Skip to main content

Oh Lord...You Know




O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise;.

                                                                                                                Psalm 139:1-2a




         This is the beginning of a much-loved psalm. It's another wisdom song and it's one of my favorites. This is another passage that I suggest you pray aloud and pay attention to your own reactions to what you are saying to God. In the Hebrew, the first line doesn't include the second "me." It says, "Lord, you have searched me and you know. We throw around the word "omniscient." We say that God knows, but stop for a moment and really meditate on what is being said here. "Lord, you have searched me, and you know." He knows. He knows your anger. He knows your pain. He knows your fears. He knows your dreams. He knows your failures. He knows your victories. He knows the depth of your love and the shallowness of your faith. All those things you don't want anyone to know? All those things that you forgot? All those things you try to hide? He knows.
      This can be terrible and it can be freeing. It's terrible because so many of the things that God knows because He has searched me and He knows are things that I tend to think are things that cause Him to frown, or glower, or in some other agonizing way express His disapproval. It can be difficult to believe that He knows, and that He still loves.
       In another way, it's freeing. Since God knows these things, you no longer have to hide them. It's a waste of time to try to hide them. He knows. Some people seem to believe that it's wrong to be angry, especially at God. They may be right that it's wrong, but pretending that we're not angry - or denying it even to ourselves doesn't help. The Psalms helped me with this. There are times when David calls down God's judgment on his enemies. He uses such phrases as "shatter their teeth!" There are times when David cries out, "How long, Oh Lord?" This is the same David who, in this Psalm, sang, "You have searched me, and You know."
      Reading the Psalms, I have begun to learn that God is not threatened by our anger, pain, fears, etc. They are not a problem for Him. How freeing to say, "You have searched me, and You know." That confession is the first step. You don't have to pretend any more. You can look at it for what it is and deal with it as it is.  
 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more