Summer in the Psalms - Week Eleven Gathering Place

Welcome to your Gathering Place girls - I can hardly believe that we only have one more week left before our Summer in the Psalms winds up... but more about that later!

As far as today's teaching goes - I am of the opinion that if you would just go in and listen to your sister's conversations in the Comment Cafe, you'll get all the teaching you need! This post will be short because you all have drank deep this week, and at this point, I am at risk of becoming redundant!

Throughout this Psalm 139 we are faced with the reality of God's Omniscience (all knowing), His Omnipresence and His Omnipotence (all powerful). This knowledge can be a great comfort or it can become a stumbling block to those that would prefer their deeds and thoughts to remain hidden. In v.1 David stated that God had already searched him and known him and yet in v.23 David asks God to search him and know his heart... do you know why he would have asked this?

One thing that I wanted to touch on is v. 19-22. Many times, this Psalm is quoted and these verses are left out because they seem harsh in the midst of the beauty of the surrounding verses. I am hoping that we can talk about this more in the Comment Cafe, but think about this... once you were an enemy of God, but now, in Christ you are His child. Have you ever thought, in the context of salvation, that if your enemies were to be 'slain' by God, that it could lead to 'newness' of life in Christ? I'm just sayin'!

Also, v.14 - sweetheart, your mind may not yet grasped how beautifully and wonderfully you have been made, you may be critical and hard on yourself... but listen, your "soul knows it very well"... take a few moments and know the reality of what God has whispered to your soul and written in His Word for you to know....

You are fearfully and wonderfully made

Gotta run, but I'll see you later in the Comment Cafe!

Friday afternoon POSTING ADDITION:

I would normally post this in the Comment Cafe, but thought that since I asked a question here in the post, and now that your responses are coming in, that perhaps I should answer it here for those that may not enter into the Cafe.

Angie, you took my question seriously and allowed God to guide you in your understanding of it and in your sharing of it with your sisters - well done!

The word 'try' in v. 23 is BACHAN in the original Hebrew. It is a primitive root, meaning that it cannot be confused with any other rendering. It means 'to test' (especially metals, think about the refiners fire in Scripture), to examine, prove, try (trial).

Angie, you were right to remember the tempting and testing of Jesus in the desert in relation to these verses.

In Matthew 4:1 we see that Jesus was LED BY THE SPIRIT INTO the desert to be tempted by the devil. In Luke 4:1 we see that Jesus was LED BY THE SPIRIT IN the wilderness. So we learn from this that Jesus was 'led into' AND 'led in' the desert by the Spirit - all for a specific purpose... to be tempted by the devil, but to be tested by God.

Although God tells us that David was a man after God's own heart, he was a man that was prone to temptation. We see this in David's adulterous sexual encounter with Bathsheba; in his successful plot to murder Bathsheba's husband; in the numbering of his mighty men. So, although David had the realization of God knowing him inside and out (v.1-6), in v. 23, we see the prayer of a man who trusted God alone to reveal the truth about what was truly in his heart.

We need to always remember, that it is God Who TESTS, however, it is Satan who TEMPTS (James 1:13-15). Why does God test?

Remember, that in Luke 4, it was AFTER Jesus had fasted 40 days and nights, when He was physically hungry, that the "tempter", Satan, came to Him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become BREAD."

Whenever we have a REAL physical need or a PERCEIVED physical need, we are in a 'position' that the enemy sees as an opening to attack. Remember also, that in James 1 we saw that we are 'tempted when we are carried away and enticed by our own lust...". To some degree, David knew this about himself; he knew, for instance, that when it came to Bathsheba, his own physical sexual urge, his own lust had carried him away from the moment that the enemy picked up on his lust and whispered the temptation to him (you want her, you can have her, you are the king).

However, with Jesus, His physical hunger being picked up on by the enemy, and the suggestion, the temptation being offered, instead, yielded to the Word of God - "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."

Why would God allow this temptation, of not only His people, but of Jesus Himself? We find our answer in Deuteronomy 8:2-10. Because the temptations that Satan plots to destroy us, God uses for four very specific purposes, - to humble us, to test us, to know what is in our hearts, and to prove whether or not we will keep His commandments.

In Psalm 139, David knew that God knew him, inside and out, but now he wanted even more... David desired God to put him to the test and to reveal what anxious thoughts would then arise because of that testing! It is one thing to say that we are trusting God when we are living in abundance, but when difficult times come, in whom, or in what, do we find we are really trusting? David desired to be led in the 'everlasting way', not to be led by his own lustful desires, baited by the enemy of his soul.

As you think upon these things, let me leave you with Hebrews 4:13-16...

"...there is no creature hidden from His sight,

but all things are open and laid bare

to the eyes of Him

with Whom we have to do.

Therefore, since we have a great High Priest

Who has passed through the heavens,

Jesus, the Son of God,

let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest

who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,

but One Who has been tempted

in all things

as we are,

yet without sin.

Therefore, let us draw near

with confidence

to the Throne of Grace,

so that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help

in our time of need.