Search Me, O God

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.