Oakwood Community Church

Even though Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” many of us are content not to come to grips with who we really are.

Big Idea:
We can trust God to examine us and change us.

1 “O Lord, You have searched me and known me.”
23 “Search me, O God, and know my heart!”
Psalm 139

Psalm 139
Verses 1-22: Provide the rationale for why God can be trusted
Verses 23-24: Tell us how we are to respond

1.God knows us intimately and therefore we cannot deceive Him.

God is omniscient.

1“O Lord, you have searched me and known me!”
16 “every one of our days were written down in God’s book, when as yet there were none of them!”
Psalm 139

“From where I'm standing, Lord it's so hard for me to see where this is going and where you're leading me. I wish I knew how all my fears and all my questions are gonna play out in a world I can't control. When I'm lost in the mystery, to you my future is a memory, cause you're already there, you're already there, standing at the end of my life, waiting on the other side, and you're already there, you're already there.” -- Casting Crowns

2 “He knows when I sit and when I rise up.”
3 “He knows my path and my lying down.”
Psalm 139

2 “You discern my thoughts from afar.”
4 “before even a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”
Psalm 139

“You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.”
Psalm 139:5

“Why have you lied to the Holy Spirit and tested the spirit of the Lord?”
Acts 5: 3 & 9

“God has set our iniquities before himself, our secret sins in the light of His presence.” Psalm 90:8

“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.”
Psalm 139:6

2. God is with us constantly – We cannot escape Him.
“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?”
Psalm 139:7

“And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
Hebrews 4:13

3. God made us wonderfully – We cannot ignore Him

“You (God) formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13

“My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”
Psalm 139:15

“Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Psalm 139:16

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Psalm 139:14

1. God knows us intimately
2. God is with us constantly
3. God made us wonderfully

“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

4. God wants to change us spiritually – We must invite Him!

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?”
2 Corinthians 13:5

A spiritual assessment is an intentional, extended period of time for humble submission, unbiased reflection, and holy aspiration.