This week, I attended a chaplains’ conference at a camp near Kerrville. It was a great time of fellowship, worship, and discipleship. One morning we focused on Psalm 139:19-24 with an emphasis on the “search me” verses. I like that emphasis because too many times in life, we can be quick to “search others” and end up shaking our heads in frustration and then casually lift up an obligatory prayer of “straighten them out Lord, straighten them out!” While that is a valid prayer and while that should be a prayer lifted up in loving humility and concern, that’s not how David closes out Psalm 139. David closes by asking God to “search ME and try ME… see if there be any corrupt way in ME and lead ME in the everlasting way…Your way.” Our speaker gave us an assignment to write the last few verses of Psalm 139 in our own words, expressing what it means to us, and to read it from time to time. Here is my version of those closing verses of Psalm 139.

The Lord Who Knows

The Lord who knows us completely,
Invites us to reflect and know ourselves,
To bring to light all those hidden things,
We’ve placed at the back of our shelves.

There are things we’ve all purposely positioned,
So that they never see the light of day,
Cloaked in darkness and deception,
Because of fear of what others might think or say.

And yet, our Holy Creator who sees all things,
And who knows all that we have done,
Longs to meet us in those dark, secret places,
And offer healing through His Son.

So let us not fail to engage in self-reflection,
Addressing those things we do not want others to see,
For only through confession and honest introspection,
Can we be who our Creator has called us to be.

I love the message of Psalm 139. Every time I read those closing verses, I am reminded of how easy it can be to listen to a sermon or a Bible study with a shovel in our hands instead of a rake. That is to say, we can be so quick to shovel God’s word onto somebody else that we never pick up a rake and pull toward us the wisdom, the will, and the counsel and correction of God’s word, asking Him to search us and try us and lead us in the everlasting way.