“Search Me, O God . . .”

“. . . and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; . . . and lead me in the way everlasting.” David’s prayer in Psalm 139 was: Test me, look into my everyday life, read my thoughts. See what good and edifying thoughts I have about my brothers and sisters. “Noble thoughts spread forth their leaves, and godly nature now does abound,” we sing in WotL 361. How beautiful and heavenly this noble, exalted fellowship is, where godly nature abounds.

“I cannot slack off, but press onward; the goal I see yet from afar. O depths of God’s wisdom and knowledge! By faith all things possible are,” we sing in WotL 75. Godly fear is required to come to God’s wisdom and knowledge. The word must be lived; then I will experience that it succeeds. By faith we shall reach the goal we see from afar, by faith we shall reach the promised land, by faith we shall strike our enemies, by faith we shall press toward the victor’s prize that lies before us, by faith we shall reach perfect rest in Christ Jesus, by faith we shall enjoy the heavenly glory that lies ahead.

“Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?” Ps. 139:21. My flesh—my will, my earthly way of thinking, my egotism and my pride—constantly rise up against the will of the Lord. Should I not then hate it with a perfect hatred? Hatred leads to death—death leads to perfect deliverance. Search me, O God, and know the purity of my heart, my godly fear, my need and my longing to be conformed to Jesus Christ. It is true, through and through true, no deceit, no easier way. You are my God, it’s only You I wish to please. Search me, O God, and see that Your word is being fulfilled in my life. It is possible, it is succeeding! My prayer is then: preserve me God in this humble place before Your face, and lead me in the way everlasting, so one day I will always be with You, where You are, together with all the saints who went before and have shown us the way.