[Faith-talk] Search my heart oh lord

[WESLEY BURDEN]

Search My Heart, O God

David prays a very admirable prayer in Psalm 139:23-24 saying, "Search me, O
God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if
there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way." David
is quick to understand and admit that he is prone (as we all are) to hidden
sins (see Psalm 19:12), errors of heart of which we are not yet aware. Once
we become aware of them, we need to deal with them, and it is David who sets
an example of being proactive in this process. Rather than waiting for sin
to happen and the consequences to result, David asks God to show him where
his faults might lie. If he can be made aware of them before they hurt him
or others, why wouldn't he prefer to be changed ahead of time? This is
exactly what a person with a tender heart toward God ought to do. He ought
to ask God to search his heart so that he can be made aware of anything that
needs to be dealt with.
The wonderful thing is that David has already acknowledged in verse one of
this same chapter that God has already searched him and known him. God
already knows the errors in David's heart and makeup. It is once David
realizes just how much God knows about him and how much God thinks about him
that David comes to welcome God's searching out of his heart so that he can
benefit from the knowledge which God possesses about him. It is a privilege
as a child of God to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), part of
which, is to be made aware of our weaknesses and sin.

God has given us as the body of Christ a specific time to be introspective,
though His desire is that we should deal with sin as quickly as possible all
the time. The Lord's Supper is a fixed time to meditate upon the work of
Christ on the cross, a large part of which involves doing what David did in
asking God to search and know his heart. When we partake in communion, we
ought to ask God to try us and see if there are any wicked ways within us.
If there are, we ought not to partake until we repent or make an issue right
with a brother or sister whom we might have sinned against. This is the
sanctifying part of this ordinance instituted by Christ. It is a time to
reflect upon the blood of Christ shed for us and the body of Christ broken
for us such that we remember who we are in Christ to the extent that we want
to honor Him fully with our lives. Paul is adamant in 1 Corinthians 11:29
that we be introspective about sin and "judge the body rightly." Verses
28-30 say the
following: "But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of
the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks
judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason
many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep." When we let sin go
unchecked in our lives, it can bring decay to our bodies (Psalm 32:3), and
it certainly brings decay to our souls (Galatians 5:9). God doesn't take
lightly to blatant blasphemy and hypocrisy during such a solemn occasion.
The highest honor we can give Christ Who died for us is to die to self and
live for Him. The greatest insult we can cast upon Him is to refuse the
grace and sanctifying power for which He died so that we could freely
receive. When we hide sin in our hearts, we insult Christ by refusing His
gift and blaspheming His redemptive work.
It is not that we lose our salvation when we harden our hearts, but we
certainly grieve the heart of God greatly. It delights God's heart when we
purify ourselv! es as He is pure during the time of communion or at any
other time (1 John 3:3). May we not forget the importance of introspection
and self-examination when taking of the Lord's Table.

One of the best ways to keep walking in the straight and narrow way is to be
regularly introspective. This involves being sensitive to the Holy Spirit's
conviction, being humble in reading the Word, and praying proactively for
God to reveal character flaws that need to be rectified and sanctified. May
we take it upon ourselves to pray as David did that God would search us and
know us so that we could be sanctified and changed.


Stu
<mailto:K5stu at sbcglobal.net>K5stu at sbcglobal.net
Reading your Bible today will help prepare you for A Brighter Tomorrow!
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