Psalm 139 is a beautiful psalm that describes God's presence with us at all times. Acapella set this psalm to music, and it is a song I listened to regularly as a teenager. The psalm describes how God is always with us, how he knows us deeply and intimately, and how it is impossible for us to get away from God! This brings the psalmist to wonder and awe before God.
Despite his awe, the psalmist still knows that a part of him remains hidden from God. Not because God can't find it, but because he struggles to let this part of his experience go, to release it into the mercy of God.
At the very end of the psalm, the psalmist says "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." To be made more pure, to be perfected, the psalmist needs to let go of his anxiety.
How does anxiety play a role in your spiritual growth? Do you find yourself hampered by anxiety? Held back? Slowed down? Even beaten down? What forms of anxiety do you give in to the most? Anxiety for your family? Your job? Your money?
For the psalmist, it was current events. After he gives praise to God for God's knowledge of him, he begins to speak about his hatred for his enemies, for those who hate God. He calls on God to slay them!
It is clear from a reading of this entire psalm that these thoughts are disruptive to the psalmist. He cannot be at peace while experiencing these thoughts about others. This is why he calls upon God to search him, to know his heart, and to lead him in the way everlasting. Despite God's intimate knowledge of him, he still needs cleansing and purification from sin that only God can offer.
In our polarized world, where recent Supreme Court decisions have set some Christians on edge, where cultural "enemies" are found under every proverbial rock, where inner darkness abounds, may we follow the lead of the psalmist, trusting God for his knowledge of us but also calling upon him to lead us out of that darkness and into the light of his everlasting salvation.
How or when are you most anxious? How is this a sign that you need to trust God more?
Despite his awe, the psalmist still knows that a part of him remains hidden from God. Not because God can't find it, but because he struggles to let this part of his experience go, to release it into the mercy of God.
At the very end of the psalm, the psalmist says "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." To be made more pure, to be perfected, the psalmist needs to let go of his anxiety.
How does anxiety play a role in your spiritual growth? Do you find yourself hampered by anxiety? Held back? Slowed down? Even beaten down? What forms of anxiety do you give in to the most? Anxiety for your family? Your job? Your money?
For the psalmist, it was current events. After he gives praise to God for God's knowledge of him, he begins to speak about his hatred for his enemies, for those who hate God. He calls on God to slay them!
It is clear from a reading of this entire psalm that these thoughts are disruptive to the psalmist. He cannot be at peace while experiencing these thoughts about others. This is why he calls upon God to search him, to know his heart, and to lead him in the way everlasting. Despite God's intimate knowledge of him, he still needs cleansing and purification from sin that only God can offer.
In our polarized world, where recent Supreme Court decisions have set some Christians on edge, where cultural "enemies" are found under every proverbial rock, where inner darkness abounds, may we follow the lead of the psalmist, trusting God for his knowledge of us but also calling upon him to lead us out of that darkness and into the light of his everlasting salvation.
How or when are you most anxious? How is this a sign that you need to trust God more?
