-ray.
They literally were able to see inside my body. When I asked the doctor what was wrong, he said, “It’s arthritis. You’re getting old!”
Right after Jeremiah says that the heart is deceitful, he records God saying,
“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind…” (Jeremiah 17:10)
Let’s make this more personal.
If God asked to x-ray your heart, would you respond the same way?
How about your bank account? How about your browsing history on your computer? How about that room in your heart that you lock and keep the key hidden?
When we pray show me what’s in our hearts, we are giving God permission to rummage around in there, to shine a spotlight on areas He wants to root out or change.
Eugene Peterson paraphrases this section:
“Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me…” (Psalm 139:24a, The Message)
So we are going to allow God to do that right now. Let’s spend some quiet time and pray this part of the prayer.
“Search me, O God, and know me”
Expose my fears
Next David prays, “Test me and know my anxious thoughts.”
About six weeks ago, I preached a sermon entitled, “How do I deal with my anxiety.” I post my sermons on a website called Sermon Central and every week, I get a dashboard reading of how many people read the sermon and where they are located. (We have people reading the sermons from all over the world.)
When the results came back that next week, I was shocked. That sermon about anxiety received more views than any other sermon I have posted. By a lot!
Why? Because we are a human and we are often fearful and anxious.
For about ten years, Maxine’s body went rogue on her and she experienced one terrible health issue after another.
I remember calling my dad and bursting into tears because I had become terrified that she was going to die. I’m a pastor who knows the verses about anxiety and fear by heart but, at that moment, my heart was overcome by fear and anxiety.
We fear losing our jobs or not being able to make ends meet. We fear losing our marriage or getting Covid-19 or something happening to our children. Some of us fear failure. Some of actually fear success.
Craig Groeschel writes, “What we often fear the most is where we trust God the least.”
I had to come to grips with the fact that I was not trusting God with Maxine’s life. So many things had gone wrong and we just couldn’t see His hand in any of it.
Peter, quoting the Psalms, wrote:
“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” (I Peter 5:7, New Living Translation)
And the Apostle John wrote these encouraging words,
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (I John 4:18)
I love the fact that the phrase, “Do not fear” is found 365 times in the English Bible - one for each day of the year!
What has been keeping you up at night? What thoughts make your stomach do backflips? What fears stalk your dreams?
Let’s take some time and pray:
“Test me and know my anxious thoughts.”
Uncover my Sins
Paul continues in prayer by asking God to see if there is any offensive way in him.
In your translation, the word “offensive” might be “grievous way” or “wickedness” or “evil” or even “idolatry.”
David is giving God permission to check the oil of his heart and to root out anything that could come between him and God.
Remember from last week, Isaiah wrote:
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)
Sometimes we might pray a generic prayer, “God forgive my sins” but God may respond, “Which one? There’s a list. Where do you want to start?”
It’s so easy to see other people’s sins but excuse our own.
Craig Groeshel gives us three questions to ask to see where God needs to do surgery:
What have others tried to tell you?
I remember a conversation that God used in my life in a powerful way. I’ve talked and written about the fact when I was younger I struggled with a pornography addiction.
One time, I was pouring out my heart to a friend about this battle and he stopped me and said something I will never forget:
“Has it ever occurred to you that lust my not be your top sin? After knowing you, I think God needs to deal with your pride and He probably have to crush you in the process.”
OUCH! But, he was right and God brought to my mind several people that had said something similar.
What sin have I rationalized for a long time?
Maybe it is lust - it’s not hurting anyone.
Maybe it’s anger - I can’t help it, I have anger issues.
Maybe it’s unforgiveness - But you don’t know what they did to me.
Maybe it’s gossip - I just need to keep people “in the know”
By the way, Scott Sauls defines gossip has,
“Gossip is pornography of the mouth. A cheap thrill that offers zero commitment to the person being objectified.”
3. Where am I most defensive?
I remember doing a clinical assessment on a young man in his 20s. He had been arrested for drug possession and needed to go to rehab asap.
In the assessment, I found out that his dad was a terrible alcoholic and told him that it looks like he was following in his dad’s footsteps.
The rage that came out of him responding to this statement was frightening. He was NOTHING like his dad. He didn’t even drink! And he didn’t have a problem with drugs. The heart is deceitful…
Praying this part of the prayer takes courage, honesty, and submission.
One writer states,
“This is a serious prayer to pray, because it invites painful exposure and surgery, if we truly mean it.”
When God brings to mind a sin, what do you do?
You confess it, which simply means to agree with God.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:8-9)
We confess to God for forgiveness. And we confess to others for healing:
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)
J.C. Ryle famously said, “Christ is never fully valued until sin is clearly seen.”
Let’s spend some time doing that right now.
“See if there is any offensive way in me”
Lead Me
David finishes this prayer and Psalm 139 with a request for God to “lead him in the way everlasting.”
This is not just a theology prayer but David gets practical here.
He asked God to lead Him.
Solomon wrote to his sons,
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Solomon says, “This is the way!”
But he asks specifically for God to lead him in the “way everlasting.” This is the only time this term is used in the entire Bible and it means eternity.
This verse is meant to contrast with his description his zeal for God’s holiness in v. 19-22:
“If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.” (Psalm 139:19-22)
As opposed to these wicked people who hate God and blaspheme His name whose path leads to doom and damnation, David asking God to lead him on the righteous path, the road to heaven.
Here’s a question to help us prepare for communion - are you on the “way everlasting?”
Have you placed your faith and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins?
Jesus lived a life we couldn’t live - perfect obedience.
Jesus died a death we couldn’t die - in our place as a substitutionary payment
To give us what we could never deserve or earn - life everlasting with God.
[Communion]
[Ending Song - Psalm 139 Shane and Shane]
