Search Me O God and Know My Heart

1-14-24

Hoonah-Hadley

Psalm 139

Call to Worship 1 Samuel 3:1-10

Daily Verse’s Psalm 139:23-24

As we step into a new year, our hearts spill forth the tears of yesterday and the hope of a better tomorrow. 2 Peter 1:19 “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts…” It seems prudent we gain understanding, seek wisdom as we trek toward higher ground. As we stand on the threshold of a new day, a new year, a time of resolutions, promises, plans, and hopes for a better future, a better life, more peaceful relationships, lower taxes, weight loss, the end of cigarettes, healing, forgiveness, or maybe, just maybe, some new tires, Psalm 139 is a good place to make a new start. It will benefit us to consider the age-old wisdom of 2 ears and 1 mouth. The Old Testament Book of 1 Samuel sets the stage in 3:1-10. “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days.” We should not find it unusual or shocking on either of these accounts today, a boy ministering to the Lord or the rarity of God’s word. Christ uses children to teach us some eternal lessons on more than one occasion and He reveals or hides His word as He sees fit. Amos 8:11 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” He hides things from the learned and reveals them to babes. Do not discount the Holy Spirit pouring forth from a youngster or be shocked when you come across a Christless church. (Revelation 3:20)

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Psalm 139:1 “Lord, You have searched me and know me.”  We’ll not pretend to gather this Psalm in, in one sitting.  It could take weeks, months, in fact, our lives could be consumed with it, not a bad notion to consider.  It could be dissected into parts, verses 1-6 sets the stage and might be titled: “You Know Me.”  Surely God knows those that gather with us on Sunday, or Saturday, or for Wednesday evening bible study.  We are confident He knows His body, the church, those that are His ambassadors around the globe.  To say He knows the nearly 8 billion souls alive today may be hard to comprehend.  But to sit alone with God and recite the words of the psalmist, “Lord, You have searched me and know me” removes from us the faultfinding discourse of a messed up world.  The finger pointing blame game has suddenly become silent as we look around and see we are alone with God.  This is either a terrifying reality or an unbelievable privilege.  Jim Packer: “Living becomes an awesome business when you realize that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an all-knowing, ever-present God.”  I must confess, this psalm is personal for me.  I’ve had an affair with it for years.  If you should write it on the tablet of your heart, bind it on your finger, lie down with it, rise up with it, meditate on it, you cannot dismiss its design for you.  Above all else, this psalm is personal, God knows you.  Vs. 2 “You know my sitting down and my rising up, You understand my thoughts from afar.”  There is no small thing about you He doesn’t know, every breath, every step, the brushing of your teeth, your daily physical motion, and tasks.  Yet He goes beyond knowing, He “understands” our thoughts.  You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time, and you can fool God none of the time.  You think you have secrets?  Only in the presence of the undiscerning fool. 

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Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?  I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind.  Even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”  God knows us by “searching” us.  His searching “tests” us.  And, His testing “gives” us according to our ways.  This is God’s economy, it’s universal, it goes like this, good or bad, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he who sows to the flesh will…reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will…reap everlasting life.”  (Galatians 6:7-8) Not only does God understand our thoughts, is acquainted with all our ways, but He knows each word before we speak them. (Vs. 4) Suddenly it got real quiet in here.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve come to a place of serious consideration of my thoughts, words, and deeds, of who I am in light of who God is.  We may not be looking for God, but He’s looking for us.  Should we consider Adam and Eve hiding in the garden, or Jonah hiding in the bottom of the boat?  Are you hiding, fleeing, running from God?  He tells Jonah first thing, “Go to Ninevah.”  Jonah flees, runs, hides, gets thrown overboard, swallowed by a big fish, vomited up on shore and find’s God there waiting on him, He repeats Himself, “Go to Ninevah.”  Herein, we’re just trying to save you from the vomit.  He hedges us in, protects us.  Lays His hand upon us, in fact He inscribes us on the palms of His hands. (Isaiah 49:16) Such knowledge is too wonderful for us, we cannot attain it.  We simply cannot flee from His Spirit, His presence.  Heaven?  He is there.  Hell?  “Behold, You are there.”  Vs. 9-10 gives way to the finest poetry ever, a song rises in our hearts.  “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.”  Children of the Most High, take comfort here, rest in His arms.

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Vs. 13-14 “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb, I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.”  We do not need to be writers, poets or musicians but we can benefit from, live in light of their insight and gifts.  We can listen to their music, recite their poems, read their words and know they speak for us, they speak to us, in fact, often times their chords tell our story.  And so it is we sing along with the psalmist the joyful noise of knowing how fearfully and wonderfully God made us.  Should we stop the noise, quiet our ways, consider how marvelous are His works? Is not our soul left in awesome wonder at this revelation?  Surely, we can write our own poetry in light of this knowledge.  Lord, you know me.  You surround me.  You created me.  Vs. 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.”  There are things people know about us, our birth certificate tells of our arrival.  The newspaper recorded our first little league hit, our high school yearbook has the date on the front cover.  There are things few if any know about us, hidden secrets we’ve kept to ourselves.  But, God knows us better than we know ourselves.  In fact, He saw us, wrote all our days in His book before we enjoyed our first breath.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for us.  Vs. 23 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties.”  Herein the conclusion, the psalmist prays and so should we. Vs. 24 “And see if there be any wicked way in me.” Remove from me O Lord any and all that is contrary to Your perfect design for me. Lord, You know me, You surround me, You created me and test me, by Your word, by Your grace, by Your spirit, search me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Amen.