Summer of Depth Devotional Day 59
Today is Day 59 of our Summer of Depth Devotional and Reading Plan, and tomorrow will be the final day of our Summer of Depth together in the Word.
For nearly two months, we've been slowing down together, opening Scripture, and asking God to meet us there. And as we come toward the end, Psalm 139 gives us a beautiful prayer to carry with us long after this reading plan is over:
“Search me, God.”
Let's dive deep into His Word.
Before anything else, slow down and read: Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24.
Notice how this Psalm begins before you get to that prayer.
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.”
David spends the next several verses describing just how completely God knows him. God knows when he sits down and gets up. He knows his thoughts. He knows the words David is going to speak before he says them.
There isn't a version of David that God hasn't seen.
And still, God is near.
David says that wherever he goes, “even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
That's what makes the ending of this Psalm so powerful.
David begins by saying, “You have searched me,” and ends by asking, “Search me.”
He isn't inviting God into places God hasn't seen yet. God’s already seen it. God know’s all of David and all of you. David is actually choosing to stop hiding from the God who already knows him completely.
Maybe that's one of the most important postures we can learn as we spend time in Scripture.
We don't have to bring God the cleaned-up version of ourselves. We can bring the anxiety we don't understand. The temptation we're embarrassed by. The questions we're afraid to ask. The resentment that's still hanging around. The parts of our hearts we may not even recognize yet.
And then we can give God permission to show us what He sees.
“See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
That's a courageous prayer because we may not always like what God shows us. But Psalm 139 reminds us that the One doing the searching is also the One holding us fast.
As we near the end of Summer of Depth, maybe that's part of what we hope remains. Not simply a habit of reading the Bible, but a growing willingness to come before God honestly and say:
You already know me. Now show me. And lead me.
Prayer
Search me, God, and know my heart. Show me what I can't see in myself. Give me courage to be honest about what You reveal, and lead me deeper into Your ways. Thank You that there is nowhere I can go where Your presence and Your mercy cannot find me. Amen.
