Psalm 139:23-24

The final two verses of this psalm. David is requesting and allowing God to get personal in his life.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
     test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me;
     and lead me in the way everlasting.
                                          -Psalm 139:23-24

The depth of these requests of David is incredible. He is not wanting to stay on a surface level with God. After all he has acknowledged about God - about who He is and how much He loves and cares about us - David was asking God to reveal things about his heart to him so that he could grow.

Search me, O God, and know my heart (Ps. 139:23)
God already knows our hearts. He is waiting to reveal to us what He knows to help us grow in our relationship with Him. When we ask God to search us and know our hearts, He may point out things we would rather not acknowledge about what is in our hearts, but it is through God revealing this knowledge to us that we grow.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts (Ps. 139:23)
Those areas where we often anxious are those areas where we are often not trusting God. God can reveal those areas to us so that we can choose to place them in His hands rather than

See if there is any offensive way in me (Ps. 139:24)
In our fallen world it is quite easy to get caught up in things that are offensive to God. Sin is offensive to God. God desires to point out those things in our lives that are sinful so that we can work with Him to remove them from our lives. The question for us when God does point out an area of sin in our lives is how will we respond? Will we be humble enough to confess it and repent? Or will we try to ignore it or justify it?

And lead me in the way everlasting (Ps. 139:24)
One way of responding to the things that God points out to us in the requests of the previous phrases leads to us following God in the way everlasting and the other leads to us going our own way. Which way will you respond?

The question really is, will we ask God to the things asked by David in these two verses in our own lives. When we ask Him, will we then really follow through and allow Him to point them out? We can so easily deceive ourselves, but these words are asking God to reveal some really personal things that we often try to keep hidden. Will we really allow God to do this? Are we really ready to face the things that may come up if we pray this?

In may ways, this is a fitting way to end this psalm. It is pretty clear from pondering it that God already knows it all about us and yet He loves us anyways. We can rest in the assurance that anything God points out will be done in love for us, not out of spite. This is a prayer that we can pretty safely pray; knowing that while all it reveals may not be pleasant or comfortable to face, it is all revealed in love and for our good.