The psalmist offers us a beautiful word of encouragement and
challenge. This is a passage that should lead to introspection and revival.
The psalmist’s plea for the Lord to search him is one that has inspired
songs of devotion. The 139th Psalm opens with a reminder that God, you have
searched me. We are reminded that the searching of the Lord is not a one-time,
once-for-all searching, but rather as we walk with Him there are times when
we cry out, “Search me, God.” Are we willing to allow the Lord to
search us, to turn His light of grace into every corner of our hearts and
lives? As we listen to this verse, we must be very interested in the Lord’s
direction in our lives.
The psalmist acknowledged that he is in need of the testing
and trying. None of us desire tests. We would love to live uninterrupted lives
of tranquility and peace. But in the tests of life we see our faith develop
and our trust and commitment fine-tuned.
In verse 24, the psalmist says he needs God to see him. So many
times we want people to see us as we wish we were, or as we hope to be someday.
There is no need for pretension with God; he already knows us and knows who
we are. Every once in awhile it is good to have a time of honest introspection
and evaluate our walk with the Lord. Am I where I need to be spiritually?
There is a need for times of renewal and revival. This passage is a good place
to begin.
I need God to lead me. Leadership is such a broad subject and
one that seems to have captured everyone’s attention. We can learn and
develop our ability to lead. I trust in all of our desires to be good leaders
that we will not forget to be good followers. One place to start is listening
to the text as we cry out for the leadership of God in our lives.
When one preaches from a familiar passage of Scripture, one
must take great care not to ignore the context and rely on its familiar words
to keep us from digging into the truth of this psalm. One way to prepare to
share this passage with your congregation is to “marinate” in the
entire psalm. Allow the Spirit of this passage to soak deeply into your being.
Be reminded that you are indeed “fearfully and wonderfully made,”
that God has known you from your beginnings. He not only knows us but he desires
to really know us and for us to live lives of total devotion. As you engage
the passage, see that God is interested in our heart, the totality of who
we are. He is interested in our attitudes as well. Our thought lives must
be under the lordship of Christ as well.
(For the full manuscript
of this sermon go to www.preachermagazine.org and click on “Sermons”)
There is a marvelous sense of progression in this psalm. The
earlier portion of the psalm tells us how awesome are the works of our God.
It is more than his works that inspire us; he inspires us by his interest
in every detail of our lives. This text would be a good preparation for a
spiritual deepening or revival series.
One needs to take stock and evaluate where they are with the Lord. This psalm speaks of surrender and trust and following the leadership of the Lord everyday. These are themes that would call for commitment or a recommitting to the Lord. I have used a series of one-word descriptors that delineate a certain aspect of our relationship with the Lord. You may approach it in another way, but I feel that the separate words are used to aid memory and to bring freshness to a familiar passage. My intent is not to unchristianize anyone, but to give opportunity for the Holy Spirit to help evaluate our relationship with God.
