Search me, God, and know my heart
Psalms 139:23-24 - David ends this beautiful psalm with a humble request for God’s assistance in uncovering any sinful ways
“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.”
Psalms 139:23-24 NIV
With these two verses, I’ve now come to the end of my discovery of Psalm 139. I have to admit that I found much more meaning and depth to this Psalm than I did upon first reading, so I may do similar deep dives into the some of the other 149 psalms in the future.
Most of us are probably familiar with these two final verses of Psalm 139. They are a wonderful and humble entreaty to the Lord that have been used in many sermons. Here, David is showing his humility by asking God to search his heart and know him; David (like all of us) certainly wasn’t without sin, but he trusted God’s love enough to ask him for help and wisdom. David knows that God has better knowledge of his innermost self, and he needs God to help him find those weak points where he needs improvement.
Elsewhere in this psalm, David has fully embraced God’s omniscience, and here he is showing that he also trusts God to help him grow spiritually. He’s admitting that he cannot know his own heart fully, so he’s asking the Lord to reveal it to him. There is a bit of caution that should be applied to this request, though. Charles Spurgeon quoted British Anglican priest Henry Melvill in one of his commentaries on this psalm:
“I call upon you to be cautious in using this prayer. It is easy to mock God, by asking him to search you whilst you have made but little effort to search yourselves, and perhaps still less to act upon the result of the scrutiny.”1
In other words, it’s premature to ask God to search your soul if you haven’t already done so yourself and acted upon the shortcomings you have found.
David also asks God to “know my anxious thoughts”. Perfect trust in God should alleviate all worry; any anxieties David had might indicate that he doesn’t believe “enough” or trusts others (or himself) rather than God.
In the next verse, David goes even further in baring his soul to God, asking Him to find any unknown sins. David is once again showing his humility, realizing that he might not be aware of “offensive ways” (other translations use “wicked ways”) or sins that he is committing. James Montgomery Boice noted that this was a somewhat dangerous thing to ask God for:
“It is a serious thing to pray, because it invites painful exposures and surgery, if we truly mean it. Still it is what every wise believer should desire.”2
David ends this beautiful psalm by asking God to “Lead me in the way everlasting.” David Guzik in Enduring Word states that:
Trusting the God of complete knowledge and constant presence would bring David to everlasting life. The way of holiness prayed for in the previous lines was the way everlasting.
God will help us see the errors of our ways so that we can correct them. We should all strive to know our sin patterns and eliminate them, and ask God to show us what we’re still missing.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Thank You, Lord, for loving me so fully that You do not want me to be anxious about anything. Give me the courage to ask You to “search my heart”, and shed light on those things that I need to repent of. Make clear to me anything that is offensive to You, so that I may walk in the abundant life You have laid out for me. AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.
Commentary quotations from Enduring Word are used with the written permission of the author
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)
Boice, James Montgomery "Psalms: An Expostional Commentary" Volume 3 (Psalms 107-150) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1998)