"O LORD, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising." And in verse 3, "Thou... art acquainted with all my ways." Now think for a moment of the intimate knowledge God has of all our actions. It is very solemn, and it is not a pleasant thing for a sinner to learn; but it is the very first step to blessing, and ends in nothing but blessing.
The Psalm divides itself into two parts—from the first to the thirteenth verse, and from the fourteenth to the end. In the first part the soul finds itself thoroughly known and exposed, and the desire is to get away from God. This is found to be impossible. Then, when it is fairly driven into a corner, it learns God's heart and works, and the result is praise.
Have you ever observed that God condescends to mark every little circumstance connected with you, that He has to say to little things as well as big? Even the seed you sow in your fields is quickened by God. Each individual seed is acted on by His power. I have been struck with this lately in reading Deut. 22:66If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: (Deuteronomy 22:6) and 7. Think of God telling the Israelites what to do with a bird's nest! Here we read, in the second verse, that He understands our thoughts. Now men are sometimes ashamed of their actions, and do not like to have them known; but what do you think of your thoughts being exposed? No one would like that. Well, God knows them all. "Thou... understandest my thought afar off." And again, "There is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, 0 LORD, Thou knowest it altogether." The result of finding this out is simply to make one honest with God.
In verse 5 we read, "Thou hast beset me behind and before." The presence of God is everywhere. All around you, wherever you go, you are never out of it, though you may not be consciously there. You may desire to get away from it, but it is impossible. You cannot get away. Even darkness cannot hide from Him; "The darkness and the light are both alike to Thee." It is thus the soul is compelled to have to do with God. If you do not, be assured of this, you must have to do with Him hereafter. Do you remember the two thieves? One of them was honest about himself in time. He condemned himself, and acknowledged the judgment that had overtaken him as just, and "the due reward" of his deeds. He turned to the Lord Jesus, who hung on the cross beside him, acknowledged Him as Lord, and got far more than he asked—an entrance into paradise that day in company with the Lord Himself. Depend upon it, having to do with God is the beginning of blessing. Saul, in Acts 9, was brought into the conscious presence of God. There he learned what he was and what he had done, and that the One against whom he had sinned was his Savior. Thus he was converted.
In verse 14 of our Psalm, we have, "I will praise Thee," etc. Many can talk of God as Creator, but it is another thing to talk of Him as Redeemer..
Here the soul not only knows and speaks of His works, but knows His thoughts, and finds them precious. What do we know about His thoughts and heart? We get them unfolded in John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)—"God so loved," etc. The gospel all comes from God's side. The rejecters of it are reckoned among the "fearful" in Rev. 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8). If God would save sinners, He must do it in a righteous way. Judgment must fall on another. The cross of Christ shows this. He was obedient unto death; and He was the only One of whom that could ever have been said. It is no obedience for us to die. We have no right to live. He had; He had never forfeited His life; it was His own. But. in Isa. 538He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. (Isaiah 53:8) we read that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, and that the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all. This was the work of redemption, and God thinks so much of it that He raised Him from the dead and set Him on His own throne.
In verse 23 of our Psalm, we have one who knows God's thoughts, and what is his language? "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts," etc. Am I now afraid of His making any discoveries, or His heart being turned from me?
No. We have many discoveries to make about ourselves. God has none. He knew us when we had done our worst. He knows all.