Search me, O God, and know my anxious heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
The crux of the Psalm comes in verses 23-24 as the psalmist invites God to know his anxious thoughts because he knows he can’t get away from God. He invites God to test him, because he is not a good test for himself. If he is to hate properly those who hate God then he must first be searched by the Lord, intimacy between him and the Lord must grow. I think here again of Jonah who made the mistake of not aligning his thoughts with God’s. When the Lord relents of his anger against Ninevah, Jonah gets angry and still desires the hellfire and brimstone God originally threatened. Whereas Jonah should have invited God’s examination of his heart, the Lord asks Jonah in 4:4, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ and Jonah simply walks away and takes a seat somewhere to stew. Consequently, the psalmist must be certain that he’s on the right side with his intense anger, so he invites his judge to examine him closely—and as he examines him, to lead him in the way everlasting so that, as he aligns himself with God and seeks to think God's thoughts after him, he would truly perceive the heart and character of God. Only the confidence that comes from knowing that God knows us and lets us know him can quiet the type of anxious thought that David has wrestled through in this psalm.
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