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The River ChurchSermons

Fully Known, from Fear to Invitation!

John Carter · Sunday, 26 July 2026 · 41:59 · 5,866 words

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The sermon looks at Psalm 139, exploring how God intimately knows us—our thoughts, motives, and every hidden part. It moves from the terrifying realization that God searches us (verse 1) to David’s prayer for God to examine his heart (verse 23). The talk calls listeners to invite God’s examination, asking Him to reveal any wayward pattern and to guide them in everlasting ways. It encourages believers to desire this spiritual check‑up, trusting that God’s knowledge leads to guidance rather than condemnation.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

david 79 examination 20 search 22 acknowledge 17 examine 17 david's 16 alignment 7 terrifying 9 overwhelming 8 abandon 8 operate 7 declarative 5

Topics

Prayer 3 Hope 1 Sin 1

Scripture referenced 3

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Psalms 139 0:44 Psalms 139 0:49 Psalms 23 7:06

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 7 lines, 0:38. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey everyone, my name is Joel Radecki and thanks for checking out one of our sermons today.

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Thanks again for joining us and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

Just to celebrate with that, that's super exciting, exciting things happening.

If you have your Bibles this morning, go ahead and open them to Psalms 139.

This week was kind of a hectic week for me.

And I think you'll understand as I ask this question to you.

How many of you love to go through examination?

Yes, that's very true.

I think we all have some of this hesitancy.

Listen, whether you're a student, I remember as a student, exam days was never fun.

Super anxious, super nervous, very fearful of whether or not I would even get a C or a D in the class, right?

So there's all this anxiety that comes around exam day, going into college.

Listen, I don't know if you've ever had like in the workplace, like maybe a peer review or a supervisor come and have to sit.

Sit down and do an annual review, right?

Those are just moments of anxiety most of the time, right?

How about this?

When you know you should go to the doctor, but you keep it off because you're afraid of what the doctors might tell you.

Anybody feel this?

Relate to this?

Listen, some of you are laughing because you're like, yep, that's me right there.

Listen, I relate to this a lot.

Not wanting to go through an examination.

We're going to look at something that David points out to you.

And all those things that I listed, part of the reason we're so anxious about those things.

We may be even fearful of those things is because it will reveal in us some inadequacies, some failures, something wrong.

And who likes to admit that there is a problem, right?

None of us do.

Whether that's in your relationship, like couples therapy, anybody like that?

It's good.

It's good to have that examination.

But oftentimes our initial mindset is, man, I don't want to do this.

I want to do that.

What if they find out?

What if something is revealed?

What if something is shown that isn't okay, that's not good?

This is why we avoid the doctors.

This is why we have anxiety when we go take tests.

I took a test this week for Genesee County's health department to be able to install a septic field for my parents.

It's only 23 questions.

I haven't taken tests since college, by the way.

I could not believe how anxious I was trying to go in there.

I'm like, man, I read the book.

I read the manual.

I got to know.

I know all this stuff, and it's all overwhelming.

But it was fearful, and this is part of what happens when I'm exposed.

What happens if I don't pass?

What happens if I'm not good enough?

All these things, these fears come into our mind.

Now, imagine all of those things that I listed.

They can create this anxiety.

They can create some of this turmoil in us.

But imagine an examination that is beyond anything we've ever experienced.

Where even our thoughts.

The very core of who we are.

Why we do what we do is happening.

That kind of examination where every single thing you said is being examined and weighed.

That's a whole other kind of examination.

And that's really what David leads us through as we examine this psalm.

He starts in verse 1 and he says,

Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You have searched me.

And you.

You have known me.

What David is stating here is a declarative statement.

This is one of the things that David is helping us understand.

And he starts here in verse 1 and he says,

Listen, God, you have examined me.

You have looked at me.

You've searched me.

And you know me.

That's terrifying.

Does that terrify anybody else?

That thought that God knows.

And David's going to reveal as we walk through this.

He knows my thoughts.

He knows the words that I say before I even speak them.

He knows my heart.

He knows my motives.

That can be frightening and terrifying.

That can be, quite frankly, and David will show this to us in verse 6.

We will get there in a minute.

How overwhelming that can be.

To be examined to that capacity.

But what's really, really fascinating, what's really profound is this.

And I'm going to kind of jump.

We're not going to read anything.

I want you to jump to verse 23.

In verse 23, David says very similar to what he says in verse 1.

In verse 23, though, it's just slightly changed.

It goes from a declarative statement, something that David is saying,

hey, this is who God is.

He knows me.

He's searched me.

And he knows every, he's examined me.

To verse 23, where he says this,

Search me, O God, and know my heart.

Try me and know my thoughts.

See, David goes from verse 1, this declarative statement,

this that God, in fact, knows him, which is quite frankly,

very relatable to all of us.

It's terrifying, I think.

To verse 23, where David is desiring, and he is asking,

and it's an invitation to say, God, please, please search me.

So the question that I could not help but ask is,

how do I get from verse 1 to verse 23?

Because when I'm sitting in verse 1, it's terrifying.

Oh, man, God, you have searched me.

You know me.

That's terrifying.

How can I, as a believer, I want this.

And I think most of us would say, yeah, I want to be confident enough

to ask God to search me.

How do I get from verse 1 to verse 23?

And that's what we're going to look at today

as we look at the rest of the text in Psalms 23.

So let's go to the Lord and just start this morning

with a word of prayer and asking him to open our hearts

to his word and help his word show us the truth

and the wonder that is there for each and every one of us.

Lord, we love you.

We thank you so much for, quite frankly,

the victory over the enemy that we got to just witness a few minutes ago.

For students in their lives at camp, their profession,

their obedience and walking towards you and after you and with you.

Lord, it's just so wonderful to see.

Lord, I pray that that does not just stop with our students.

I pray that this morning your spirit would move in me,

in the congregation here and those watching online, Lord,

that your word would shine true and powerful in every single person's life.

We ask this in Jesus' holy name.

All right, let's start and look at verse 1.

Obviously, we've read it.

We've read this already.

Oh, Lord, you have searched me and you have known me.

This declarative statement.

David goes on in verse 2 and he just kind of emphasizes

this declarative statement that God, in fact, does know him.

Not just a casual, oh, I know of him, but he knows him intimately, deeply.

And he affirms this.

Look at this.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up.

You discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path.

My lying down and are acquainted with all of my ways.

You can say God knows David's motives.

He knows all of David's ways.

What makes him tick, so to speak.

Even before a word is on my tongue.

Behold, oh, Lord, you know it all together.

You hem me in behind and before you lay your hands upon me.

Look at this.

What David is saying here is this.

I cannot escape the fact.

That God knows me.

He knows the good parts about me.

And he knows the bad parts about me.

He knows the parts of me that the world would say is successful.

And he also knows the parts of me that the world would say is an utter failure.

He knows the parts of me that if they were exposed, man, it would bring shame, guilt.

And it would make me crumble.

Just the same as any one of you in this room.

David says, I'm trapped, in a sense.

I'm hemmed in.

God is there before, behind.

There's no end.

There's no escaping, if you will, the fact that God knows every single thing about David.

Let me just say this.

It's not just David that God knows everything about.

He knows everything about me.

And he knows everything about you.

Your failures, your successes, your sins, the things that we can praise God for.

He knows them all.

And I want you to see this next line in verse 6.

You see this.

David acknowledges what this does to him.

Right?

This understanding that there is a.

Holy, righteous, almighty God that knows every single thing about him.

Look at verse 6.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, David says.

It is high.

I cannot, I cannot attain it.

In a way, when I hear this and when I see what David says here, I think David is putting this implication there.

Man, that overwhelms me.

That is an overwhelming thought to know that even before.

I say a word, whether it is a good word or an evil word, God already knows it.

I don't have to even speak the word.

The fact that I had the thought, God is aware of it.

That is overwhelming.

David is acknowledging this, this understanding that, that, that if God knows me that intimately,

wow, a holy, righteous God.

And then here, here David is, and we can put this into our own lives, even myself.

What an overwhelming thought that God intimately knows.

God knows every single thing about me.

Talk about being exposed.

Listen, I'd rather go to a doctor visit than that.

Like the doctor might tell me that, you know, I've got some kind of disease, but he's not going to know my thoughts.

Here's a God who knows.

I want you to see this.

This is where David is going to show us some interesting things, some very powerful things to understand that God knows the secrets that we haven't shared with anyone.

That God knows the motive behind every action we have taken.

We can put our best face forward on Sunday mornings or on social media.

Listen, that's not what David's talking about here.

He's like, listen, God knows everything that you haven't posted.

God knows everything that you haven't revealed, even to your closest partner in life, the secrets you keep to yourself.

God knows those things.

And as David progresses, you start to see something that is absolutely amazing.

As David discovers that God's knowledge is not the same, right?

Like this is often.

This is often how we perceive God as some record keeper afar off.

God, listen, I'm just going to be very clear.

God and Santa Claus, there's no correlation.

God's not sitting somewhere far off, checking a list, seeing who's naughty and who's nice.

He already knows we're all not nice.

We don't fit that category.

I mean, some of us are nice, but really, if we're left to our own devices, we're really not all that nice.

When we examine our words, our thoughts, our motives, what drives us.

We can acknowledge, I hope we can acknowledge, that sometimes we operate out of self-interest, selfishness.

We don't always consider what's best for others around us, and we are motivated often with self-preservation.

This is why examination is often super uncomfortable.

But I want you to see what David grasped about God's knowledge, that it is deep.

God's knowledge of David is deep, and it is personal.

Look at what he says in verse 7.

Because see, David,

He knows that the God who searches him is also the same God that will not abandon him.

And your right hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,

even the darkness is not dark to you.

The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

I want you to see this as David is really progressing through this thought process,

understanding that, man, God knows every single thing about me.

This is so beautiful.

And as God says,

Christians, I hope you grasp this.

And even when he knows everything about me, he is still there with me.

Yeah, that's worth getting excited about.

I mean, it's terrifying.

But what is David saying here?

He's like, man, at first you might see that first verse in 7,

and you think, well, David's trying to escape God.

He uses the words like, man, where shall I flee from his presence?

Maybe David understands his own guilt.

I know he does, in fact.

And he's acknowledging, wow,

this is uncomfortable.

This doesn't feel good to be examined in this capacity.

And David's first reaction, I think, is the same reaction we all have.

Man, where do I got to go to get away from this?

Avoidance, deflection.

And David understands, wait a minute, wait a minute.

God's knowledge of me isn't so he can destroy me.

Not that checklist, the weighing in this balance, so to speak,

of how much good do you have over how much bad do you have?

And let's see which one outweighs the other, and this is how I'm going to

treat you based on that scale.

That's not how God operates.

David is acknowledging, David is acknowledging that whether David goes up to heaven,

down to Sheol, across the sea, in the middle of an open sea where there is nothing,

even there, he cannot and will not, God will not leave him or abandon him.

Even, and I want you to catch this, even in uttermost darkness, God is able to be there.

When we think about sin in our life,

we cannot help but equate it with darkness.

The world of the enemy is the kingdom of darkness, and God's kingdom is described as the kingdom of light.

They are at complete opposite ends, and I love this.

David understands this, and this is why he's acknowledging the wonderful presence of God in his life.

He goes, listen, even in utter darkness, it isn't darkness to you.

You have the ability to shine in the midst of darkness.

Sometimes we go, oh man, I'm too far gone.

I'm too far in the dark.

There's no way God can save me.

I can get here.

There's no way God can come where I'm at because, man, you don't know how dark it is right here.

David says, man, I don't care where I am.

God is there with me, and he pursues me, and he comes after me.

Maybe somebody here needs to hear that today.

As we look at what David is grasping and what he's working through,

we see that the same God from whom David cannot escape in the very first verses,

we also see the same God who is, look at this, will not let David go.

When he says, even there, verse 10, your hand shall lead me.

If you like to highlight in your verse, I would encourage you to highlight verse 10.

Your hand, your hand shall lead me.

Look at this, and your right hand shall hold me.

Whatever David is walking through, whatever you're walking through,

understand this, that God is there and present, especially if you are his child.

If you're a believer.

He's never going to leave you nor forsake you.

He will never abandon you.

Now, maybe you're here today, and this examination is terrifying you

because you have no relationship with God.

But I want you to understand this.

Even in that position, God is near.

He is desiring you to come to him.

His hand is outstretched to you for you to grab.

And then when he grabs a hold of it, please hear me when I say this,

he'll never, ever, ever let go of it.

That's the confidence you have when you call out,

who this God, so David recognizes, man, I'm fully exposed, but I'm not abandoned.

That's a comfort.

David is actually giving us comfort words here.

An understanding that verse one may have felt overwhelming.

It may feel overwhelming, but David's starting to grasp, man,

even in the midst of what is overwhelming, God is still close.

He's not abandoned me.

And I want you to see this as we progress into verse 13.

The same God who searches David is the same God.

Who made David.

And this is so important to grasp and understand.

Look at what he says in verse 13.

For you have formed my inward parts.

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works.

My soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Look at what he says in verse 13.

Look at what he says in verse 13.

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.

I want you to just pause for a minute

and consider what David is acknowledging

and what David is saying.

Yes, God has searched him.

And yes, God knows him.

This is a reality that none of us can escape.

But David acknowledges,

even though God knows me,

he still does not abandon me.

And the reason, and I want you to see this,

this is so powerful.

The reason is because before David even sinned,

God had a purpose for him.

He knit him.

He uses this word fearfully and wonderfully.

Don't those seem like contradictions?

I don't know if that crosses your mind or not.

Those words are not put there on accident.

See, David understands,

and I believe this is what he is acknowledging in this passage,

when we are fearfully and wonderfully made,

and the days of our lives are written before.

This does not mean that,

hey, whatever I choose to do,

whether I choose to walk in sin

or choose to follow Christ,

I have no choice.

That's not what this text is saying.

This text is saying you were fearfully

and wonderfully made,

which means this,

that you do in fact have the capacity

to operate contrary to God.

You can choose to do that.

That should be a fearful thing in your heart,

to operate contrary to God.

But you also have the capacity

to operate with God

in conjunction with His Word,

in obedience to what He has asked us to do.

And that, and that is wonderful.

We have the capacity to operate

in either one of those realms.

David acknowledges that, wow,

God knows all things.

We partake in what choices we take.

Whether to be in alignment with God,

or whether to be rebellious against God.

David says,

and acknowledges,

and I want you to see this in v. 17,

he says,

how precious to me are your thoughts.

Oh God, how vast is the sum of them.

If I would count them,

they are more than the sand.

I awake and I am still with you.

I want you to see the progression

of what David is walking us through.

The very uncomfortable examination of God.

The fact that He knows me.

He searches me.

I can't avoid it.

He knows me.

He knows you.

Then David goes,

and he goes to understand,

and he grasps,

and he understands

that there is nowhere he can go

where God is not.

There is no sin too deep

that God cannot pull you out of.

Hear me when I say that.

The reason David understands,

and he lands in v. 23

where he desires God to search him,

is because he knows,

he knows that God formed him

with care and design and love

David's not just some person.

You are not just some random collection of cells.

God made each and every one of you

for His glory, for His purpose.

And maybe some of you need to hear that.

God loves you so much

that He knows every aspect about you.

He designed every part of your personality,

your character,

who you are,

while you weren't even born yet.

Before you even spoke your first word,

He loved you so much

that you would come to be a part of His family.

That's His desire.

You are valued by God.

Sometimes that's hard for us.

Hard for us to understand.

Because we go,

well, listen,

He knew everything about me.

Clearly, we'd have a different conversation.

That's what we think.

David's acknowledging,

no, God already knows everything about you.

God already knows your failures,

your idiosyncrasies

that may,

that may annoy other people.

God knows everything about you.

David understands in v. 17,

man, how precious to me are your thoughts,

Think about this in v. 6.

David's overwhelmed at the fact

that God knows everything about him.

But when David starts to consider,

man, even when God knows everything about me,

He's still near to me.

Even if God knows my failures,

man, He is still close to me.

He formed me.

He made me while I was yet in my mother's womb

before I even sinned at first.

And He cared, and He loved me,

and He designed me a specific way.

David acknowledges very clearly here,

you see him shift from being overwhelmed

to being in a place of praise.

Because David knows God.

David knows the promises of God.

David knows that there is one day

going to be a man who comes to this earth

as God to take on and defeat

and overcome sin and the grave.

He knows that there is going to be a Messiah

who takes on our iniquities,

our shortcomings, our failures.

And this is in fact the greatest expression of love

that David is holding on to.

Think as you look at these verses here,

you start to see the nature of God's examination

start to shift.

See, God's not examining David or searching David,

looking for a reason to condemn him.

He searches David knowing

He already has intentionally made him for a purpose

and that David is deeply thankful.

He's valued just like you are.

See, David knows that the God who knows him

also deeply cares for him.

And this is when you start to see David

do something very interesting.

He wants to align himself with God.

And I think most Christians would stand in that place.

Man, I want to be in alignment with God.

Look at these verses in verse 19.

He says, "Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God.

O men of blood, depart from me.

They speak against you with malice intent, your enemies,

Lord, they take your name in vain."

Just a caveat here so you understand this.

David's not talking about these guys cuss like sailors.

That's not what he's saying.

He's saying there are people, and we know this,

and we see this, that take on the name of Christian

or a follower of Christ that act nothing like Christ.

That's taking on God's name in vain.

Listen, I'm just going to say something,

and this may be controversy.

I would rather you not take Christ's name on

if you're going to act completely contrary to him.

Do me a favor.

And everybody else a favor.

Don't claim Christ.

It's okay.

I'm not trying to be judgmental.

I'm not trying to be condemning.

I'm not saying we're perfect.

I'm saying if you're going to live and act like the world,

and you're going to operate completely in the world,

and then turn around and say,

well, I'm a Christian, it doesn't work that way.

If you're going to be a follower of Christ,

start following Christ.

I'm not saying you got to go from zero to 100.

I'm saying at least take one step towards Christ.

Take another step towards Christ, and another step.

You start looking and acting and behaving

like the Lord you say you serve.

That's all I'm saying.

We all have a progression, right?

This is called sanctification.

We all walk in a way.

Here, this is what David is saying.

He's looking outside and he's like,

man, Lord, I do not want to align with these people.

I want to align with you.

Look at what he does.

He goes into this rhetorical question in verse 21.

Do I not hate those who hate you?

This is not a comfortable message

to preach in the church, is it?

Do I not hate those who hate you?

Oh, Lord, and do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

David's asking these rhetorical questions and then he answers his question.

Look at this.

I hate them with complete hatred and I count them as my enemy.

Anybody feel uncomfortable yet?

This is like, well, wait a minute.

What are we supposed to do with this?

What are we supposed to do with what David's saying?

Listen, this is important that we understand the truth.

God does not like sin.

See, David understands the serious,

the seriousness of his own depravity

and he's desiring to align himself with God.

And it's really easy.

Are you ready for this, church?

It's really easy to look everywhere else

and see the problem.

It's a danger.

It's a warning.

It's really easy to look at my spouse and say,

well, man, if he would have done this

or she would have done that,

I'd probably be closer to God.

It's really easy to even look at our children.

Man, kid, why don't you read your Bible more?

It's easy to look at your neighbor,

Listen, sit next to you in the pew

or maybe a couple of pews away from you.

Say, well, at least I'm not like them.

At least I'm a little better than them.

This is dangerous.

And I think David acknowledges this.

David understands this.

Yes, he's walking through this.

Man, I want to be in alignment with God.

I do not desire to be associated with things that are evil

because there are things that are evil.

We're not ignoring the truth of God's Word.

God's Word clearly defines what is evil,

what is malice against Him,

what is rebellion against Him.

God doesn't sugarcoat anything.

Sin is sin, and we all have to deal with it.

This is what I love about what David does.

As you think, wow, man, David's just flipped the script.

Man, he's judging.

He's pointing his fingers all outside.

Look at what he does.

This is where he lands in verse 23.

This is so beautiful.

See, in verse 23, David acknowledges and understands

that in order for him to be in alignment with God,

he needs to be examined by God.

He needs to come to God.

He needs to come to the place in his heart

where he can call out to God

and invite God into his heart and say,

"Oh Lord, search me and know my heart.

Try me and know my thoughts."

Look at this in verse 24.

"And if you see if there is any grievous way in me,

lead me in the way everlasting."

Do you see what David's done here?

I hope you see this.

I hope I'm doing a good job explaining it to you.

David starts and he sees the wicked

and the evil all around him.

It's easy to look at the evil.

We might even do this in the church.

Outside the church.

And as long as we're looking at everybody else,

we miss the most important thing,

which is an examination of ourselves.

And David recognizes this, I think, really quickly.

Where he lands in this place

where he asks the Lord to search his heart.

To examine him.

It's an invitation.

Verse one starts with this examination

that he can't avoid.

And we see him land at this examination.

That he is inviting God please, please search me.

Please make sure my heart is good and right

and following you.

And Lord, you know you're going to find this.

I don't even think this is a matter of if,

but it's a matter of when.

Lord, when you search my heart

and you find a grievous way,

Look at what he says.

Lead me in the way that is everlasting.

David is saying take the temporary things

that I prioritize and make the things

that I need to prioritize be that of eternal value.

Isn't that wonderful?

Isn't this beautiful?

How we can go from verse one to verse 23

where we can be terrified of the examination of God.

The unavoidance of it to the place

where we are yearning and asking and pleading God.

God, please search my heart.

Please, if there's anything, anything in my heart

that's contrary to you and your ways,

Lord, reveal it to me.

I'm going to tell you this.

You pray that prayer, the Lord will show it to you.

Of that I am.

I'm 100% confident.

You pray that prayer, Lord, if there's anything in my heart

that's not in alignment with you, please show me.

Before I look at my spouse, before I look at my kids,

before I look at my neighbor,

before I look at other people in the church,

Lord, please examine my heart first.

And the ways that my heart are not in alignment with you,

Lord, please correct me, lead me,

and guide me in the things that are everlasting.

This is David's plea in this Psalm.

This morning, I pray that as the church,

we walk through these Psalms,

and we have been, and we continue to do,

that you will take these Psalms as an understanding

of what God is trying to draw us to.

The examination of God is not something to be feared.

Quite frankly, as Christians,

this is something we ought to desire in our life.

God, please examine me.

Am I failing as a husband?

Am I prioritizing the wrong things in my workplace?

God, have I neglected your word and your truth

with my children?

Whether you're a parent, a grandparent,

an aunt, an uncle, I don't care.

These are the questions that David is saying,

listen, if I'm going to be in alignment with God,

before I look out there and talk about

how much I despise the evil that's in the world,

I better get my own heart right.

Scripture talks about this examination

beginning in the house of God.

That that is where it starts.

That God's people examine themselves

and get their own hearts right with God.

And if you're here today and you would say,

man, I don't know that I know this God,

this God that knows me fully,

yet doesn't abandon me, that knows and loves me,

and loves and cares for me even before I was ever born.

Maybe you're here today and the invitation

is just simply calling out to God and saying,

God, know me.

Please, let me take your hand that you're offering.

You're inviting me into your family.

You're inviting me into this examination.

And maybe the first bold step for you today is,

Lord, examine me and help me know who you are.

That first step of, and I love this,

that my daughter was able to do this.

That first step of not being able

to do this, not being on the line,

but taking a full step into the loving arms of God.

Taking that step of confidence, it's terrifying.

Examination is terrifying.

But man, how glad are we after we are examined,

whether it's by a doctor, by a supervisor,

by a peer review or taking a test.

When we get past it, I just think about the medical aspect.

When we get past the doctor's exam

and we find there is relief and there is a medicine

or something that will bring us healing,

sometimes we look back and be like,

why did I wait so long to go to the doctor?

Same thing is not any different spiritually.

The longer we hold off seeing God

and allowing him to examine our life,

the longer we resist him, the longer we push him away,

we finally make that step towards him and you go,

man, how did I wait so long?

This examination is wonderful.

He's not gonna condemn me, he's not gonna destroy me,

he's gonna lead me, he's gonna guide me,

he's gonna hold me, he's gonna carry me.

So church, today, I pray as we walk through this Psalms,

that you, yourself, will get to a place in your own life,

something I'm working on just like you, okay?

That we will get to a place where we are inviting God

to examine our lives and that we will pray this prayer,

that if there be any grievous way in me,

that we would confidently and wonderfully praise the Lord

and invite him to lead us in the way that's everlasting.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much.

Thank you for the wonderful words.

I know

that you led David to write these things

and put these things so we would have them for us today.

But man, how powerful and meaningful it is

for us to hear these words.

We know David wasn't a perfect man.

Lord, we know he had failures of epic proportion,

much like us.

But Lord, it is good to know that even in our failures,

you never abandon us.

You never forsake us, you never leave us.

It is good that we can praise your name

for the love you have shown,

not just to David, but to each and every one of us.

Through your son, Jesus, who bore the cross,

who laid his life down for each and every one of us.

Lord, I pray that we would take

this examination serious in our life,

that we would not treat it with casual hearts.

Lord, that when you point out something

that is grievous towards you, that is in our hearts, Lord,

that we would repent and we would walk

towards you in obedience.

I ask this in Jesus' holy name, amen.

Let's stand.

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