What To Ask An All-Knowing God

The Wednesday feature of the Worldly Saints blog is a Scriptural meditation whereby I take a verse or passage I have been pondering lately and seek to edify my readers with it’s promises, encouragements, warnings, rebukes, etc.

Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Join me as we invite the omniscient and omnipotent Creator to do a little inspection of our lives so that we might draw closer to Him.

1. Petition the Lord for an EXAMINATION of your heart (vs. 23a) – “Search me, O God, and know my heart …”

 David is no doubt seeking to return to his original words in the psalm by asking the Lord to show him his heart. After a brilliant discourse about the omnipotence and omniscience of the Lord (Ps 139:1-22), David recognizes his need for further introspection. Now obviously, David was not begging for the Lord to search him in order that the Lord might learn something new about David; the Lord knew David “inside and out.” The point is this: David didn’t trust his own inspection of his heart; he needed a divine detective to probe his heart.

2. Petition the Lord for an INVESTIGATION of your thoughts (vs. 23b) – “…Try me, and know my thoughts.”

He is pleading with the Lord to test him for genuineness. He wants to be examined by the Lord to determine whether he is truly a righteous man or not. You continue to get the seriousness of which David took his sin. Too often as Christians, our time of confession is no longer than a few remorseful “I’m sorry’s”; David spends paragraphs and sometimes pages lamenting his sin (e.g., Ps 32; 51). He hated his sin. He was a man who wanted to be free from any wickedness anywhere in his life. Notice David uses the plural form of this word, which means he was asking God for a thorough assessment.

3. Petition the Lord for a DESCRIPTION of your sins (vs. 24a) – “And see if there is any grievous way in me …”

David is pleading with the Lord to see if there be any way of hurt of way of sin in his life. David understood any sinful thought and deed in his life would corrupt the whole person; it would corrupt his worship or his way. Charles Spurgeon summarized this verse this way:

“See whether there be in my heart, or in my life, any evil habit unknown to myself. If there be such an evil way, take me from it, take it from me. No matter how dear the wrong may have become,nor how deeply prejudiced I may have been in its favor, be pleased to deliver me therefrom altogether, effectually, and at once, that I may tolerate nothing which is contrary to thy mind. As I hate the wicked in their way, so would I hate every wicked way in myself.”

Spurgeon and David understood any “wicked way” prohibits a right relationship with the Lord. He has continually petitioned the Lord to expose any wickedness in his life so that he might repent from it to be restored to a right relationship.

4. Petition the Lord for DIRECTION to a holier way (vs. 24b) – “…And lead me in the way of everlasting.”

This “way of everlasting” was a way of blessing; the Israelites would have identified with this phrase used in this psalm for worship. David wanted to be marked by the righteousness of those saints of the past. He also wanted the Lord to keep him on this road of righteousness as He’d promised to do until glorification (II Cor 3:18). It’s this life that is described in Psalm 16:9-11 – “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” You begin to get the overall picture of these 2 verses. This “way everlasting” marked by faithfulness and blessing could not come with unconfessed sin in David’s life, and he knew this. This was the purpose for his petitioning of God to know his heart, try his thoughts, and see his sins.

The omniscience of the Lord could never be clearer than it is in Psalm 139. Verses 23-24 couldn’t be more precise about the deep recesses of a human being that the Lord knows and inspects. The Lord knows every inclination of our heart, He knows every thought that crosses our mind, and He knows any evil way that dwells within us. Nothing is hidden or kept secret from the Lord. By pleading with the Lord to inspect us and reveal to us our own wickedness, we too can enjoy a life of blessing and righteousness.