Search Me

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

(Psalm 139:23-24, ESV)

I was recently talking with a group of friends and one of them was talking about Psalm 139. After the conversation, I opened my Bible to read the chapter for myself and was taken back by the simple truth of David’s prayer.

No matter how good we think we are, we all have "stuff" in our hearts and we all have thoughts that need to be removed. We all need to ask God to search us and change us, and give us the mind of Christ.

Have you ever wondered why David would ask God to search Him? David, “the man after God’s own heart”, had many personal failures and shortcomings. He had reached a point in his life where he understood that his heart had a great capacity for insidious evil. David was unable to know his own heart completely, and was unable to make things right in his own strength. So he turned to God and simply asked God to do that which only God could do. He asked God to change his heart and change his thoughts.

Search me O God and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24, ESV)

As I look at my own life, I realize that I am a lot like David. I want to do what is right. I want to love God, but I have serious heart issues and wrong thoughts that need to be exposed. There are thoughts that I have to take captive, and heart issues that have to be changed by the power of God.

Even though I know that I am a child of God, I have come to understand that it is only by giving God more and more of my life that I will be able to truly live for Him. It is only when I am willing to face the truth inside of me that I can seek the help I so desperately need. And that help can only be found in the God of all of creation, the very Creator of my heart and mind.

So search me God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts. And lead me in Your way, the everlasting way.

I know God can, I know God will, and even if he doesn’t

I love Chapter 3 of the book of Daniel, it’s a story of a King that thought way to much of himself and three young men that thought much more of their God. You see, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego where unwilling to worship King Nebuchadnezzar as he had ordered. They where unwilling to give to a man, that which belongs only to God, just think how easy it would have been to do what everyone else was doing. Just think how easy it would have been for them to say it’s really not that big of a deal. They had no way of knowing that there story would be come one of the great Bible stories. They did not do it so others would see, or read about it. They did it because they loved their God, and wanted to please Him more that anyone or anything else. Just think these 3 young men standing in front of the most powerful man in the world at the time, and the bible tell us in Daniel chapter 3 what happened. “16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” I have asked myself many times would I have the courage to say these type of words, would I have the Love for God to stand for Him before the leader of the world. I pray that if ever comes a times, that I’m asked to stand, I will stand like these young men stood.