I Know That I Know

[HKHaugan]

For the “I-know-that-I-know” Folks

A Look at Psalm 139

This is a special Psalm for those who have trouble or feel some inadequacy explaining their experience of God.  You know, the I-know-that-I-know-that-I-know folks.  Their hearts are into the Lord.  They know He is into them.  They live their faith.  It’s not about answering all the hard questions or thinking profoundly or even having a thought-out testimony.  What you see is what you get with them.  And that’s just fine.  Give me a boat load of those folks.  When the church doors open, they are waiting to get in.  If there’s something to be done, they do it.  If there is a need, they give.  All they want is the opportunity to do something to help.  They just simply believe.

What is this I-know-that-I-know thing that the Psalm speaks to?

It’s what you feel in your heart.  When I say feel, I don’t mean emotion.  It’s deeper. You sense it.  You know the Lord is working on you with His Spirit.  Who else is going to really help you when you have choices to make and you’re not sure what the right one is?  The Tempter will be at work to get you to justify your personal assessment apart from God.  What about conscience?  Conscience is not God but a God-directed conscience is.  Conscience alone is not reliable because it is so easy to justify choices based on so-called good intentions.  No.  When you have those biblical do’s and don’ts you know inside that you’re being guided by the Holy Spirit.  That’s what He does and does it well.  Rather than being condemned you’re being guided.  That’s quite a unique experience.  You’re reminded of the Cross and how Jesus bore the brunt of our mistakes.  He forgives the moment we say in our heart we’re sorry.  Take a few verses from Psalm 139 and you’ll see what I mean.

“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. (What does He know?) You know all about me, don’t you? When I sit and when I rise (He sees me physically) You perceive my thoughts from afar (I may think you’re far away but you even know what I’m thinking. You’re that close.  You’re in my mind.  That’s spiritual presence) You discern my going out and my lying down (again you see me out and about) and are familiar with all my ways (You know my heart’s attitudes, desires, fears, dreams, guilt, hope and what really drives me from one moment to the next) Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord (You know the attitudes of my heart that motivates my words)  You hem me in---behind and before; (my choices have been evaluated by Him and I can sense it),  You have laid your hand upon me (But it’s not a crushing strike.  Rather, it’s a nudge to trust His presence and will for me, a loving hand)

Now here’s the part that the I-know-that-I-know folks can find as a confidence builder:

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain (This precedes a series of very specific escape routes humans try to evade God:

“Where can I go?  Where can I flee? From the heavens to the depth of the sea. Rise at dawn settle far away, your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.  Even if I try to hide, darkness is like light to you (All contrasts to show that nothing can separate us from God.  Also, Paul’s view in Romans 8:38-39).

The natural human questions would be, ‘How can this be? Can’t there be an exception somewhere? Why?”

Now here’s God’s revelation answer and our realization, “You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.   I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.   How precious to me are Your insights.  How vast is the sum of them.  They are uncountable (summary of lines here).  I am still with You.”

On the heels of these revealing insights came that personally conclusive awareness of the Psalmist, “I am still with You.”  

So, regardless of circumstance, quandary, speculation, doubt, confusion and all the barbs thrown at us by the world around us, I know-that-I-know-that-I-know-that-I-know the Lord reigns in my heart and will never let me go.   By the blood of Jesus dying on the Cross and His Resurrection, what I really know is that He is my justification, my reason and my heart’s deliverer.

The Psalmist’s conclusion covers us all.  He knows it’s a continuing growth in the Lord.   “Search me, O God, 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.”                                                                          

[HKHaugan]

Truly great insight and reply.  It is a profound Psalm and others probe the depths as well.  Is He a great God, or what? ><>W

[Mary Toney]

I have far too much to say about this, so I'll condense it down (shocking, I know), and simply say, "I am completely in agreement. I have fallen back on this wonderful Psalm many times as I have made decisions that the world has found to be over the top, or naive, or "not really what God meant for these changing times", and I am thankful that God made this real to me a few months before my beloved brother died in 1985.

Let me add, it's not to say I haven't made my share of mistakes, but generally, those were times when I either put my hands over my ears to drown out God's voice, or when I-wanted-what-I-wanted-when-I-wanted-it. I paid dearly for those decisions. 

Aside from those times,  I-know-what-I-know-what-I-know