search me and know

Search me, O God, and know my heart
Try me, and know my anxieties;

And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the path everlasting. 

Psalm 139: 23-24


The first thing that came to my mind when I read this verse a few days ago was a shocked Wow how did David dare to say this??

I don't know about you, but there is something frightening in such complete honesty and humility. Search me and know my heart! Here are all my anxieties, all my insecurities, everything about my limits and fears and weaknesses! 

Here are my failures.

Here are the things I don't want anyone to know about. That I wish I didn't know about myself. 

Here are the things that are killing me. 

Here are the darkest and most destructive things inside my soul. 


(cue Imagine Dragon's Demons) 


And by the way, you're not saying all this to a human you could possibly control. Of course, it's one thing to say that we couldn't hide any of this from Him anyway. But David is willingly accepting, even inviting this. Not being able to stop someone from reading your diary is one thing; telling them, "Here, read. Don't skip pages 356 and 127--they're especially enlightening" is something else. 

I wondered--as in the past tense verb of the word wonder, and not the synonym for pondered. Such fearless honesty was something I shrinked from. How on earth could David declare this so confidently? Remember, this was the Old Testament, before the New Covenant, before grace as we know it in Jesus Christ. David saw Uzzah struck dead for touching the Ark, he had the guilt of Uriah's death on his past, and yet he could say this, knowing how holy God was, and how sinful he was. 

David could say all this because he was willing to give up all the pet sins, all the bad habits or weaknesses, all the idols in his heart when he surrendered it to God. Because he knew and acknowledged honestly and humbly--ah, humbly!--his own unworthiness, and God's holiness. Because when he asked God to lead him in the way everlasting, he was going to follow--to actively, purposefully, and wholeheartedly follow. 

​
He could say that. 


He could say that because of this. 


​