“Search me, O God,
and know my heart;
Try me, and know my
anxieties;
And see if there is
any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the
way everlasting.”
Psalm 139:23-24
(NKJV)
"Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell
in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He
shall give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 37:3-4
(NKJV)
My neighbor has an
ornament on her front door that says “Listen to your heart.” That’s a popular
notion in today’s culture---follow what your heart wants and you’ll be
happy. But the Bible says that our hearts are “deceitful above all
things” and “desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:7). So if we let our hearts
with its fleshly desires guide us, we will not be on the
right path.
That’s why we’re
encouraged us to ask God to examine our hearts, thoughts and lives. That
would be scary to those who don’t know the character of God, who don’t know Him
as Savior and Lord. As a believer, I don’t want to have anything wicked within
me that I haven’t acknowledged to God, so I ask His help in searching me.
I want to be an open book before Him, to keep short accounts with Him, to know
that I’ve confessed and been forgiven of all my sins, every day.
I also want Him to lead me
rather than my own instincts and desires. Although God promises to give
us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4), that doesn’t mean our fleshly desires
will be granted. Instead, that promise is premised on certain conditions—if we delight
ourselves in the Lord, if commit our way to the Lord and if we trust
Him, then we will desire His will and that heart desire will be granted.
I pray that your heart’s
desire is to be in the center of God’s will, and that you allow Him to search
you and lead you in His way.