Search Me

What if God already knows you better than you know yourself?

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24).

Autobiographies are the means many famous people use to tell their life stories and explain their actions. But as Karl Barth, the twentieth-century Swiss theologian, once wrote, “Every autobiography is a dubious enterprise.” The reality is that no person really can “survey himself even in the present moment, any more than in the whole of his past.” None of us can be truly objective.

David reached a similar conclusion. He realized how little he knew about his own life. God alone really knew him: “You … are acquainted with all my ways” (v. 3). God knew what he would speak “even before a word is on my tongue” (v. 4). God knew what he did in secret, for even the “darkness is not dark to you” (v. 12). And God also knew his future: “In your book were written … the days that were formed for me” (v. 16).

Many people reject this outlook, confident that they understand themselves and can chart their own course. They deny God’s sovereignty and reject His wisdom. They fail to understand the truth that we need God’s searchlight.

But true fulfillment comes when we trust God with our lives. We can have peace when we humble ourselves before Him. We can receive His strength in our weakness. We can gain His wisdom and perspective when we seek His thoughts over our own.

Be open and vulnerable before God today.

Reflection Question: Ask God to shine His light and reveal your heart so you can grow in Him.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Karl Barth?

Karl Barth (1886–1968) was a Swiss Reformed theologian, widely regarded as one of the most significant Protestant theologians of the twentieth century‚ known especially for his multi-volume Church Dogmatics and his opposition to Nazi ideology through the Barmen Declaration.

What does Psalm 139 reveal about God’s knowledge of us?

The psalm describes God’s knowledge as complete and inescapable—He knows David’s thoughts before they’re spoken (v. 4)‚ his location wherever he goes (v. 7–10)‚ and even his days before one of them came to be (v. 16).