Prayer: Father, I am wowed by the thought that Your thoughts are for me, towards me and You know me so intimately. Those thoughts are too high and lofty, I cannot attain to them. Even while in the womb, we knew me. Wow! Amen.
Reading: Psalms 139 key: vs. 1 & 23-24
1 For the music director: a psalm of David.
Adonai, You searched me and know me.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Examine me, and know my anxious thoughts,
24 and see if there be any offensive way within me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Attention: Psalm 139 is by far one of my most favorite psalms by King David. If you have never read this psalm, please do not speed read this passage. I encourage you to ponder the intimacy which David acknowledges the Sovereign has in each conception of His creation.
What does Adonai know about me? He knows when I sit down or stand up (vs.2a). He discerns my thinking (vs. 2b). He observes my daily journeying and my resting, familiar with all my ways (vs. 3). Adonai knows my speech before I speak it (vs.4).
David is awed by his discoveries and awareness of Adonai’s omniscience, His all-knowing ability. The knowledge of this information about Adonai’s character, is “too wonderful for me, too lofty (too high) for his comprehension (vs. 6).”
In his pondering, David asks himself, “Where can I go from Your Ruach (Spirit)? Where can I flee from Your presence (vs. 6)? Even as far back as when I was in high school, my football head coach filmed every game for the team’s and coach’s review. The camera which filmed the game was on top of the stadium roof. So, it had an eagle’s nest view. He called it the eye in the sky! Nothing escaped the view of that camera. When we came to the team meeting on Monday, the film revealed every detail of every play and player on the field. We could not escape the notice of the coaches and sometimes it was embarrassing. Imagine a certain play was called in the huddle and a snap count is given so that everyone knows when the ball is to be hiked. This requires the center (the one who hikes the ball), to remember the snap count as the count is when every player is exploding out blocking for either a pass or a run. All it takes is one player forgetting that count or his specific assignment and the play could go very badly. My coach used to say, when we draw up a play, if it is perfectly executed, every play is a touchdown. If every player on our team, beats his opposing blocker, we score.
There were times, every player did not want to watch a specific play because we knew, we made a mistake. We forgot the snap count and we got flagged for our miscue. We went the wrong direction on the field during a called play. I recall not wanting to attend the team meeting once in my junior year of a varsity game. I was the number 2 lineman, and I was called on to sub for a starter. The play they called required me to pull and go in a reverse direction from the rest of the line. In a game situation, you do not have time to consult with anyone about your assignment, it is going to the line and hope you made the right decision. Well, I made the wrong choice and ran into one of my own linemen right behind the center. Embarrassing. Fortunately, the coach did not even highlight that play.
The point is, David understood that he could not hide from God. Adam and Eve tried as did Jonah. They were not successful at avoiding God and neither are we, but we still try. Are you avoiding God? Are you running away from Him? You cannot do it.
In David’s opening statement of this psalm he says, “Adonai, You have searched me and know me.” By the end of his journal entry, he says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” David acknowledges that he cannot hide from God, so I will ask God to search me, examine me and reveal to me who I am. He knows us completely, fully, better than we know ourselves.
Are you comfortable enough with God to be honest with Him and yourself? I encourage you to invite Adonai to examine your heart and reveal to you those things which need to be changed.
Action: I will entrust the transformational work to Adonai and His Spirit.
Yield: Transformation begins with surrender.
Engage: Transformation begins when I trust Adonai to change my heart.
Relationship: Begins when I trust Adonai to transform my heart and I become conformed to His image.
Prayer: Father, give me the courage to allow You search me and reveal to me the truth about myself. Order my steps today. Help me to walk in step with You and abide in You today! Amen.
Memory Verse: Psalm 139: 23-24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Examine me, and know my anxious thoughts,
24 and see if there be any offensive way within me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Music Video: Cleanse Me (Search Me, O God) – Cover by Caleb Peterson
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”