Psalm 139:24

Today is our last verse in Psalm 139!

Psalm 139:24
See if there is any offensive way in me,    and lead me in the way everlasting.

In Barnes' commentary he states that the Hebrew word here actually refers to idol worship....

According to this, the prayer is that God would search him and see if there was anything in him that partook of the nature of idolatry, or of defection from the true religion; any tendency to go back from God, to worship other gods, to leave the worship of the true God. As idolatry comprehends the sum of all that is evil, as being alienation from the true God, the prayer is that there might be nothing found in his heart which tended to alienate him from God - would indicate unfaithfulness or want of attachment to him.

And lead me in the way everlasting - The way which leads to eternal life; the path which I may tread forever. In any other way than in the service of God his steps must be arrested. He must encounter his Maker in judgment, and be cut off, and consigned to woe. The path to heaven is one which man may steadily pursue; one, in reference to which death itself is really no interruption - for the journey commenced here will be continued through the dark valley, and continued forevermore. Death does not interrupt the journey of the righteous for a moment. It is the same journey continued - as when we cross a narrow stream, and are on the same path still.

What a wonderful ending to a beautiful and intimate Psalm.

Our Creator God knows us more intimately than we even know ourselves.  He can penetrate into our subconscious and our very souls.  He knows every wicked thought or inclination.  And yet He loves us still.

He does not love us because we are worthy of our own merit to be loved.

He loves us because He created us in His image, He knit us together in our mother's wombs, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

And as we allow Him to penetrate our souls with refiner's fire, we will glorify Him now here on earth and in heaven forever.  Amen!

Psalm 139:23

Wow, have I ever fallen off the bandwagon on this one!  But the key is, to just get started again - don't give up!  We only have two more verses to go in Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:23
Search me, O God, and know my heart;  test me and know my anxious thoughts.

We saw in v1 of this Psalm that God does search the heart, so this was not said for God's sake, but rather for David's.

From Barnes' commentary...
The psalmist had stated the fact that it is a characteristic of God that he "does" search the heart; and he here prays that God "would" exercise that power in relation to himself; that as God could know all that there is within the heart, he would examine him with the closest scrutiny, so that he might be under no delusion or self-deception; that he might not indulge in any false hopes; that he might not cherish any improper feelings or desires. The prayer denotes great "sincerity" on the part of the psalmist. It indicates also self-distrust. It is an expression of what all must feel who have any just views of themselves - that the heart is very corrupt; that we are liable to deceive ourselves; and that the most thorough search "should" be made that we be "not" deceived and lost.....Search me thoroughly; examine not merely my outward conduct, but what I think about; what are my purposes; what passes through my mind; what occupies my imagination and my memory; what secures my affections and controls my will. He must be a very sincere man who prays that God will search his thoughts, for there are few who would be willing that their fellow-men, even their best friends, should know all that they are thinking about.

As you repeat this verse over and over again, may this be your prayer.  That God would examine our hearts, thoughts, motives thoroughly and reveal them to us so that we would make Him Lord over everything in our lives and take captive every thought for Him.