"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
One thing that we need to be in prayer is transparent, because God knows everything about us anyway. David was very transparent in this prayer. He admits here that he does not always understand why he does what he does, and that he needs God to help in his behavior. David knew that God already knew about his behavior, but he still shared it with God. This kind of honesty is what God wants from us in prayer. He asks God to know his heart. Of course, David never read Jeremiah, but he knew the meaning of Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" He knew that he needed God's help in dealing with his heart. If we are wise we will pray the same prayer. You have heard people say, “I don’t know my own heart.” But God always knows what is in our hearts. I guess in a way we mean that we want to know about our hearts what God knows about our hearts. This kind of prayer can help us to change what needs to be changed in our hearts. It is really great when we are going through hard times personally and God gives us insight into ourselves. It would be a good idea today for you to ask God to know your heart in order for you to know it as well. We can lie to ourselves, i.e., be dishonest with ourselves, but we can’t be dishonest with God. Open your heart to Him and let Him give you cleansing and clarification that you need. He asks God to "try (him) and know (his) thoughts." He wanted to be in control of his thoughts. If this psalm is after the Bathsheba affair, and I'm not sure about the date, he is probably remembering how his thoughts went wild that night and led him to do terrible things. It is true that "the thought is the father of the deed." Do we dare invite God into our thoughts? It is very difficult for us to control our thoughts. Satan is aware of the power of our thought processes in our behavior. He is always working on our minds to keep them on things that will not be good for us or for our relationship with God. That is why we need to turn our thought processes over to the Lord. The Lord knows every thought that we have, and He wants to be involved in the things that get into our minds. Maybe our thoughts lead us into spiritual trouble sometimes because we have not been honest with God about our thoughts. We might as well confess that we can’t control our thoughts by our own effort. David knew this, and He has written this inspired word to help us know it as well. He wanted God to uncover any wicked way in him and lead him "in the way everlasting." What he wanted was to live with eternity in mind each day. We really need to have the courage to pray this prayer. What David was asking of God was for Him to offer leadership for His life. We will follow some kind of leadership in our lives, as Christians we just need to make sure we are following God’s leadership. If we ask God to lead us “in the way everlasting,” we will live a life that is pleasing to Him. Be honest with God and yourself and seek His leadership for your life. We need to be honest with ourselves and, in turn, be honest with God and seek His guidance to help us live better lives. I don't know about you, but this prayer would be good for me. It is important that we open our hearts and minds to God and seek His leadership in “the way everlasting.” Don’t you think that your life would be better if you let God be an integral part of it? Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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