Search me, O щGod, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts;
For twenty-two verses, Psalm 139 says that God already knows everything about the writer. Then, at the very end, he asks God to look. That turn is the point of the psalm. The knowledge this man once wanted to escape is now the thing he asks for by name.
The psalm moves from dread of God's presence to asking for it. One writer marks the two ends of that journey. He warns that the change is not comfortable:
J. N. DarbyThe natural man says, "Where shall I flee from Your presence?" But at the end of Psalm 139 he says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart." As far as you know the things of God, is your heart in tune with Him? Could you say, "Search me"? It is a painful process sometimes.
The two things he asks for are not vague. One commentator looks closely at the word "thoughts." He shows a man asking God for help with knots he cannot untie himself:
Numerical Bible NotesHe knows about his own sickness too. God's holy presence is not only a refuge for him from the wickedness around him. He seeks it as a refuge from himself too, and welcomes its light, as the place where sin cannot be hidden. "Search me," he cries, "O Mighty One, and know my heart; try me, and know my diverse" — literally, "branching" — "thoughts." He means all those tangles of thought, so confusing to him, which God alone could unravel. Then: "and see if there be any grievous way in me" — anything that is grievous to You.
Notice who does the searching. The prayer hands that work to God:
Numerical Bible NotesThe words we come to Him with are not, "Lord, I have searched and tried myself, and I have seen." They are rather, "Search me, O God, and try me; and see if there be any grievous way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting."
Our own verdict on ourselves is unreliable. The prayer aims at the faults we cannot see:
William J HockingIs there anything inside me that would grieve You, anything against You? Perhaps I am holding on to something selfish. Something may be deceiving me. I may have wrong thoughts about myself. So I need God to search me and try me, "and lead me in the way everlasting."
God learns nothing when you pray this. So the prayer asks not for information but for a way of living:
William J HockingThe fact is, of course, that God knows all about me at all times. He knows whether I am sleeping or awake, and whether I am aware that His eyes are on me or not. But when I grasp the truth that God knows everything, the way the psalmist had, I shall, like him, want to walk in the awareness of it all the time. My heart will cry out to God that day by day I may always walk with the light of His face shining on me.
God's searching sounds threatening. One writer explains what this examination does, and why we can welcome it:
William KellyEven an Old Testament saint could say, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." He did not know the greater power and privilege of the gospel. How much more should we welcome the word that makes it good in us! That word detects and destroys the seeds of trouble. What could be more gracious, even if the probe is sharp?
The request does not stop at exposure. It asks for a road, and what marks that road is what it does not contain:
James BoydThe searchings of God showed him the evil course he was taking. It was a path of his own choosing, but against the guidance of God... But now he wants to be led in the way everlasting. The path that has no death in it is the path he cries out for.
Another writer goes further. He reads that everlasting way as a Person, not only a route:
J. N. Darby"Lead me in the way everlasting." Is not this way Christ Himself, the only way, the way everlasting?... All is well that leads us "in the way everlasting," that beats us out of our own ways and brings us there.
- Searched. God has already searched you. This prayer tells Him nothing new. It asks you to live under eyes that never close.
- Surrendered. The prayer is "search me," not "I have examined myself" — it hands the verdict to the One who cannot be deceived.
- Sharp. The probe may hurt, but it detects and destroys the seeds of trouble before they grow; nothing could be kinder.
- Sorted. He asks God to untangle the branching thoughts he cannot unravel. He asks Him to point out anything that grieves God, not just what shames us.
- Sent. Exposure is never the destination. The prayer ends with God leading you along the way that has no death in it — a way one writer calls Christ Himself.
And see if there be any grievous way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.
For twenty-two verses, Psalm 139 says that God already knows everything about the writer — where he sits, and what he will say before he says it. Then it ends with a request that seems unnecessary: search me. That closing prayer sets two roads side by side: one grievous, one everlasting.
One writer explains what a "grievous way" is, and what kind of thoughts the psalmist wants searched.
Numerical Bible NotesHe seeks God's presence as a refuge from himself too. He welcomes its light, as the place where sin cannot be hidden. "Search me," he cries, "and know my heart; try me, and know my diverse" — literally, "branching" — "thoughts." He means all those perplexing tangles of thought which God alone could unravel. "And see if there be any grievous way in me" — anything which is grievous to You: "and lead me in the way everlasting."
If God misses nothing, the prayer cannot be for His benefit. One writer asks who the searching is for, and answers.
James BoydClearly not for His own information. Why then were we searched? We were searched that we might know ourselves. This is what we have to learn at the beginning of God's dealings with us. We do not naturally want to be searched, for nothing morally good is found in us... But we may learn a great deal, and we shall learn very much if we answer to His searchings and are glad that we are searched. At first we do not like it. But when we see a little of the good of it, we are glad to be searched.
The verse asks God to do the examining. That detail matters, because a person can try the same work alone and get the opposite result.
William J. HockingHeart-searching may take place in two ways. I may search my own heart, or God may search my heart. If I search my heart myself, I shall end in spiritual failure, and may even become a proud Pharisee. A man who searches his own heart by a light he lit himself lies open to the subtle deceitfulness of his own heart.
Knowing that God sees everything can crush a person before it comforts him. One commentator traces that turn in the psalmist.
Hamilton SmithIn the psalmist's experience, knowing that God knows everything at first plunges his soul into the deepest distress. He thinks of how he has failed in his own responsibilities towards God. Then at last he realizes that God's "works" and God's "thoughts" are toward him in grace. Now the God who knows everything becomes the source of his deepest comfort.
One writer names where the first road ends, and what the second one is.
James Boyd"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death" (Proverbs 14:12). God's searchings showed him the evil course he was on. It was a path of his own choosing, against the guidance of God... But now he desires to be led in the way everlasting. The path that has no death in it is the path he cries out for. Is there then a way that has no end, no death in it? Yes there is indeed: "In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death." And what is that pathway? It is the pathway of the will of God, to which no end can be put.
Another writer answers the same question with a Person rather than a principle.
J. N. Darby"Lead me in the way everlasting."… Is not this way Christ Himself, the only way, the way everlasting? … He is pleased to search out our own ways, so that He may lead us in that way. He shows us that Christ must be in practice to us what He declares Himself to be in His word: "the first and the last," our "Alpha and Omega."
The man who prayed this lived long before the gospel came. One writer points to that, and to what the searching does.
William KellyEven an Old Testament saint, who knew nothing of the greater power and privilege of the gospel, could say, "Search me, O God... and lead me in the way everlasting"... So the seeds of trouble are found out and destroyed. What can be more gracious, though the probe may be sharp? ... God in His goodness is proving us, to know and to let us know what is in our heart. It may be humbling, but nothing can be more wholesome.
- Searched. God does not learn anything from searching you. You do — "we were searched that we might know ourselves."
- Surrendered. The searching must be His, not yours. A heart examined by its own light will flatter itself and end in pride.
- Sweetened. The knowledge that first terrifies becomes your deepest comfort, once you see that His thoughts toward you are thoughts of grace.
- Steered. Two roads: the way that seems right and ends in death, and the way everlasting — the path of God's will, with no death in it.
- Sustained. Welcome the probe. It is sharp, but it finds the seeds of trouble early — humbling, and nothing could be more wholesome.