God knows us better than we know ourselves.

Psalm 139:23–24 NKJV

God knows us better than we know ourselves.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴ And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.^[1]

Be repentant—ask God to revive you.

After asking God to judge his enemies, David called for the Lord to examine him. David began this psalm by declaring that the Lord had examined him and that the Lord knew him intimately (v. 1). He closed by opening himself up once again to God’s penetrating gaze. His heart’s desire was to be holy through and through. Therefore, He invited God to probe the innermost depths of his being and to expose anything that grieved Him so that he might repent of it.

To be true to the Scripture, we need to view this request within the proper context (setting) in which it was spoken: David had first expressed his strong hatred of his enemies (vv. 19–22). He truly believed that he was completely loyal to the Lord. He wanted to be sure that his intense hatred of the wicked was not motivated by personal malice toward them but by absolute love for God.  

a.         That He examine your heart and your thoughts (v. 23).

David invited the Lord to go beyond his words and deeds to probe the innermost part of his being. He wanted God to know his heart—his feelings, intentions, and motives. Along with that, David asked God to try or to test him so that He would even know his thoughts.

To try (bachan) something is an expression used of refining metals for the purpose of purifying and proving them (1 Co. 3:13; Jb. 23:10; Zec. 13:9). David desired that God thoroughly examine him to prove that he was pure within.

Thoughts (sar’appim) speaks of anxieties or concerns, the troubling thoughts that stir a person inwardly (Ps. 94:19). David does not specify what these troubling thoughts were. However, the context of this statement suggests that he may have been referring to his intense feelings toward the wicked (vv. 19–22). If he was wrong in what he was feeling or had spoken about his enemies, he asked God to reveal it.  

b.         That He expose any sin in you (v. 24a).

Continuing to open himself up to the Lord, David asked God to see if there was any wicked (otseb) way in him—anything in his heart that grieved or caused sorrow for God. Stated simply, he called on God to expose any sin in him.

 

c.         That He stir you to follow Him and the path of everlasting life (v. 24b).

Finally, David prayed that God would stir him to follow the path of everlasting life. This righteous path stands in contrast to the wicked or offensive way (v. 24a). After beginning this psalm by stating that the Lord knew everything about him within and without, David ended by calling on God to use His powers of omniscience to correct him of any sinful thoughts, feelings, or motives.  

Thought 1. David grasped a powerful truth, one that we all need to genuinely understand: God knows us better than we know ourselves. We cannot truly know our own hearts (Je. 17:9). As much as we may feel that we are right, we may be wrong. Sinful feelings, desires, or intentions may be hiding within us, and we may not be aware of them. Therefore, like David, we need to regularly open our hearts to God and ask Him to search us within. We need to invite God to probe us to the very core of our being, to test and prove us, and to reveal any sinful ways that are within us.

More than anything else, our greatest desire should be to please the Lord. Opening ourselves up entirely to God may prove to be a painful process. Not only will we have to confront our sins—sins we might not currently be aware of—but we will also have to repent of them. Genuine repentance requires reconciliation: we may need to go to some people we have wronged, ask their forgiveness, and seek to make things right. In addition, we will usually need to make changes in our lives, sometimes seeking help so we will not continue in our sinful ways. If we truly long to please the Lord, we will be willing to take these actions.

God already knows what spiritual cancers lie in the deepest recesses of our hearts and minds. When we are willing to go through this process of letting God explore us, expose what is within us, and extract it from our hearts, we will be clean within. We will be spiritually healthy and on the road to the abundant life that Christ came to give us (Jn. 10:10).  

1.      “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel” (Ro. 2:16).

2.      “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Co. 4:5).

3.      “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (He. 4:12).

4.      “Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)” (2 Ch. 6:30).

5.      “Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart” (Ps. 44:21).

6.      “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom” (Ps. 51:6).

7.      “Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance” (Ps. 90:8).^[2]

 

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^[1] The New King James Version. 1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

^[2] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 2016. Psalms: Chapters 107–150. Vol. III. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 

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Psalms 139:23 NKJV; Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; (bible.com)