You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

 

In Psalm 139:23-24, after contemplating on how immense God’s love is for him and how deeply God knows him, David cries out, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me.  And lead me in the everlasting way.”

David can see that God is so intimately close with him that he is ever before and thought of with the Lord.  As I work frequently to practice the presence of the Lord and always be aware of Him, how often do I stop to think about the fact that He is ever aware of me and I don’t escape His sight.  He wants to be with me.

David proclaims, “You see me when I travel and when I rest at home.  You know everything I do.  You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.   You go before me and follow me.  You place your hand of blessing on my head.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to  understand!” (Psalm 139:3-6)

Anxious thoughts usually lead to hurtful behaviors.   When we are anxious and afraid, we operate out of fear instead of love.  2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”   We operate out of the spirit of the world of self-protection, self-preservation and self-focus rather than the spirit of love.

Anxiousness has to do with lack of faith.  Rather than trust that we cannot escape the goodness of God and He is there with us, guiding , strengthening, and supporting us (Psalm 139:10), we think we are on our own and without the support we need to maintain and manage.

What do we confess when we are anxious?  For me, usually that I am over my head rather than “You place your hand of blessing on my head.” (Psalm 139:5b)   It is that I am in the dark rather than “Darkness and light are the same to you.”   It is things are going to fall apart, rather than, “You hold my heart and “You know everything I do.” (Psalm 139:3)

When I am surrounded by troubles and threats, rather than confessing my demise, the truth is “You will protect me from the anger of my enemies.  You reach out your hand, and the power of your right hand saves me.” (Psalm 138:7).   Rather than confess potential disaster out of fear, we can proclaim like David, “The Lord will work out His plans for my life—for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.  Don’t abandon me, for you made me.” (Psalm 138:8)

The truth is that He not only knows everything I do but He is leading me in the everlasting way when I look to Him and trust Him (Psalm 139:24).   “Every day of my life was recorded in Your book.” (Psalm 139:16).  He grabs me by the hand and leads me in the way to go.  

 The way that He speaks of here is His covenant way.   He is the way, the truth and the life.  Whoever comes to Him will have everlasting life.   His promises are everlasting.  We enter into all of His promises when we are under His covenant.  They never fade or wear out.  

This is the “way” that we enter into.   A way in this context and Psalm 139:24 is defined as a journey.   We find this way in all that we do.    It is also a destination as Jesus is “the way.”    As we find and enter into Him in all that we do, we arrive at the destination He has for us.    

The Lord directs His people in Jeremiah 6:16, “Stop at the crossroads and look around.  Ask for the old, godly way and walk in it.  Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.”   Here, Judah was rejecting God’s way.  There is a decision point for us.  It is not just handed to us as being saved.  Rather, we have to choose to enter into His covenant and believe Him.  We need to choose the way we will go over and over again.

As long as we choose Him and desire His ways, there is available to us rest for our souls.  Why?  Because we have arrived.  There is no greater place or more fulfilling place than to be with Him. The way is not a set of actions but a set of being with.   David goes on to proclaim that “the godly will live in your presence” (Psalm 140:13).   In His presence is fullness of joy.   He is the destination we are seeking.  Rather than focusing in getting it all right as a means to get there, as we put our energy into being with Him, He helps us walk in His ways.

It is the way of His everlasting love.   Psalm 118:1 reminds us that “His faithful love endures forever.”  He repeats over and over again, “Let all Israel repeat, ‘His faithful love endures forever.’  Let Aaron’s descendants, the priests, repeat: ‘His faithful love endures forever.’  Let all who fear the Lord repeat: ‘His faithful love endures forever.” (Psalm 118:2-4)

This Psalm goes on to say, “The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear.  What can mere people do to me?  Yes, the Lord is for me; He will help me, I will look in triumph at those who hate me.” (Psalms 118:6-7)   And Psalm 119:143 says, “As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.”

It is the way of lovingkindness.   Psalm 136 praises Him for this everlasting way of kindness and grace towards us.   It does not list all the things we have done right to uphold our end of the covenant.  In fact, God made covenant with Himself because he knew we could not uphold our side.   The Psalm is all about His faithfulness to us, over, over and over again – He is good!

When we fail, fall short and even sin terribly, He does not leave or forsake us.  Rather, His ways are everlasting.   We see this with David when he gets one of his mighty men’s wife pregnant then murders him to cover it up when the man is too faithful to him to go home to his wife.  God remained faithful to David and sought out a way to bring Him back.  

In 2 Samuel 14:14, a woman tells David when he was being stubborn about bringing home his own son, Absalom, that he banished for taking revenge on his oldest son, “For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from him.”

Psalm 106:1 starts with, “Praise the Lord!  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!  His faithful love is everlasting.” It is the same word here as used in the everlasting way.   It ends with in Psalm 106:48, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting!  Let all the people say, ‘Amen!’”   Interesting because between these two bookends of His everlasting goodness and promises lies the unfaithfulness of His people.  His people refused to enter into His promises due to lack of trust but the Lord was still faithful. 

So coming back to the initial Psalm, when David asks him to search him, what is God searching Him for?  Jeremiah 5:3 says, “Lord, you are searching for honesty.   You struck your people, but they paid no attention.  You crushed them, but they refused to be corrected.   They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.”

So, this honesty that the Lord is searching for in us, is about our sin.   It is honesty within ourselves that we are sinners and cannot live lives of getting it all right. James 3:4 says, "But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth."

The Lord is searching us, not for getting it right, but being repentant because we are honest with ourselves that we can’t get it right.  He is searching for a contrite and repentant heart that is broken by their sin.   Our part of the covenant is to keep entering into it by staying humble, broken and repentant in front of Him.

Psalm 51:16-17 says, “You do not desire sacrifice, or I would offer one.   You do not want a burnt offering.  The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.  You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”   

Lord, so often I continue to search for getting it right when what you are asking for is that I would stay humble and repentant with a broken and contrite heart.   Forgive me!   Help us to walk in your ways rather than performance.  We desire to be with You where You are.  You are the destination we are looking for and You are the way to get there.   In You, we have arrived.

"Nevertheless [in my sin, misunderstandings and even sour attitudes], I am always with you; You hold my right hand.  You will guide me with Your advice; and afterwards, you will receive me with honor.  
Whom do I have in heaven but You?  And with You, I lack nothing on earth.  My mind and body may fail; but God is the rock for my mind and my portion forever.  Those who are far from You will perish; You destroy all who adulterously leave You.  But for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made Adonai Elohim my refuge, so that I can tell of all Your works."  (Psalm 73:23-28)