Psalm 139:18-24

19 if only you would slay the wicked, O God!

     Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent; 

     your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, 

     and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them; 

     I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; 

     test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me 

     and lead me in the way everlasting.

As we read through Psalm 139 we discover how intimately God knows us—how we think and act, how we were made and how much He cares for us.  Then we get to the last section and David, the author of this Psalm, comes out with some pretty strong language like “slay the wicked…away from me you bloodthirsty men…I have nothing but hatred for them (my enemies)”.  It feels like that came out of nowhere.  But let’s take a step back for a minute and remember that the Psalms are David’s personal prayers to God.  Even David got frustrated, impatient, angry, and anxious about his situation and he wasn’t afraid to tell God how he was feeling.  He also thought he might offer God a few suggestions about how He could make this situation better—just kill my enemies and we’ll be all set LORD. 

Don’t we do the same thing?  Don’t we cry out to the Lord and offer some feeble suggestions about how to make things better? We say things like if only you could just make me thinner, then people would like me and I would have better relationships.  If only you would make him pay for what he did to me, then I could forgive him.  If only my circumstances were different, then I would be happy. 

Friends, David shows us that it is OK to cry out to the Lord and be honest with Him—to tell Him how you are really feeling.  God can handle it and He wants you to share your heart with Him. In fact as we learned earlier in the Psalm, He already knows what we are thinking anyways. 

But then in verses 23 and 24 David shows us what to do next.  He says “Search me 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”.  In essence David is saying God here is how I am feeling and what I would like to have happen but I realize your ways are better than my ways.  Please search my heart, my thoughts and reveal to me any thoughts that would take me from your “way everlasting”. 

We need to do the same thing when we pray.  We need to ask God to reveal to us any lies we are believing or anything else that may take us down a path of destruction.  We need to ask God to help us not to settle for our own human solutions but to ask God for His purpose to prevail.  God is not limited by time, space or materials.  Remember it is God’s job to deal with our enemies—Exodus 14:14 “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still”.