A Call To The Remnant

Psa 139:1  O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. 

This is one of the most intimate statements in all of the Scriptures. So very personal. Can you say this? Have you been searched by God? This word “searched,” is from the primitive root to “penetrate.” Has God invaded every part of who you are? Are you known by God? This, of course, is no abstract truth for of course God knows everything and everyone. No, this is a very intimate form of the word. Have you ever looked into the eyes of another human being, one who is being deceptive and say right to that person “I know exactly who you are.” Its a declaration of a knowledge that goes beyond anything to do with outward evidence. This is do with the inner man, the inner woman. David is declaring that God “knows,” him in the most intimate way. He says that “even from afar you understand my thoughts.” It is something akin to a husband and wife who are “one,’ and knows the other ones thoughts in ways that only they can.

This is the kind of relationship that every genuine saint has with the Lord. We walk in the sure knowledge that He “knows,’ our every thought. This is far beyond any human intimacy. To be one in spirit is far beyond being one in flesh. It is the ultimate intimacy. And of course the trouble with this kind of intimacy is that on the one side is perfection and holiness and purity, and on the other side is us, very much flawed by our flesh. This is why intimacy is such a difficult issue. It may be the most difficult of all the issues. At the root cause of all failings in the saints is a lack of intimacy with the Lord. Jesus of course knew this. Time and again he told us to abide in Him, to continue to abide in Him. To take up the cross, not once, but daily. Abiding in the Lord and in His Word, while carrying the cross is one sure way to stay very close to the Lord, to maintain that intimacy that can be so easily lost. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, on a daily basis, on a moment to moment basis, and draw near to the Lord and He will draw near to us. And in that nearness there is intimacy and out of that intimacy flows the beauty of Holiness.

There are two very different kind of men in the Kingdom. One man shies away from this intimacy. He sets up camp at a safe distance and there he dwells. He stays within that camp and looks on from a distance, not unlike the Israelites who watch, from their camp, the tent of meeting. They worship God from afar but Moses and Joshua come to that tent of meeting and entered in. They have come to seek that intimacy. Men like Moses and Joshua could just as easily cry out to God what David cried “search me O God and know my heart, try me and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” We have taught men from when they were boys, to guard their hearts, to pretend that they are fearless and to be independent. All of that works against intimacy, deliberately so. The only answer is surrender. Surrender into the hand of God and allow yourself to be consumed. Allow yourself to be searched. Seek to be known. This is the way of everlasting and He desires to lead us in it.