Search Me
Psalms • Week 14
For week 14 of our Psalms study, we are looking at Psalm 139. This chapter is both a courageous and dangerous prayer from David; he's asking God to search him, reveal his fears, and correct him. Leanne Benton challenges us to pray this same prayer in our own lives.
MESSAGE NOTES
Search Me
August 8, 2021 • Psalms • Week 14
Teacher: Leanne Benton
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Psalm 139:23-24 NIV
“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.”
Search Me
Psalm 139:23a NIV
“Search me, God, and know my heart;”
Jeremiah 17:9 NLT
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”
Jeremiah 17:9 ESV
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it.”
Jeremiah 17:9 NIV
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
It’s one thing to understand that God knows everything about us.
It’s another thing to ask Him to bring those things to our attention!
“At its core, our heart is all about self—not Christ. It’s about what’s temporary—not eternal. It’s about what’s easy—not what’s right. It’s obsessed with what we want—not what God wants.” // Craig Groeschel
The me I want to be; a me I cannot see.
Reveal My Fears
Psalm 139:23 NIV
“Search me, and know my heart. Test me, and know my anxious thoughts.”
“This is what breaks my heart about worry. It makes you miserable in the present moment to try and prevent misery in the future. For chronic worriers, this process leads them to be continually distressed all their lives in order to avoid later events that never happen. Worry sucks the joy out of the ‘here and now’ to prevent an unrealistic ‘then and there.’” // Dr. Lucas LaFreniere
What we fear the most often reveals where we trust God the least.
“God, reveal my fears. Test me, and show me where my anxious thoughts fall.”
Uncover My Sins
Matthew 7:3–5 NLT
“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”
We confess to God for forgiveness. We can confess to people for healing.
1 John 1:9 NIV
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
James 5:16 NIV
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.”
Romans 5:20 NIV
Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more.
Romans 5:17 NKJV
Much more will those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
Lead Me
Psalm 139:24 NIV
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
“Show me God what I need to DO to deal with what has been revealed.”
James 1:22-24 NLT
“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance.”
Knowing God’s word is important but knowing without doing is tragic!