“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
Psalms 139:23-24 NLT

King David followed God for a long time. In Psalm 139 he writes about God’s inescapable knowledge of his whereabouts. The King reflects on God’s blessings and the way everyone is knit together by God in the most spectacular way.

David also reflects on those who are the enemies of God, and what to do with them. He wishes God would just wipe them out. In the meantime, David recognizes the importance of recognizing and standing against those in opposition to God. In effect he says: An enemy of God is an enemy of mine.

Reflection

Following these reflections come the words we read today:

• Search me, O God, and know my heart: David bypasses all the other things one might say to someone when being searched. Before God, he asks to be searched at the very core of who he is. David is not worried about belongings or popular opinion. He wants God to search the inner man and take a thorough look around.
• Test me and know my anxious thoughts: The request to be tested and have full knowledge of anxious thinking is a recognized area of need in the King’s life. I think it is the need of every person, including me, today. How often when a situation emerges do you and I resort to anxious thinking? God is offering His peace to counter this in our lives.
• Point out anything in me that offends you: What an amazing statement of accountability. Giving God permission to share with us any area of compromise or conflict with what He intends for us. This shows real vulnerability. King David was a person of great power. Yet here he is before God, humble and completely vulnerable to God’s observations about his life. May we do the same.
• And lead me along the path of everlasting life: David understands and experiences his relationship with God as good and lasting. He submits to God’s continued leadership, knowing every day with God is another day of life that will last forever.

Encouragement

Let’s follow the guidance of David. Ask for more of God’s examination of the motives and intent of the heart. Let God grow you in resisting anxious thinking when situations or scenarios arise. Step forward in God’s peace. Be open to God showing you something that needs to be addressed because it is offensive to Him. Have confidence in His leadership in your life to a life that lasts forever.

Prayer

Dear Jesus,

I want to say, “More please!”

Please take a careful look at matters of my heart. Please move me away from patterns of anxious thinking. Help me to take up Your peace as I think through the situations and scenarios of life. I make myself available to You to point out anything in my life that is in conflict with You, no matter how big or small it may be. I am listening. Thank You for continuing to lead me into a life that lasts forever.

In Your name, Jesus, I pray, amen.

-Ed McDowell, CEO
Warm Beach Camp Ministries