Psalms 139:23-24 – “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.”
Trying to live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to God comes with constantly checking our intentions and motives behind certain actions. I’ve found this more and more true when I have conversations with my husband, friends, family, and even when I’m on social media. I’m always asking myself, “Tenia, what is the real reason you are doing or saying this?” – because sometimes I truly believe that I can be selfish and only doing or saying things that serve ME. However, I think as humans it’s so easy for us to fall into that mindset of doing or saying certain things that only serve us. We can be selfish at times, but it’s counterproductive when you’re trying to live your life for Christ.
I was challenged a couple of months ago to check my appetite and to ask God to check it as well. Ever since I spoke those words out of my mouth God has really been showing out with revealing my thoughts and actions. I’ve been constantly asking myself different versions of that question. The word appetite has been interchanged with motives, intentions, and posture. I also think that sometimes when I sit and think on why I’ve said, thought or done certain things that it’s only because I’m looking for acknowledgement, affirmation or validation from someone (this is another topic within itself). So, you see sometimes the scale is tipped towards self-serving and selfish motives and other times it is tipped towards affirmation or validation.
Let’s take a moment to break down the scripture reference – the first part of this verse starts off with “Search me, God, and know my heart;”. The word “search” is defined as “try to find something by looking or otherwise seeking carefully and thoroughly.” This one word packs a lot of action in my opinion, we are literally asking God to look carefully and thoroughly at our hearts. You know how people take magnifying glasses to look at something up close and clearly … or how biologists use microscopes to closely examine a specimen or sample of something … that’s exactly what I think about with the first part of this verse. They see down to tiniest details, God sees down to our tiniest details.
The next part of this verse says “… test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me;”. We know that God is in the testing business, especially when it comes to testing our faith in Him. The last part of this verse, “know my concerns.” I wanted to highlight the word concern, it’s defined as “relate to; be about,” “anxiety or worry”. God knows that as humans we worry so much and there are things that cause us great anxiety. To me, this whole verse combined says that God is testing us to see what we are really concerned about, what anxieties or worries do we have? Earlier, I said that when I ask God to check my appetite or my heart I think some of the validation seeking and selfish motives are rooted in worry. I’m so worried about what other people may say or think about me, or how something I say or do will look to those from the outside looking in. I believe when we think too much on what other people will say or think about us it offends God. We’re relying too heavily on what the world says instead of what God says. The last part of this two-part verse says “… lead me in the everlasting way.” We’re asking God to guide us correctly, to guide our hearts to a place that is pleasing and acceptable to Him. In this guidance we ultimately hope to be with our Father in heaven, that’s the everlasting; to spend eternity with Him.
I think it’s important that we constantly ask ourselves these questions of where our hearts lie, what our motives and intentions are. But we also need to ask God. After all, He knows us better than we know ourselves … He created us!
Comments