God, Search Me

Monday, July 4

God, Search Me

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23,24

A study published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science suggest that our friends may know us better than we even know yourself. Yes, this is a finding which seems counterintuitive, but it has me considering its truths. The way we perceive ourselves is frequently not how we really are. We are very critical of ourselves. For example, we may see a photo of ourselves, and we don’t like the way it looks because it doesn’t match our image of ourselves. We often picture ourselves as thinner than how we appear in photos.

We also sometimes have an unrealistic view of ourselves in relation to our capabilities. Some of us think of ourselves as more than we are, and others think of ourselves as less than we are. Or we may think of ourselves more highly in some areas and lower in others. It’s a great debacle. Great thing is that we can go to the Creator and ask Him to tell us the truth. The Psalmist was bold enough to do this. Reading in The Message today’s verse, it says

“Investigate my life, O God,

    find out everything about me;

Cross-examine and test me,

    get a clear picture of what I’m about;

See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—

    then guide me on the road to eternal life.”

God wants us to see ourselves as we truly are. How do we do that? I don’t presume to be able to fully answer that in this short devotional, but I am encouraged by David’s prayer with which we opened today’s devotional. ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart…”

I believe that, as we honestly ask God to reveal to us the truth of how we are, we will be able to surrender to Him those areas of our lives that do not line up to the way He wants us to be. But thanks to Jesus the story doesn’t end there. Once He reveals these areas, we can go to Him and ask for help. It takes humility to see ourselves as we really are and only God can truly reveal it to us. He knows us way better than we know ourselves.

Prayer for today: Lord, I echo the prayer of David and I ask You to search my heart. Show me also where I need to change. Help me to be honest with myself and with You, so that I can be transformed into the person You intend me to be. Amen.