The One Year® Chronological Bible, NKJV (Tyndale, 2013), May 15
The only peace some people experience is the temporary "numbness" that comes from a prescription or liquor bottle. David experiences peace--God-initiated peace--in the midst of life's turmoil. How?
David lives with an awareness of God's presence. He knows that God knows him. Knows his past. Knows his present. Knows his purpose.
David does not live in isolation. Even in his thought life, "You understand my thought afar off" (Ps. 139:2). Thoughts include motives. God knows why David thinks the way that he thinks.
God is familiar with all of David's ways―not just directions that David takes, but the internal mechanisms that make David uniquely David. His birth order. His personality. His flaws. Nothing is hidden by God, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?" (139:7). Darkness shines as brightly as the light of noonday with God. Therefore, David knows that the all-seeing, ever-present God will guide him perfectly, that He does not read reports or scan headlines to be brought up-to-date. God knows everything. All the time.
Transparency generates humility. And trust. David's view of God as all-knowing and all-seeing doesn't cause him to cringe in fear, but confidently to trust Him.
David, therefore, ends his psalm with a request, "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" (139:23-24). Introspection is biased. Man generally looks inside for good and discards or justifies the bad. Nothing is hidden from God's searching look. David does not trust his short-sightedness to discern the anxiety that lies within. Only God correctly discerns the heart's condition. Only God sees the end result of present thoughts, attitudes, and actions.
Perhaps it is this God-awareness that provokes David to seek the LORD after three consecutive years of famine, to rectify a wrong done to the Gibeonites, and to exhibit God's kindness to Mephibosheth.
Peace accompanies the presence of God―a peace that quietens anxious thoughts and calms fearful emotions. Because God knows David, David knows peace. Because David knows peace, he can extend that peace to others.
Because He knows me, I know peace. Because I know His peace I am able to extend His peace to others.
Questions from today's chronological Bible reading (Psalms 131, 133, 138-141, 143):
How do the truths presented about man in Psalm 139 encourage David in his walk with the LORD?
What do the remaining psalms in today's reading reveal about David's spiritual quest?