On this 6th day of Lent, I am grateful you and I are alive, awake, and alert. The three blessings aforementioned suggest God's work with us is not yet finished -- you and I have more learning and growing to do on this earth.
His name be praised!
During this season of preparation for the celebration of Resurrection Sunday, we are meditating upon Psalm 139. So far our journey has brought us to reflect upon the psalm heading and the beginning phrase of verse 1, which goes like this:
Psalm 139
To the Choirmaster. A psalm of David.
1 O Lord, You have searched and known me.
In the statement "O Lord," we saw yesterday that the psalmist pointed out our need to esteem and worship the omniscient, all-knowing, great, and mighty God. We learned that David invited us to enter a state of wonderment, awestruck respect or utter amazement as we consider the incomparable Creator who reigns over us.
Today, we get to realize this Creator is the Lord who has already done everything. In Him, all is complete. And that deserves all our praise and honor.
So, when we read, "O Lord, You have . . .," we are invited to pause and wonder and worship and celebrate and express our overflowing gratitude because the Lord of all heaven and earth has already done everything. He sits upon His throne because He has already finished all His work -- a fact that points us directly to the Cross where Jesus exclaimed, "It is finished!"
This God who already has . . . invites us to trust Him, to believe on Him because He knows His creatures so well.
Charles Spurgeon says it this way, " . . . it is as if he had searched us, as officers search a man for contraband goods, or as pillagers ransack a house for plunder. Yet we must not let the figure run upon all fours, and lead us further than it is meant to do: the Lord knows all things naturally and as a matter of course, and not by any effort on his part. Searching ordinarily implies a measure of ignorance which is removed by observation; of course this is not the case with the Lord; but the meaning of the Psalmist is, that the Lord knows us as thoroughly as if he had examined us minutely, and had pried into the most secret corners of our being."
This idea that the Lord has searched us is not a new one. The idea that the search is thorough and complete tells us an essential character trait of this magnificent Lord we have. And Scripture repeats the news over and over:
Psalm 7:9, "You who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!"
Jeremiah 11:20, "The Lord of hosts . . . tests the heart and the mind."
Jeremiah 17:10, "I the Lord search the heart and test the mind."
Jeremiah 20:12, "The Lord of hosts tests the righteous, sees the heart and the mind."
Revelation 2:23, " . . . and all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart."
This unalterable fact about God is true to His identity. He is identified as "the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire" to the church in Thyatira (Rev 2:18) and consequently, to any who has ears to hear what the angel says to the churches.
My friend, Lenten thought is beckoning you and me to pause and remember this infallible knowledge -- God has searched us. It is done. Yet, it is happening in the present and will continue in the future. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. No time in the past, present, or future can find God in a place where you and I are unsearched by God -- we are laid bare before Him.
And that is good.
So very good.
Because that truth enables us to accept His wrath on the cross over human sin and rejoice over His boundless grace.
Thank You, O Lord!
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