You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. Psalm 139:1
Lea was about to start a job as a nurse in Taiwan. She’d be able to better provide for her family, more than she could in Manila, where job opportunities were limited. On the night before her departure, she gave instructions to her sister, who’d be taking care of her five-year-old daughter. “She’ll take her vitamins if you also give her a spoonful of peanut butter,” Lea explained, “And, remember, she’s shy. She’ll play with her cousins eventually. And she’s afraid of the dark . . .”
While looking out the plane window the next day, Lea prayed: Lord, no one knows my daughter like I do. I can’t be with her, but You can.
We know the people we love, and we notice all the details about them because they’re precious to us. When we can’t be with them due to various circumstances, we’re often anxious that since no one knows them as well as we do they’ll be more vulnerable to harm.
In Psalm 139, David reminds us that God knows us more than anyone does. In the same way, He knows our loved ones intimately (vv. 1–4). He’s their Creator (vv. 13–15), so He understands their needs. He knows what will happen each day of their lives (v. 16), and He’s with them and will never leave them (vv. 5, 7–10).
When you’re anxious for others, entrust them to God for He knows them best and loves them the most.
1 You have searched me,f Lord,
and you knowg me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;h
you perceive my thoughtsi from afar.
3 You discern my going outj and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.k
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.l
5 You hem me inm behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
INSIGHT
- Who can you entrust to God’s care?
- How can you show your trust in Him in this area?
While Psalm 139 is well known for its description of the greatness of God, there’s a subtle irony in its final verses: “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” (vv. 23–24). In a song that in part celebrates the all-knowing nature of God (His omniscience), the irony is that David asked God to search his heart after acknowledging in verse 1 that He’d already searched and known him. And in verse 3 he said, “You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.” Perhaps the key point isn’t God’s ability to know, but the psalmist’s willingness to be exposed before Him and His full knowledge.
PRAYER
Father in heaven, though I can’t always be with those I love, I entrust them to Your loving care, remembering that You know them the best and love them the most. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: Psalm 139:1-5 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 21-22; Luke 23:26-56
