VERSE OF THE DAY
Psalm 139:23-24 (New Living Translation)
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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.
Search me and my anxious soul search me in and out know me as a whole know my heart and thoughts. Find any impurities that wrong you then lead me down the path of everlasting life.
This passage speaks of the faithfulness of God to me every time – God will never let me go. I am His and that knowledge humbles me and keeps me in His love.Dec 3, 2020
What Does Psalm 139:23 Mean? ►
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
Psalm 139:23(NASB)
Verse Thoughts
This well-loved, and oft recited Psalm of David, opens our understanding to the greatness and majesty of our awesome God. It gives us a glimpse into His omniscience, His omnipotence, and His omnipresence. It reminds us that God knows every aspect of our lives and is interested in the smallest detail of our existence. This great and mighty God has planned every day of our life and searches out each thought of our heart and every deep longing within.
It is a song of love and comfort, that travels directly from the mind of the Almighty and Everlasting God into the depth of our fragile being, because it reminds us that it is God Who made us and not we ourselves, and that He is the One Who knew us from the beginning when we were hidden in the secret place of our mother’s womb – long before we became aware of His presence and power, His wonder and majesty.
As we read through this blessed Psalm verse by verse, we first come to an understanding that He is all-knowing and perfect in wisdom. He is acquainted with all our ways and understands the deepest thoughts of our innermost being. We begin to comprehend that His knowledge is far too wonderful for us to grasp, for He knows the end from the beginning and can read the intimate thoughts in the hidden recesses of our mind.
As we journey through its hallowed verses, we start to become aware that He is our ever-living help and that no matter where we are or where we roam, the Spirit of His presence is there to lead and guide, and His righteous right hand is sufficient to uphold and support us, protect and defend us, comfort and equip us, heal and help us. Were we to travel at the speed of thought or fly to the farthest reaches of the universe, His hand would be there to succour and sustain, for He is our ever-present help in times of trouble.
As David further explores the power and strength of His holy Helper, he realises that he was wonderfully and fearfully made, and concludes that the awesome greatness and marvellous understanding of the eternal God is far too wonderful for him to comprehend. The tranquillity and rest that this knowledge brought him, moved the psalmist to cry out, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, O Lord and know my anxious thoughts.”
David knew that he was surrounded by wicked men and evil enemies whose hatred of our amazing and glorious God was diametrically opposite to David’s depth and devotion for his Lord. David was aware that fear of his enemies and other worries and tension that disquieted his heart, could only be calmed by God. He alone is the One Who is able to still our troubled thoughts and bring peace into our anxious minds.
David cried out for God to search his heart and prove the depth of his love for his Lord. He wanted Him to test his love and loyalty, to try his heart as a refiner tests the purity of silver or gold. But he knew that any anxious thoughts that were concealed within, could not be hidden from the penetrating gaze of His God and Saviour.
He knew that God alone could bring calm to his distressed soul, and knew that any ungodly thoughts that are masked within a man’s heart are seen in clear view by the Lord, and David wanted his anxiety exposed and his troubled thoughts cleansed and made clean by the purifying light of God’s perfect character.
May we come to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the amazing nature of our awesome Go
Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/psalm-139-23
Psalm 139:23-24, Who is the biggest sinner you know?
by Matt Slick | Nov 28, 2008 | Sermons, Christian Living
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“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”
Introduction
The Bible says that you have died with Christ and it is no longer you who lives, but Christ in you (Gal. 2:20). If this is so, then why does it seem as though something else is living in us besides Jesus? Why do we have such a struggle with sin?
Have you discovered that there are still some pretty bad things in your heart? Maybe youï’ve been praying and wicked thoughts suddenly pop into your mind. Or maybe you have a sin or two that you’ve been battling against for years and have yet to see complete victory over it.
Maybe, like Paul, you say, “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (Rom. 7:21).
You may not like the idea that struggling against sin is and will be a reality for the rest of your life, but the sooner you accept it, the better off you’ll be in combating sin.
Nevertheless, there are some things you need to know about yourself, your sin, and what you can do against it.
1. First of all, you are not alone in your fight against sin.
1. God is with you and in you.
1. God is with you – Jesus said, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
1. Jesus has not left you as orphans. You are not alone in your struggle against sin.
2. Remember, “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
2. God is in – “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:19).
2. You arenï’t the only one going through what you are going through.
1. “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
2. In order to defeat an enemy, you must know who you are fighting.
1. We know that the devil goes around the earth looking for people to devour in sin. But he is not the focus of this sermon. We are going to look elsewhere, into our own hearts.
2. Jesus said in Mark 7:21-23, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
1. We need to look no further than ourselves to find the source of evil and sin.
2. So, I ask you: who is the biggest sinner you know?
3. As Christians, you need to remain aware of the sinfulness and deceitfulness of your own heart.
1. Too many Christians think that their sin is excusable because it isn’t that serious or because others do it or because it isn’t their fault, or other such lies.
2. No sin is excusable and we must accept the fact that we are sinners and accept the fact that we must resist sin.
3. But as I said earlier, we are not alone in our fight. The Lord is in us working out our salvation (sanctification) on a daily basis.
4. God still takes the issue of sin seriously
1. This is why he convicts you of your sin and prompts you to turn from it.
5. James 1:14, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”
6. Jer. 17:9-10 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? 10 “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”
4. And again, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way” (Psalm 139:23-24).
1. Notice that God searches your heart. Why?
2. …because you cannot even know the depths of sin in your own heart. Only God can know that.
3. …because sin is deceitful and it hides itself inside of you. You are not able to fully discern its depths or presence.
4. …because the Bible says that the seat of indwelling sin is the heart.
1. Mark 7:21-23, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
1. Because of our sinfulness, we must ask God to search our hearts and unearth sins that we do not know are there.
2. We must look into God’s word and judge our holiness by its words, not our own.
1. Therefore, the only way to really know your sin is to study Godï’s word and let the light of His truth expose it.
3. Also, by asking God to search your heart, you are asking Him to identify sin in you so you can confess it and resist it.
5. It is usually our desires that overcome our reason.
1. You can know that something is wrong in your mind.
2. But it is your desire to sin that overcomes your knowledge of right and wrong.
6. The Cross of Christ!
1. The Lord has taken all our sin upon Himself on the cross and guaranteed us the right to be called His children.
2. We are guaranteed heaven and eternity with Him.
3. Your reason, enlightened by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God can help you gain control over your sins.
4. Faith in God, confession, accountability, all help you resist sin.
5. Pray that God would search your heart and reveal to you your sin so you can turn from it.
Conclusion
How heavy is sin? A flippant youth asked a preacher, “You say that unsaved people carry a weight of sin. I feel nothing. How heavy is sin? Is it ten pounds? Eighty pounds?” The preacher replied by asking the youth, “If you laid a four-hundred-pound weight on a corpse, would it feel the load?” The youth replied, “It would feel nothing, because it is dead.” The preacher concluded, “That spirit, too, is indeed dead which feels no load of sin or is indifferent to its burden and flippant about its presence.” The youth was silenced!
2 Cor. 13:4, “For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we shall live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.”
What does Psalm 139:23 mean? [⇑ See verse text ⇑]
Although David despised the wicked who spoke against God and took His name in vain, he realized he was not perfect. He was keenly aware that sin might be lurking in his heart and mind. Therefore, he asked the Lord to search his heart and know his thoughts. The Hebrew word translated “search” here is one often used to describe the way miners searched deeply for gold. This is the same term used at the beginning of this psalm (Psalm 139:1), as well as of Israelites scouring the land for territory to claim as their own (Judges 18:2).
David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), but he knew the heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). Only the omniscient God, whom he described earlier in the psalm, could search the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). David also asked the Lord to know his thoughts. Again, only the omniscient God could do this.
David wrote in Psalm 139:2 that God discerned his thoughts. Our thought lives matter. Thoughts form the seed bed of sin (James 4:14–15), therefore we ought to practice what Paul counseled in Philippians 4:8: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Context Summary
Psalm 139:17–24 emphasizes God’s justice. Prior sections of this psalm bore witness to God’s omniscience (Psalm 139:1–6), His omnipresence (Psalm 139:7–12), and His omnipotence (Psalm 139:13–16). David rejoices in God’s thoughts and nearness, but despises the wicked around him. He longs for God to slay them. He sees God’s enemies as his own enemies, but is acutely aware of the possibility that sin dwells in him. Therefore, he asks God to search him and lead him in the way everlasting.
Chapter Summary
In this psalm David marvels at God’s amazing characteristics. God knows everything about him: where he goes, all David’s thoughts and everything about his conduct. The Lord knows what David will say even before David says it. There is no place David can go that God isn’t already present. David marvels at God’s creative work in the womb. He is thankful for God’s innumerable thoughts for him and for God’s presence day and night. Finally, David’s thoughts turn to the wicked. He considers them God’s enemies and his, and longs for God to slay them. David is disgusted by evil people because they rail against God and take His name in vain. He asks God to search his heart to see if any sin is there, and he asks God to lead him in the way everlasting.
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