"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."

Psalm 139:23-24

Michael Wilcock calls God the ‘Already’ God. He already knows what we’re about to say (v. 4); he is already wherever we might wish to go (vv. 8–10); I cannot even be who I am without his having already made me ‘me’ (v 13) (The Message of Psalms 73–150; IVP, 2001, 259).

Thinking of the embryo in the womb (v. 13), Wilcock adds, ‘God … on that tiny scale was engaged in a task perhaps more like his original immense work of creation than anything else that he does’ (ibid., 260). No wonder the psalmist cries out that God’s thoughts to him are vast and weighty (v. 17)! It is truly wonderful that God is the author of every detail of our being, from conception to death, to the very end of time and—onward into eternity. Before this God, the psalmist humbly recognizes his own propensity to sin and asks for guidance into the ‘way everlasting’ (vv. 23, 24).

Closing Prayer

Lord God, you see me inside and out – and knowing everything about me, you love me, provide for me, and guide me. You deserve my thanksgiving and praise you are worthy of far more than I can possibly offer you (edited from Encounter with God).