Psalm 139:23-24 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.

I really thought I would be writing on other than this most famous part of this Psalm, but here I am! (Actually, I’m writing on the whole Psalm.) For the first half of the Psalm it sounds like David is trying to escape from God, that he wants Him to leave him alone. He may well have started with a bit of that feeling, but then as the Holy Spirit expanded this Psalm in his heart, he realized what a blessed thing it is to be so intimately known by our Creator. In climax, we have these two verses, which are a prayer for God to do precisely the things David was complaining about in the first half of the Psalm! I think every believer can identify with this prayer, and actually, should pray it regularly. We all have thoughts that we realize aren’t “worthy of a disciple of Jesus Christ,” and we’re embarrassed to share them with anyone. The thing is, God knows them anyway, and confessing them to Him opens our heart to receive His healing and guidance. And the glorious thing is, we can rest assured that God delights to do the last thing mentioned in this prayer: lead us in His everlasting way.

I have been aware of God’s omniscience for as long as I can remember, but that awareness hasn’t kept me from doing things that I knew at the time weren’t pleasing to Him. However, it has been a major comfort when I was suffering, for one reason or another. There is nothing I can experience that God doesn’t know about or care about. That is absolutely incredible on the face of it, because God is the Creator of the universe. Why would He care about such an insignificant speck as me? However, the assurance that He does know and care is the joy and bedrock of my existence. Modern technology has enabled the “surveillance state,” but that doesn’t begin to approach God’s knowledge of us. That’s why I can thank God for my current cold, that I’m glad to say I’m recovering from. He doesn’t allow anything in my life that He can’t use for good, so my part is to cooperate with Him for that to happen.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and thank You for the awareness that my cold is on its last legs. Help me recognize what You want me to do each moment of today, whether that is getting something done or just resting, so that all of Your purposes for me may be accomplished on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!