Psalms 139:24

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: SEARCH ME, O GOD, AND KNOW MY HEART; TRY ME, AND KNOW MY THOUGHTS: AND SEE IF (THERE BE ANY) WICKED WAY IN ME, AND LEAD ME IN THE WAY EVERLASTING. David, conscious of his integrity in his walk with God, asks that the Lord shall prove him, that so he may have a well-grounded hope, of the promised blessing. "Wicked way" - literally, 'way of pain' (Psalms 16:4). It stands in opposition to "the way everlasting," the way which leads to everlasting blessedness: answering to 'the mercy of the Lord enduring forever' (Psalms 138:8). The Hebrew [ `otsem (H6108)] may also mean, as in...

24._And lead me, _etc. I see no foundation for the opinion of some that this is an imprecation, and that David adjudges himself over to punishment. It is true, that “the way of all the earth” is an expression used sometimes to denote death, which is common to all, but the verb here translated to _lead _is more commonly taken in a good than a bad sense, and I question if the phrase _way of this life _ever means death. (221) It seems evidently to denote the full continuous term of human life, and David prays God to guide him even to the end of his course. I am aware some understand it to refer to eternal life, nor is it denied that the world to come is comprehended under the full term of life to which the Psalm~ ist alludes, but it seems enough to hold by the plain sense of the words, That God would watch over his servant to whom he had already shown kindness to the end, and not forsake hi...

17-24 God's counsels concerning us and our welfare are deep, such as cannot be known. We cannot think how many mercies we have received from him. It would help to keep us in the fear of the Lord all the day long, if, when we wake in the morning, our first thoughts were of him: and how shall we admire and bless our God for his precious salvation, when we awake in the world of glory! Surely we ought not to use our members and senses, which are so curiously fashioned, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. But our immortal and rational souls are a still more noble work and gift of God. Yet if it were not for his precious thoughts of love to us, our reason and our living for ever would, through our sins, prove the occasion of our eternal misery. How should we then delight to meditate on God's love to sinners in Jesus Christ, the sum of which exceeds all reckoning! Sin is hated, and sin...

Verse Psalms 139:24. _IF_ THERE BE ANY _WICKED WAY_] דרך עצב _derech otseb:_ _a way of idolatry_, or of _error_. Any thing false in _religious_ _principle_; any thing contrary to _piety_ to thyself, and love and benevolence to man. And he needed to offer such prayer as this, while filled with indignation against the _ways_ of the _workers of_ _iniquities_; for he who hates, _utterly hates_, the practices of any man, is not far from hating the _man himself_. It is very difficult "To hate the sin with all the heart, And yet the sinner love." _LEAD ME IN THE WAY EVERLASTING._] בדרך עולם _bederech olam, in the_ _old way_ - the way in which our fathers

AND SEE IF THERE BE ANY WICKED WAY IN ME - Margin, “way of pain,” or “grief.” The Hebrew word properly means an image, an idol Isaiah 48:5, but it also means pain, 1 Chronicles 4:9; Isaiah 14:3. The word in the form used here does not occur elsewhere. Gesenius (Lexicon) renders it here idol-worship. DeWette, “way of idols.” Prof. Alexander, “way of pain.” The Septuagint and Vulgate, “way of iniquity.” So Luther. The Syriac, “way of falsehood.” Rosenmuller, “way of an idol.” 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 ot

EXPOSITION A song of praise to God for his omniscience, his omnipresence, and his marvelous powers, ending with a prayer for the destruction of the wicked, and for the purifying from evil of the psalmist's own heart. The psalm divides into four stanzas of six verses each—the first (Psalms 139:1) dealing with the omniscience of God; the second (Psalms 139:7), with his omnipresence; the third (Psalms 139:13), with his omnipotence; and the fourth (Psalms 139:19) containing the supplication. Psalms 139:1

AND SEE IF [THERE BE ANY] WICKED WAY IN ME,.... Not that David thought himself free from wickedness, or that there was none to be found in his heart and life; and therefore said this in a boasting way, he knew otherwise; see Psalms 19:12; but he is desirous it might be thoroughly looked into and seen whether there was any such wicked way in him he was charged with; as that he had a design upon the life of Saul, and to seize his throne and kingdom, which never entered into his mind, 1 Samuel 24:9. Or, "any way of grief" d; what tended to wound and grieve his own soul, or to grieve the hearts of God's people; or to grieve the Holy Spirit of God; and which he ought to grieve for and repent of: suggesting, that upon the first conviction he was ready to relinquish any such wicked way, and express his abhorrence

This is a Psalm we can never read too often. It will be to us one of the greatest safeguards against sin if we have its teaching constantly before our mind's eye, and the teaching of this Psalm is simply this, «Thou God seest me.» Psalms 139:1. _O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me._ Thou hast looked into my most secret parse. The most intricate labyrinths of my spirit are all observed of thee. Thou hast not searched, and yet been unable to discover the secret of my nature but thou hast searched me and known me. Thy search has been an efficient one, thou hast read the secrets of my soul, Psalms 139:2. _Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off._ It is a common enough thing to sit down and to rise up an

Psalms 139 In the Divine Presence _ 1. His omniscience (Psalms 139:1)_ 2. His omnipresence (Psalms 139:7) 3. Praising Him (Psalms 139:13) 4. Delighting in His holiness (Psalms 139:19) Here we see the people of God in the light of God, standing in His presence. He is an omniscient and an omnipresent God. How marvellously this is given in this Psalm. And what a comfort to know that He knoweth, that He seeth, that He is about us, around us, with us everywhere, that His hand leads, that His hand upholds

CXXXIX. GOD IS EVERYWHERE: HE KNOWS EVERYTHING OH THAT HE WOULD DESTROY THE WICKED. This Ps. is among the most spiritual productions of the OT. It deals with the mystery of Divine providence, a theme frequently discussed after the Exile, when the national life had died out and each individual was brought face to face with the difficulties which surrounded him and with the thought of his ultimate fate. Other nations, of course, have engaged in similar speculation, but in very different tone and spirit. Here, as elsewhere, the Hebrew poet manifests intense belief in the personality of God, in His righteousness, in His care for the men He has made. He speaks in the first person singular, because he is giving expression to his own faith and in part to his own experience. Again, he uses no abstract terms such as omnipresence, omniscience, and the like: indeed in Biblical Heb. no such words ar...