A Life Worthy

Tag: Psalm 139

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 11/20/14

    number 1Search me, O 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. (Psalm 139:23-24)  

    This psalm ends with a request.  Like I said last week, this is a powerful way to check the state of your relationship with Christ.  If the thought of God searching your heart frightens you, you’ve got to ask, why?  Two things to notice here:

    1. The psalmist asks God in.  God is a gentleman when it comes to our hearts; he won’t barge in where he’s not invited.
    2. The psalm began with the line, “O Lord, you have searched me…”  So this is not a one-time event.  It is a recurring, ongoing process.
    3. The psalmist asks for four things: search me, test me, examine me, and lead me.  We present ourselves before God so that he can show us what is getting in the way of our relationship.  Essentially, we’re trying to clear out the junk so that God can bring us closer to him.

    Are you in a place where you can ask this of God?  Can you afford not to?

    Be courageous, Beloved.  Ask him in.

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 11/19/14

    number 1If only you would slay the wicked, O God!  Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!  They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.  Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you?  I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.  (Psalm 139:19-22)

    Wow.  Right in the middle of this psalm celebrating the wonder of God’s love and care for me, I get a call to holy war.  What’s that about?  If you do a little study on this verse, you find that it echoes the ancient Near East covenant language between King and Vassal.  The vassal swears that any enemy of the king will be his enemy.

    Are you impressed with my scholarliosity?  I love those study bible footnotes.

    But God is a God of love, right?  Aren’t we supposed to love everyone?

    Show me where it says that in the Bible.

    Well, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”

    Oh yeah, he did…huh.

    I’ll admit—this is a toughie.  I’ll be happy to hear from any of you who have thoughts about this passage.  It seems to me that, in light of the gospel, we should be pretty careful about hating people.  There is plenty for us to hate—the ways of the world, the devil and his schemes, our own flesh—plenty that rises up against God.  People seem pretty far down the list.

    I think this passage is a call to total allegiance.  You have a God who knows every thought you have ever entertained and loves you anyway.  He surrounds you, literally, with his love and protection.  Pledge your fealty to him again.  Go forth into your Wednesday as the sworn enemy of all that stands against him.

    Serve the king who loves you, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 11/18/14

    number 1How precious to me are your thoughts, God!  How vast the sum of them!  Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.  When I awake, I am still with you.  (Psalm 139:17-18).

    Can you imagine what goes on in the mind of God?

    No, I don’t suppose you can.  Me neither.

    It’s like the worm I dig up in the yard knowing my thoughts.

    No…it’s more like the microbial parasite living in the worm that I dig up in the yard knowing my thoughts.

    No…it’s more like the subatomic particles that make up the microbial parasite living in the worm that I dig up in the yard knowing my thoughts.

    Which probably doesn’t happen.

    And yet, God wants us to know at least a portion of his thoughts.  That’s why he gave us his Word.  You can fall asleep with his thoughts in your mind and awake with his thoughts in your heart.  You can move through this day meditating on his Word, and making his thoughts your thoughts.

    Because he wants you to know him.

    Because you are his Beloved.

    Which is just another of many reasons it is better to be you than a worm.

  • One-a-Day Monday, 11/17/13

    number 1All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16).

    Predestination…or free will?

    Look, Monday morning is not the time to get into a discussion that heavy.  Let me just say—it’s both.

    No, really.

    God created all things, ya? Therefore, he created time.  He is not bound by time, the way we are.  God exists at all moments in history simultaneously.  Simply put, all time—past, present, and future—is now to God.

    This brings up all sorts of cool thoughts, but let’s just focus on one: You know the moment you ache for, that moment when Christ returns and you get a glorified body and there will be no more night or pain or sorrow or sin or tears?  That blessed someday?

    Well, Beloved, it isn’t someday to God.

    It’s Today.  It’s Right Now.

    When God looks at you, he sees you as you are today—pimples, gray hairs, and all.  (And, by the way, how is it that I can have both going on at the same time?)

    But God also sees you as you will be—glorified, complete, utterly and thoroughly his.  That is as real and immediate to him as the mess you might be on this particular Monday morning.

    There is only One who can actually see the finished product, and he says it’s perfect.

    Chew on that today, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Friday, 11/14/14

    number 1For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; all your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  (Psalm 139:13-14)

    You were made by God, my friend.  Do you know that?  Seriously…are you really realizing that the Lord of the entire universe, he who put the stars in their places, he who designed the atom, he who called it all into being just by the force of his will—he knit you together?  Every fiber of your being was specifically designed by him.  You didn’t come off an assembly line; you didn’t rise from the muck.  You are no accident.  You were custom made by God.

    You are his work; you are wonderful.

    You are Beloved.

    Know that full well.

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 11/13/14

    number 1If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; night will shine like day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:11-12)

    Look, I hate to be redundant, but are you seeing the pattern here?

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 11/12/14

    number 1Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise up on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me; your right hand will hold me fast.  (Psalm 139:7-10)

    There is simply no place that God is not.  I love this image.  Overwhelmed by God’s presence, I try to flee from him—but there is nowhere to go. Wherever I run, he is already there, waiting to guide and protect me.

    Question for today: Where, and why, do you try to hide from God?

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 11/11/14

    number 1You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.  (Psalm 139:5-6).

    Continuing on yesterday’s theme, there are really two ways to see this passage.  If your heart isn’t right before God, you probably picture a prisoner, bound and chained, surrounded by guards.

    Been there.  Felt that. No Bueno.

    If your heart is right with God, you picture something like a squad of elite soldiers surrounding you, protecting you from whatever may attack.

    Been there, too.  It’s better.

    That’s where David was when he wrote this psalm.  He felt God’s hand upon him, not to hold David down, but to lift him up.  The whole idea was, “Too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”  Think about that for a minute.  You serve a God who loves you more than you can even fathom.

    His angels surround you.

    His hand is upon you.

    He’s got your back.

    Walk in that today, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Monday, 11/10/14

    number 1O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord (Psalm 139:1-4).

    Every once in a while you need to give yourself a spiritual systems check.  You know, make sure that everything is in working order, and that nothing is slipping in between you and God.  Psalm 139 is a great passage of Scripture for that.  I find that most people have one of the following three reactions when they read the above passage.  Reread it and think to yourself—which reaction is yours?

    1.  These lines give great comfort.  You love the idea that God knows everything about you, that he even knows your thoughts.

    You, my friend, are in a great place with God.  Proceed to praise.

    2.  These lines creep you out.  There’s something Orwellian about God searching your inmost being.

    Guess what?  You’re not right with God, Beloved.  May I suggest that you spend some time dealing with whatever it is you don’t want God to see in you?

    3.  These lines have no effect on you whatsoever.

    Wow.  You may be in spiritual heart failure.  For what it’s worth, I’m praying for you today, that God would ravage your heart with his all-consuming love.

    You are known, Beloved.  Completely and utterly understood.  And that’s a very good thing.

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 12/12/13

    number 1Search me, O 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. (Psalm 139:23-24)

    This psalm ends with a request.  Like I said last week, this is a powerful way to check the state of your relationship with Christ.  If the thought of God searching your heart frightens you, you’ve got to ask, why?  Three things to notice here:

    1. The psalmist asks God in.  God is a gentleman when it comes to our hearts; he won’t barge in where he’s not invited.

    2. The psalm began with the line, “O Lord, you have searched me…”  So this is not a one-time event.  It is a recurring, ongoing process.

    3. The psalmist asks for four things: search me, test me, examine me, and lead me.  We present ourselves before God so that he can show us what is getting in the way of our relationship.  Essentially, we’re trying to clear out the junk so that God can bring us closer to him.

    Are you in a place where you can ask this of God?  Can you afford not to?

    Be courageous, Beloved.  Ask him in.