“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23,24).
If God is to honor David’s request to “Search me . . . know me . . . try me . . . see me . . . and lead me,” He would have to possess omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. David fully recognized these three non-moral attributes in this psalm.
For example, he describes the omniscience, or all-knowingness, of God in verses 1–6. In this section we have such statements as, “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me . . . thou knowest . . . thou understandest . . . Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.” He stood amazed in the presence of one who knew everything about him.
Then in verses 7–12 he gives reference to the omnipresence of God; that is, that He is everywhere present at the same time. “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” He dramatically shows that God is everywhere. He is in heaven and in hell; in the uttermost parts of the sea; in the light and in the darkness. We cannot hide from God.
Last, but not least, he proclaims in verses 13–16 God’s omnipotence (all-power) as is seen in the formation of a child in his mother’s womb. “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
These three truths, that God is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful, caused David to pray the above prayer at the end of the psalm. His correct theology was made practical by his prayer. Since God is omniscient, He can search us; since God is omnipresent, He can try us; and since God is omnipotent, He can lead us in the way everlasting. NPS
